One MIT Adtech Startup Is Generating Traffic Data To Help Build ‘Smarter’ Cities

Unfortunately, traffic is a necessary part of modern life in a big city. The transportation-consulting firm INRIX found that worldwide traffic congestion cost $305 billion in 2017 in the U.S. An adtech startup is working on a solution to share traffic data with city officials to help build better, more cost-effective transportation networks for the future.

Alex Pustov, a MIT Sloan School of Management MBA student, and his co-founder Alexey Utkin, came together to found Synaps Labs. Their startup has developed next-generation out-of-home advertising technology to help advertisers reach their intended target audience through digitized billboards. The co-founders believe that they can not only increase ad revenues of media owners with their technology, but also fund traffic analytics, improve road safety, and allow cities to adopt advances in digital infrastructure faster. AdAge reports that spending on out-of-home advertising is expected to exceed $4.5 billion in 2019.

Founders Alexander Pustov (left) and Aleksey Utkin (right).

Currently, drivers mostly see traditional billboards on major highways when driving. For the company who has paid for them, it is impossible to be certain whether a certain driver who saw that billboard eventually paid for their product that was advertised. The inability for advertising firms to close the attribution…