Traffic: The New Killer App?

While at the deCarta devCON event today, I heard it said twice by deCarta executives that traffic was the new killer app. I guess I thought that traffic has been around for long enough that it certainly wasn’t new and as far as a killer app, it is not a stand alone application and is merely now just included with most cellular nav services and will be soon with connected navigation devices (CNAVs). So, will traffic data, whether real-time or predictive, be a killer app?

Perhaps traffic hasn’t yet been separated out enough as a true app. Both Traffic.com (a NAVTEQ company) and INRIX are vying for the market and I don’t see either company marketing its true ROI benefits. Certainly, with gasoline prices still high, simple navigation is "the" tool to save gas alone. Now if the predictive aspect of traffic was better marketed to enterprise application providers and end-users themselves, then I think traffic would be broken out as an app that would supercede simple navigation as more compelling tool and key differentiator of mobile solutions for logistics or fleet companies. But as yet, I don’t think traffic has been well enough integrated into a specific solution to make an argument as "the" killer app. Today, we can see road congestion but where is the app that alerts me to "potential" traffic conditions such that I would want to hit my "detour" button on my nav device to receive a better route?

And where are the applications that can show me predictive weather patterns that could cause traffic conditions to deteriorate thus causing traffic congestion and thus be able to route me accordingly? Of course I’d want this integrated with my fuel consumption to show me the nearest gas station within the next 50 miles so that I am alerted to a low fuel condition. Now that’s a killer app!