Smart technologies for traffic are a delicately interwoven web of processes that help transport workers, drivers, and commuters control the flow and efficiency of traffic. Intelligent traffic systems are able to adjust the control mechanisms, such as traffic lights and onramp meters for freeways as well as bus rapid transit lanes. They also make use of advanced IoT technologytraffic.com/2021/07/08/generated-post-2/ routers and hardware, cellular technology and cellular networks. They can also forecast changes in traffic demand, and provide in-real-time information to road users.
An excellent example is the traffic signal system that is adaptive in Pittsburgh. When Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) professor Stephen Smith installed his first few traffic signals that were experimental in a highly congested part of the city’s East Liberty, he saw immediate results: Drivers travelled 25 percent further and spent 40 percent less time in traffic jams than they had before.
The system works by collecting data from sensors that track traffic and adjust their timings on the fly. It also detects pedestrians at intersections and gives them enough time to cross the street safely. The sensors transmit their raw data to a central hub, where it is processed by artificial intelligence. It is then sent back to the intersections through 5G-enabled cell networks.
These systems are also able to enable better, more precise modeling of risk-reducing scenarios that a human traffic manager could not achieve and all in real-time. This is an important step toward Vision Zero, a goal of safe and secure driving in which motorists and pedestrians share the road without collisions.
