Smart Technologies for Traffic

Smart technologies for traffic are a delicately weaved system of processes that aid transport personnel, drivers, and commuters to manage the flow and efficiency of traffic. Making use of advanced IoT equipment, sensors routers, cellular technology, and sensors intelligent traffic systems are able to automatically adjust control mechanisms such as traffic lights as well as 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 in-real-time information 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 traffic signals that were experimental in a heavily congested area of the city’s East Liberty, he saw immediate results: Drivers travelled 25 percent further and spent 40 percent less time idling in traffic jams than they had before.

The system works by collecting data from sensors that track the flow of traffic and altering their timings in real-time, as well as detecting pedestrians in intersections and giving them enough time to safely traverse the street. The sensors transmit their raw data to an centralized hub, which is then processed by artificial intelligence. It is then sent back to the intersections by 5G-enabled cell technologytraffic.com/2021/07/08/generated-post-2 networks.

These intelligent systems allow for better and more accurate modeling of scenarios that minimize risks, which human traffic managers are unable to accomplish. And all this in real-time. This is a major step towards Vision Zero, the goal of safe road-driving where cars and human beings can share the road without colliding.