Smart Technologies for Traffic

A delicately interwoven network of processes, smart technologies for traffic help transport personnel as well as commuters and drivers to manage traffic flow and efficiency. Using advanced IoT devices, sensors routers, cellular technology, and sensors smart traffic systems can automatically adjust control mechanisms such as traffic lights, freeway on-ramp meters, bus rapid transit lanes, highway message boards, and even speed limits. They can also predict changes in traffic demand and provide real-time data to road users.

An excellent example is the adaptive traffic signal system in Pittsburgh. When Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) professor Stephen Smith installed his first few traffic signals that were experimental in a crowded area of the city’s East Liberty, he saw immediate results: Drivers travelled 25 percent farther and spent 40 percent less time idling in traffic jams than they had before.

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

These advanced systems also enable better, more accurate technologytraffic.com/2021/07/08/generated-post simulation of risk-reducing scenarios that a human traffic manager could not accomplish – all in real-time. This is a major step toward Vision Zero, a goal of accident-free driving in which motorists and pedestrians share the road with no collisions.