smart technologies for traffic

A delicately interwoven network of processes, smart technology for traffic can help transport workers motorists, commuters and drivers manage traffic flow and efficiency. Intelligent traffic systems can alter the mechanisms that control traffic, like traffic lights and onramp meters for freeways as well as bus rapid transit lanes. They also use advanced IoT hardware and routers with cellular technology, as well as wireless networks. They also can forecast changes in traffic demand, and provide real-time information for road users.

Pittsburgh’s adaptive traffic signal system is an excellent example. When Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) professor Stephen Smith installed his first few traffic signals for experimentation in a highly congested part of the city’s East Liberty, he saw immediate results. Drivers drove 25 percent further and spent 40 percent less time in traffic jams than before.

The system collects data from sensors that monitor the traffic flow and adjust their timings on the fly. It also detects pedestrians in intersections, and gives them enough time to safely cross the street. The sensors send their raw data into a central hub, which is then processed by artificial intelligence. The data is then transmitted back to the intersections using 5G-enabled cell networks.

These systems can also provide better, more precise simulation of risk-reducing scenarios that a human traffic planner could not manage and all in real time. This is a major step towards Vision Zero, a goal of a safe, accident-free road in which motorists and pedestrians share the road without collisions.