Smart Technologies for Traffic

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As congestion in the city becomes a major issue cities are turning to smart technology to improve road safety and reduce wasted energy. This helps both drivers and passengers save time, reduces carbon emissions and decreases traffic congestion.

The technology behind it is based on hardware and software. The first is the executing subcomponent, and the latter serves as the command and control center. Both are complemented with advanced sensors and processing technologies for example, like ANPR (automotive plate recognition) which collects data about the movement of vehicles and can detect road signs.

Based on the type of solution, smart traffic lights are able to process data on a device or transfer the data to a cloud storage. This type of solution allows for more advanced analysis and modeling to reduce congestion in traffic and to harmonize schedules of public transport. According to Carnegie Mellon University, this could cut travel time by 25 percent, while signal wait times are cut by 40% and emissions are cut by 20%..

In addition to decreasing traffic signals’ control delays Smart traffic light system can increase the flow of pedestrians and micromobility vehicles such as e-bikes and e-scooters. This is because they’re typically not able adhere to traditional traffic signal preemption rules. In London, e-scooter accidents increased by 2,800% during the first half of 2021. Therefore, it is crucial to include them in traffic light control.