We all experienced this. At least once a week I leave work (I am commuting in the car) to realize that there is a massive traffic jam on my route. The same for train commuters – how many times did you get into train or subway station only to realize there are disruptions? It is frustrating and stressful.
This routine is part of the Automation Bank, a community-driven list of over 50 practical automation ideas for your smart home. Read more about Automation Bank or search ideas by room, by device or by use case. Also, have a look at best home automation ideas as voted by our users.
Yes, you can keep checking Google or your Train company’s website, but there is an easier way. This automation would help you to plan your commute. You won’t be able to resolve heavy traffic but at least plan around it a bit better.
How Does It Work?
- Traffic Sensor
- Find the most reliable traffic sensor and connect with your smart home. This will be specific to your smart hub, but generally, transport companies would allow you to use the data freely
- You can also use Google or Waze sensors to calculate commute time
- Trigger: Calculate an average time that it would normally take and trigger this automation if the travel time is significantly above the average
- Condition: should only work at your usual commute time in the morning or evenings. Also, disable the alerts if you are not at home in the morning or work in the afternoon
- Action: Use any notification system of your choice. It can be any of the support messengers (Telegram is generally good) or native apps from your smart hub.
ADVANCED
- Notify your wife that you might be late
- Increase the target temperature in your house
How To Set It Up?
Section below will have step by step instructions how to set this automation routine in the most popular smart hubs like SmartThings, Home Assistant, HomeSeer and Hubitat
Please leave comments below if you have any questions, or interested in the instruction for a specific system. This will help us to better focus our effort.