In fast-growing cities like Douala and Yaoundé, where congestion shapes daily life and economic activity, AI-powered routing technology is gradually establishing itself as a concrete tool for urban efficiency. In 2025 alone, users in Cameroon recovered a total of 136,026 hours, with an average saving of 81 minutes per year in Yaoundé and 63 minutes per year in Douala, thanks to intelligent route optimization that dynamically adapts to real-time traffic conditions.
These local results are part of a broader continental and global dynamic. According to a study published by Yango Group, a global technology company specializing in the digitalization of urban services, advanced AI-based routing technologies allowed African users to save nearly 2 million hours in 2025, contributing to a global total of more than 5 million hours saved in over 20 cities worldwide — the equivalent of 600 years of human time returned to communities.
Across Africa, cities are experiencing unprecedented expansion. With the increase in the number of vehicles and growing pressure on road networks, congestion has become one of the continent’s main urban challenges. In this context, measurable time savings represent not only increased comfort but also an improvement in productivity and urban resilience.
The Yango Group study, based on the analysis of millions of trips made via Yango Ride in 2025, compares AI-optimized routes to static routes based solely on the shortest path, without taking real-time traffic into account. The results demonstrate that machine learning combined with live traffic data can generate measurable and scalable efficiency gains in complex urban environments.
« In many African cities, time lost in traffic jams has a direct impact on productivity, family life, and economic opportunities, » says Adeniyi Adebayo, Chief Business Officer of Yango Group. « These results show that artificial intelligence is not abstract — it is practical infrastructure. By integrating intelligence into everyday mobility services, we can help cities function more efficiently and return precious time to citizens. »
The technology processes information related to road characteristics, traffic light cycles, intersection complexity, as well as predictive congestion modeling. Its self-learning architecture continuously improves by comparing predicted travel times to actual times, adapting to the mobility patterns unique to each city — including the dynamic road conditions typical of Douala and Yaoundé.
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Beyond time savings, intelligent routing contributes to broader urban sustainability goals. By reducing idling time and optimizing traffic distribution, Yango’s AI technology helps improve energy efficiency, reduce emissions, and decrease localized congestion — essential pillars of smart city development. As Cameroon’s urban population continues to grow, AI-based mobility solutions appear not only as convenience tools but also as essential components of modern urban infrastructure.
While African cities recorded significant gains, the global impact exceeded 5 million hours saved in cities such as Lima and Guatemala City, highlighting the ability of AI-based mobility solutions to adapt to diverse urban environments.
Present 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 — serving smarter, more efficient, and more human-centric cities.
To view the full study methodology and detailed results for all analyzed cities, please visit .
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A short video explaining the methodology is also available here.