The Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT), US, will install a phone-based travel information service with the number 511 to offer traffic and weather facts for motorists.

The solution is based on the N11 platform from VoltDelta OnDemand, which consists of interactive voice recognition (IVR) infrastructure and speech applications to improve voice recognition.

HDOT director Glenn Okimoto said the new 511 service will help residents and tourists get where they want easily, with the most up-to-date traffic information.

"This service will help motorists to avoid traffic congestion and save them time on their commutes," Okimoto added.

Initially, the service will be able to provide data on areas with traffic congestion and emergency condition information, including severe weather alerts. Subsequently the system will also include incident and event-related information.

The 511 solution with its advanced voice recognition will be able to distinguish similar sounding street names, points of interests and remember the last location a caller requested, by caching the automatic number identifier. The service will be deployed on the Hawaiian Island Oahu later in 2012.

VoltDelta SVP and GM Terry Saeger said VoltDelta’s 511 system has helped millions of motorists on the mainland, and will now provide the same benefits to Oahu motorists.

"Hawaii will be the latest state to deploy our 511 services, helping motorists to safely find the best routes to their destinations by avoiding traffic jams, construction, weather situations and other obstacles on the road," Saeger added.