In the future, it should be much easier for drivers to avoid traffic jams on German autobahns – with a new app from the federal autobahn company.
The summer holidays are in the starting blocks in Baden-Württemberg – for many families that means off the highway. Because many popular holiday countries * can be easily reached by car. Traveling by car is particularly popular with children. Because you can often take a break, often take a lot more luggage with you than on the plane or train and organize the travel time yourself. If it weren’t for the many traffic jams on the motorways …
But as reported by echo24.de *, the federal government now wants to remedy this. As of today, drivers are to be better informed about the traffic situation on their route via a new service app from the federally owned motorway company. According to the German press agency dpa , the Autobahn app shouldn’t compete with services like Google Maps or Waze, but rather a supplement.
Federal motorway app: What the new traffic jam indicator can and cannot do …
One of the greatest advantages of the new motorway app is to be exclusive information on the length of traffic jams, diversions or roadworks, which, according to the manufacturer, will be delivered “bundled in one application for the first time”. Among other things, hundreds of webcams along the motorways should inform users in real time about the actual traffic situation and how much traffic jams a traveler has to be prepared for.
In addition, users should be better informed about diversions and, according to the dpa, also about when construction sites or accident sites will be closed again, such as the six-lane expansion of the A6 near Heilbronn. Part of the motorway bridge will be demolished here at the weekend *. The advantage of the autobahn app is that the autobahn company claims to be the first to receive the relevant information and then forwards it directly via the app – earlier than Google Maps, for example, has the data.
Federal motorway app: An important function is missing – for good reason
Like other apps, the Autobahn app shows traffic jams along the route, offers information about charging stations along the route and shows where there are parking spaces and rest areas. In addition, truck drivers should not only receive information about parking spaces along the route, but also data on whether there is a shower, a shop or WiFi.
What the app can’t do is navigate. A paper from the Autobahn GmbH states: “The Autobahn app is not a navigation app and therefore does not compete with established navigation providers.” However, you can plan your route in the Autobahn app and then transfer it to the navigation app that you want otherwise also used, send. In the starting version, the services “Apple Maps” and “Google Maps” will be available.
Federal Autobahn app: data protection, costs, compatibility
It is probably good news that, according to Autobahn GmbH, user-related location information is only collected if a user wants to be located for the map view in the route check. In addition, the app is free and ad-free and can be used on devices with iOS or Android operating systems. It is a further development of the information app “Meine Autobahn”.
Incidentally, the motorway app was only made possible by a major motorway reform, which has only been in place since the beginning of 2021. Until the end of 2020, the federal states were responsible for the operation, maintenance and expansion of the motorways. Autobahn GmbH is now taking care of everything and, according to a press release, can build faster and avoid traffic jams.
In the past, there had been repeated criticism of the new motorway company. Among other things, because the costs rose or there were delays in IT systems. But now rules can be standardized and projects can be planned from a single source – after all, the issue is a motorway network of 13,000 kilometers. * echo24.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
