Cities are shifting to smart technology for traffic to cut down on energy consumption and improve road safety as traffic congestion in urban areas becomes an increasing problem. Apart from that, it assists in reducing time for both drivers and passengers, lower emissions, and reduce traffic jams.
The technology behind it is based on software and hardware. The former provides the executing subcomponent, and the latter serves as the command and control center. Both are complemented with advanced technology for sensing and processing, such as ANPR (automotive plate recognition), which captures data regarding vehicle movements and can detect road signs.
Depending on the type of solution, smart traffic lights are able to process data on-device or send it to a cloud-based location. This allows for more sophisticated modeling and analysis to reduce traffic congestion and coordinate the schedules of public transportation. This way, they can cut average travel times by 25%, shorten time to signal by 40%, and cut down on emissions by 20 percent, according to Carnegie Mellon University.
A well-designed traffic light system, in addition to reducing the delays of technologytraffic.com/2021/07/08/generated-post-2 traffic signals and improving the flow of pedestrians and of micromobility vehicles such as e-bikes or electric scooters. They’re not able to conform to the traditional traffic signal preemption laws. In London the e-scooter accident rate increased by 2,800% during the first half of 2021. It is therefore crucial to include them in traffic lights controls.