A delicately interwoven network of processes, smart technologies for traffic help transport personnel, drivers and commuters manage traffic flow and efficiency. Intelligent traffic systems can alter the control mechanisms, such as traffic lights as well as freeway onramp meters, and bus rapid transit lanes. They also employ advanced IoT hardware and routers with cellular technology, as well as mobile networks. They can also predict changes in traffic demand and provide real-time information for road users.
A good example is the adaptive traffic signal system in Pittsburgh. When Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) professor Stephen Smith installed his first couple of traffic signals, which were merely experimental, in a crowded area of the city’s East Liberty, he saw immediate results: drivers traveled 25 percent further and spent 40 percent less time idling in traffic jams than before.
The system collects data from sensors that track the traffic coming in and then adjusting their timing on the fly in addition to identifying pedestrians near intersections, and giving them time to safely walk across the street. The sensors send their raw data to a central center where it’s processed by artificial intelligence and then sent back to www.technologytraffic.com/2022/07/25/start-using-a-virtual-data-room-today-to-save-time-money/ the intersections using 5G-enabled cellular networks.
These advanced systems also allow for better, more precise modeling of risk-reducing scenarios that a human traffic planner could not achieve – all in real-time. This is a major step towards Vision Zero, the goal of a road with no accidents where both vehicles and humans can share the road without collision.
