Smart technologies for traffic are a delicately weaved web of processes that help transport personnel, drivers, and commuters regulate the flow and efficiency of traffic. Intelligent traffic systems can adjust the controls of traffic lights and freeway onramp meters as well as bus rapid transit lanes. They also utilize advanced IoT routers and hardware that use cellular technology as well as cell networks. They can also assist in forecasting shifts in traffic demand, and offer 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 couple of traffic signals, which were merely experimental, in a crowded area of the city’s East Liberty, he saw immediate results. Drivers drove 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 which monitor traffic and adjust their timings on the fly. It detects pedestrians at intersections, and allows them enough time to safely cross the street. The sensors then transmit their raw data to a central hub, where it’s processed by artificial intelligence and then sent back moved here to the intersections via 5G-enabled cellular networks.

These advanced systems also enable better, more precise modeling of risk-reducing scenarios that a human traffic supervisor could not achieve – and all in real-time. This is a major step towards Vision Zero, the goal of accident-free road driving where cars and human beings can share the road without colliding.