As congestion in urban areas is a major issue, cities are turning to advanced technologies for traffic management to increase the safety of roads and cut down on wasted energy. This helps drivers and passengers save time, cuts emissions and decreases traffic congestion.

The technology behind this is based on two principal components: hardware and software. The former is the executing component, while the latter serves as the command and control center. Both are enhanced by processing and sensing technologies such as ANPR (automotive license plate recognition) which collects data on vehicles’ movements and is able to detect traffic signals.

Depending on the solution used, data can be processed on-device by intelligent traffic lights or transmitted to a cloud. The latter provides more advanced models and predictive analysis to stop traffic congestion and harmonize public transportation schedules. This way, they can reduce average travel times by 25%, cut down time to signal by 40%, and lower emissions by 20 percent according to Carnegie Mellon University.

A smart traffic light system in addition to reducing the time it takes to get traffic signals they can also improve the flow of pedestrians and of micromobility vehicles such as e-bikes or electric scooters. They are unable to adhere to traditional traffic law regarding preemption of signals. In London for instance, e-scooter crashes increased 2800% in the initial half of 2021. therefore it is vital to factor them into traffic light control.

technologytraffic.com/2020/05/21/the-benefits-of-using-modern-traffic-technologies-by-data-room