A delicately interwoven network of processes, smart technology for traffic aid transport personnel motorists, commuters and drivers manage traffic flow and efficiency. Utilizing the latest IoT devices, sensors, routers and cellular technology, intelligent traffic systems can dynamically adjust control mechanisms like traffic lights and freeway on-ramp meters bus rapid transit lanes highway message boards, and even speed limits. They also can forecast changes in traffic demand and provide real-time data to road users.
Pittsburgh’s adaptive traffic signal system is an excellent example. When Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) professor Stephen Smith installed his first few experimental traffic signals in a highly congested part of the city’s East Liberty, he saw immediate results: Drivers travelled 25 percent faster and spent 40 percent less time in traffic jams than before.
The system works by capturing data from sensors that track the flow of traffic and adjust their modern traffic technologies by board room timing on the fly. It also detects pedestrians in intersections, and allows them enough time to safely cross the street. The sensors send their raw data into an centralized hub, which is then processed by artificial intelligence. The data is then transmitted back to the intersections by 5G-enabled cell networks.
These systems can provide better and more accurate simulation of scenarios that minimize the risk, something that human traffic managers cannot attain. And all of this is in real-time. This is a big step towards Vision Zero, a goal of accident-free driving in which cars and human beings share the road with no collisions.