In rapidly growing urban centers like Douala and Yaoundé, where traffic congestion shapes daily life, new research shows that artificial intelligence is quietly helping commuters win back precious time.
According to a study published by Yango Group, a global technology company digitalising urban services, advanced AI-powered routing technologies helped African urban commuters save nearly 2 million hours in 2025, contributing to a global total of over 5 million hours saved across more than 20 cities worldwide — the equivalent of 600 years of human time returned to communities.
In Cameroon, riders in Douala and Yaounde recovered over one hour per year on average per user, thanks to intelligent route optimisation that dynamically adapts to real-time traffic conditions.
Across Africa, cities are expanding at an unprecedented pace. As vehicle numbers increase and road networks face mounting pressure, congestion has become one of the continent’s most pressing urban challenges.
Yango Group’s study, based on an analysis of millions of Yango Ride trips conducted in 2025, compared AI-optimised routes with static shortest-path routes that do not factor in live traffic conditions. The results demonstrate that machine learning and real-time data can deliver measurable time savings at scale.
“In many African cities, time lost in traffic directly impacts productivity, family life, and economic opportunity,” said Adeniyi Adebayo, Chief Business Officer of Yango Group. “What these results show is that AI is not abstract — it is practical infrastructure. By embedding intelligence into everyday mobility services, we can help cities operate more efficiently and return valuable time to people.”
The technology processes information about road characteristics, traffic light patterns, turn complexity, and predictive congestion modeling. The system’s self-learning architecture continuously improves accuracy by comparing predicted versus actual travel times, creating an evolving feedback loop that adapts to each city’s unique patterns. Its self-learning architecture continuously improves by comparing predicted travel times with actual journey durations, adapting to the unique mobility patterns of each city — including the dynamic road conditions typical of Douala and Yaoundé.
Beyond time savings, intelligent routing contributes to broader urban sustainability goals. By minimizing idle time and optimizing traffic distribution, Yango’s AI technology helps improve fuel efficiency, lower emissions, and decrease localized congestion — core pillars of smart city development. As Cameroon’s urban population continues to grow, AI-powered mobility solutions are emerging not just as convenience tools, but as critical components of modern urban infrastructure.
While African cities recorded significant gains, the global impact reached more than 5 million hours saved across cities including Lima and Guatemala City — highlighting the scalability of AI-powered mobility solutions across diverse urban environments.
Operating in more than 35 countries across the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, Yango Group continues to develop technologies that transform complex algorithms into accessible tools — supporting smarter, more efficient and more human-centered cities.
For the complete research methodology and detailed results across all cities, visit here. A short video explaining the methodology is also available here.
