Smart technologies for traffic are a delicately woven web of processes that help transport personnel, drivers, and commuters to manage the flow and efficiency of traffic. Utilizing advanced IoT sensors, hardware routers, cellular technology, and sensors intelligent traffic systems dynamically adjust control mechanisms like traffic lights, freeway on-ramp meters bus rapid transit lanes, highway message boards and even speed limits. They can also help forecast shifts in traffic demand, and provide a variety of real-time information to road users.

Pittsburgh’s adaptive traffic signal system is a great example. When Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) professor Stephen Smith installed his first few traffic signals for experimentation in a heavily congested area of the city’s East Liberty, he saw immediate results. Drivers drove 25 percent farther and spent 40 percent less time in traffic jams than they had before.

The system works by capturing data from sensors which monitor the flow of traffic and adjust their timing 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 into an centralized hub, which is then processed by artificial intelligence. It is then sent back to the intersections via 5G-enabled cell networks.

These intelligent systems allow for better and more accurate modeling of scenarios that minimize the risk that human traffic managers cannot click here for more info do. All this in real-time. This is a significant step towards Vision Zero, a goal of a safe, accident-free road in which both vehicles and humans share the road without collisions.