Smart Technologies for Traffic

A delicately interwoven network of processes, smart technology for traffic help transport personnel commuters, drivers and drivers control traffic flow and efficiency. Utilizing the latest IoT devices, sensors routers, sensors and cellular technology smart traffic systems can modify control mechanisms in a dynamic manner, such as traffic lights as well as freeway on-ramp meters bus rapid transit lanes highway message boards, and even speed limits. They can also assist in forecasting shifts in traffic demand and provide a range of real-time information to road users.

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

The system collects data from sensors that monitor the traffic flow and adjust their timings on the fly and also identifying pedestrians near intersections and giving them enough time to walk across the street. The sensors then send their raw data to a central location where it is processed by artificial Intelligence and then sent back to the technologytraffic.com/2021/12/29/generated-post-3/ intersections via 5G-enabled cellular networks.

These advanced systems permit better and more accurate modeling of scenarios that reduce the risk that human traffic managers cannot achieve. And all of this is in real-time. This is a big step toward Vision Zero, a goal of a safe, accident-free road in which motorists and pedestrians share the road with no collisions.