Pulse · Traffic Intelligence

Ask your transportation network a question.

Pulse turns fragmented public transportation data into a single queryable layer — with built-in transparency so your agency knows exactly what each query costs and how reliable the answer is.

Live query — Pulse
Query
"What are the notable traffic issues in Savannah right now, and what does the incident history look like for I-16?"
Answer
Based on current ATSPM data and the last 90 days of incident records: Three segments on I-16 eastbound show recurring congestion patterns between 7–9am, with peak delays near Exit 99A. One active minor incident at Mile Marker 137. No major incidents in the prior 48 hours. Sources: state traffic sensor network, regional incident log, ATSPM historical archive.
Quality score
94 / 100
Token cost
$0.0031
Sources queried
3 sources
What is Pulse

One question. Every source that matters.

State DOTs generate and manage an enormous amount of public transportation data — ATSPM signal data, incident feeds, crash reports, sensor readings, permit databases, camera systems, and more. But that data lives in siloed systems that don't talk to each other.

Pulse connects them. Ask a natural language question and Pulse queries the relevant sources simultaneously — returning a synthesized answer with confidence scoring and full source attribution. Every source it drew from is visible. Every gap in the data is disclosed.

The goal isn't to replace any system. It's to make the data those systems already contain accessible to the people who need it, without a data engineering project every time.

ATSPM Signal Data
Incident Feed
State Crash Reports
511 Feed
DMS Message Logs
Responder Unit Activity
Traffic Sensor Network
Construction Permits
Weather Alerts
Camera System Status
GeoAPI Location Data
+ more public sources
Token Transparency

State DOTs are right to ask what AI actually costs.

Every state agency procurement officer asking about AI right now has the same concern: how do we know what this will cost, and how do we know it won't run away? That's a reasonable question, and most vendors don't have a good answer.

Pulse was designed from the ground up to answer it. Every query logs its token cost. The quality score shows how good the answer actually was. The cost-vs-quality chart shows how different ways of asking the same question produce different cost and reliability tradeoffs.

This isn't just for finance. It's how Beacon helps agencies decide which queries are worth automating, which should stay human-in-the-loop, and where efficiency can be captured without sacrificing quality. The dashboard is accessible to your team at tokens.beacon.dev.

Cost vs. Quality — query method comparison
Higher bar = higher token cost per query
Full corpus scan
$0.041
Targeted retrieval
$0.018
Optimized routing
$0.003
Quality scores: Full scan 91 · Targeted 94 · Optimized 94 — similar quality, 13x cost difference. Pulse shows you this tradeoff before you commit to a query strategy.
Open MCP Layer

Your agency's data, accessible from any AI tool.

Pulse isn't just a product — it's an MCP server. Any LLM-based tool your agency already uses can query the same aggregated data layer directly, without Beacon building a custom interface for each one.

The transportation AI market is splitting into two architectures: closed copilots and open knowledge layers. Closed copilots are purpose-built interfaces that control everything. Open knowledge layers expose clean data APIs that any tool can connect to.

Beacon's MCP is the open knowledge layer for transportation. Your TMC operators can use TMC-React. Your traffic engineers can use Estimator. Your agency's Microsoft Copilot or any other LLM-based tool can connect directly to the same underlying data — without Beacon building the interface.

That's not a feature. That's a different philosophy about how transportation agencies should own and access their data. The data should travel with the agency, not with the vendor.

Pulse exposes its aggregated public data layer as an MCP. The engineering data from ProjectWise — workbooks, concept reports, historical projects — is next. Each product Beacon builds adds another layer to that foundation.

Beacon MCP — Transportation Knowledge

Documents + Public Data

SOPs, workbooks, historical projects, concept reports, and aggregated public data — all normalized, indexed, and accessible from any MCP-compatible tool. Built to compound: every new Beacon product adds another layer.

Works with

Any LLM-based interface

Claude, Microsoft Copilot, your agency's internal tools — if it supports MCP, it can query Beacon's data layer. Your operators don't have to abandon what they know to get access to what they need.

How it compares
Beacon MCP
Transportation documents + public data sources. Connects your institutional knowledge (SOPs, workbooks, project files) to any AI interface your team already uses.
Flow Labs MCP
Signal and traffic operations data. Connects AI agents to live signal infrastructure and traffic flow. Complementary, not competitive — they own signals, we own knowledge.
FAQ

What we hear in every demo.

What data sources does Pulse actually connect to?

The sources your state already makes publicly available — signal data, incident feeds, crash databases, DMS message logs, responder unit activity, and traffic sensor networks. All public — no data sharing agreements required to get started. Private agency data (ProjectWise, internal systems) can be added via the MCP integration layer.

How does it handle data that might be wrong or stale?

Pulse discloses the source and timestamp of every data point it uses in an answer. If a source hasn't updated recently, the answer says so. Quality scores reflect data currency, not just answer coherence. We don't hide the freshness problem — we surface it.

What does "token cost" actually mean in this context?

Each AI query consumes a certain number of tokens — the compute units that LLMs charge for. Pulse shows exactly how many tokens each query type costs and what quality it produces. This lets agencies model costs before procurement and set guardrails before costs surprise anyone.

Can our agency's Microsoft Copilot connect to this?

Yes. Pulse exposes an MCP server that any MCP-compatible tool can connect to — including Microsoft Copilot, Claude, and custom agency tools. Your staff doesn't need a new interface. The data becomes accessible through whatever AI tool they're already using.

Is Pulse the same as TMC-React or Estimator?

No. TMC-React is purpose-built for TMC operators querying SOPs and contacts. Estimator is for project managers doing task-level cost estimates. Pulse is the broader traffic intelligence layer — a queryable aggregation of public data sources, and the MCP foundation that other tools build on top of.

What does "MCP server" mean for an agency that doesn't have engineering staff?

It means your agency's data becomes accessible from any AI tool that supports the MCP standard — which now includes Microsoft Copilot and major LLM platforms. You don't need internal engineers to benefit from it. Beacon handles the integration layer; your staff queries through whatever interface they already use.

Get in Touch

Want to see what your network knows?

We'll run a live Pulse demo using your state's public data — and show you the cost and quality breakdown in real time.

Schedule a demo