DAKFLOW

Solution Background - Why DAKFLOW

Rapid urbanization has pushed Dakar’s already strained mobility system to its limits. Every day, over 3.2 million commuters navigate chronic congestion that more than doubles travel times during peak hours. The cost is significant, an estimated 235 billion FCFA annually in lost productivity, excess fuel, and environmental damage, undermining economic growth, public health, and sustainability.

Yet, despite the scale of the problem, the tools used to understand it remain limited. Manual traffic counts, fragmented GPS data, and isolated studies offer only partial insights, failing to capture the complexity of a city shaped by dynamic, multimodal, and largely informal transport systems.

At the same time, institutions are ready for change. Across agencies, there is a clear demand for reliable, high-resolution data, stronger coordination, and the local capacity to use emerging technologies to curb mobility challenges.

With previous collaborations between EPFL LUTS - who has developed parts of the technical solution, WeRobotics and Flying Labs, DAKFLOW's consortium approach brings together the local and global key actors to propose a fitting solution. 

Solution Content

DAKFLOW is a collaborative initiative bringing together local institutions, global researchers, technology and business model partners to rethink how cities generate and use mobility data.

The solution integrates:

• Drone data collection to capture high-resolution, real-time traffic across vehicles, pedestrians, and informal transport
• AI-driven analytics to detect and analyze patterns with precision, adapted to Dakar’s complex traffic environment
• Decision-support dashboards that provide actionable insights for authorities like CETUD
• Local capacity building to ensure skills and systems remain within local institutions
• A replicable model designed to scale across cities facing similar challenges

The solution provides clearer, real-time understanding of how cities move, across both formal and informal systems. Crucially, DAKFLOW project is built for local ownership. Data is not extracted or siloed, but managed in a sustainable way through:

• Local ownership of tools and systems
• Transparent, shared data governance
• Integration into existing institutional frameworks

Solution Stage & What's Next

The solution is currently transitioning from exploration to piloting. The next stage is co-creating a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) in real-world conditions in Dakar. The MVP focuses on:

• Technology: drone based data collection across key urban corridors, calibrating AI models, integrating existing datasets, etc.
• Co-Creation: Co-developing tools and dashboards with end-users
• Capacity & partnership strengthening: local capacity strengthening for data management & analysis, data and technology maintenance, strengthening institutional partnerships and ownership, etc.
• Sustainability & Scale: Develop a locally adapted sustainability and pricing model, document learnings to support replication

How You Can Join & Get Involved

DAKFLOW is built on the principle that sustainable solutions emerge through collaboration, not isolation.

We are looking for funders and partners who are interested in contributing to: 

• Locally-led innovation in urban systems
• Responsible use of AI and data for public good
• Scalable approaches to complex development challenges