Dive Brief:

• Alphabet’s Sidewalks Labs said yesterday that it will work with the U.S. Department of Transportation on an analytics platform designed to help cities better understand citizens’ patterns of mobility, according to a CIO report.

• The platform, dubbed Flow, will leverage Alphabet’s Big Data analytics to help cities determine their biggest traffic challenges and help city planners design better transportation infrastructure.

• The new platform will be developed in coordination with seven cities.

Dive Insight:

The system will draw on data from Google's Urban Mobility project. Cities will be able to use Flow to examine the types of trips being taken and the areas that contribute most to traffic problems.

"To overcome these challenges, cities must find ways to foster the emergence of technologies that have the potential to transform transportation and people's lives," said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.

In January, AT&T announced it is working with Atlanta, Chicago and Dallas on smart city innovations that incorporate IoT technology. The company said it eventually plans to enable things like remote video monitoring of bridges, roads, buildings and parks or monitoring traffic patterns at busy intersections. Experts say such projects are getting more important as commute times and distances grow longer.