DEMO: TrafficTalk delivers real-time traffic data to your phone in audio format

It isn’t easy to deliver real-time traffic information to someone driving a car. For one, it’s not that safe to have the driver constantly looking at a map on a phone or a GPS device. So a startup called TrafficTalk is delivering traffic reports to your phone in an audio format.

All you have to do is listen via your Bluetooth headset or speaker phone to traffic reports that are read aloud to you. That’s a lot safer than other traffic apps that require you to take your eyes off the road.

The reports are tailored to where you’re driving. And the service lets commuters enhance the traffic information with their own audio reports. Conversations are focused on particular roadways, letting drivers get the details they need to choose their routes. TrafficTalk, debuting at this week’s DEMOfall 09 conference, hopes to generate revenue via audio advertising, among other strategies. Users can sign up for traffic alerts, sent via voice calls.

I’m not sure what happens if someone lies about traffic conditions, saying there is a wreck when there really isn’t, so that they can get all of the drivers off the liar’s roadway. So far, the company says participants are happy with it and the solution was proven with the company founders’ prior startup. The company has applied for patents on the voice-driven platform.

The company is based in Great Falls, Va., and it is currently seeking partners and investors.

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