Traffic Lights With Artificial Intelligence Could Help Your Terrible Daily Commute

Matt Posky
by Matt Posky
With the exceptions of a horrible wreck or having a child in the car that you aren’t particularly fond of, nothing drains the enjoyment out of a drive like being stuck in rush-hour traffic. Every second of idling, waiting, and creeping along city streets is another agonizing moment where you could be enjoying a backroad or at home eating dinner.Thankfully, IEEE Spectrum reports that a team of researchers is working to solve this problem with traffic lights that know all and see all.Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute have a startup called Surtrac that has installed traffic lights with artificial intelligence all over Pittsburgh. Surtrac — an acronym for Scalable Urban Traffic Control — collects traffic data from cameras and radar signals, allowing the network of lights to coordinate with each other to ensure flow through intersections happens as quickly as possible.The project started with nine intersections in 2012 and has grown to fifty, unbeknownst to most commuters. The startup eventually plans to implement its network across the entire city and ultimately bring the technology to other metropolitan hubs in need of silky smooth transit.Stating the case for the project, Carnegie Mellon University professor of robotics Stephen Smith told an audience at the White House Frontiers Conference that congestion costs the U.S. economy $121 billion every year and produces about 25 billion kilograms of excess carbon dioxide emissions.That’s a heap of money and pollution, although it’s probably the reduction in travel time that will get most people excited. In Pittsburgh, the AI light network reportedly reduced travel time by 25 percent and idling time by over 40 percent. That translates to more time at work, more time at home, and less time cursing your own existence while you are stuck in traffic.While other cities have complex traffic management systems, even some that adapt to changing circumstances and vehicle frequency, Surtrac is the only one where each light is responsible for its own intersection. This decentralized technique reduces the overall load on the network and makes it easier to scale up. The team has also begun working on a system to communicate directly with cars, allowing the network to notify drivers of traffic conditions in advance. It could also be used to prioritize certain types of traffic, such as emergency vehicles and city buses.There is no set date for when AI traffic lights will be exported to other U.S. cities. But they should be a welcome addition for anyone who has ever spent the better part of their commute staring at a John Kerry ’04 bumper sticker plastered on the back of a slow-moving Prius.[Image: Joisey Showaa/ Flickr ( CC BY-SA 2.0)]
Matt Posky
Matt Posky

A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.

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  • Tandoor Tandoor on Oct 22, 2016

    In a lot of areas. St. Louis doesn't even have basic sensors yet. After 2-3 minutes at a red with no cross traffic, the light finally changes and the green light 45 yards down the road turns red for no cross traffic. Many drivers just routinely run them.

  • Lorenzo Lorenzo on Oct 23, 2016

    I've noticed that signalized intersections move traffic better when they're flashing red in all directions than when they're working. At least the lines aren't as long, and people pay attention. America's first traffic safety "expert" William Phelps Eno detested signals and promoted the traffic circle, aka rotary, called roundabouts in the UK. He would probably have a heart attack if he saw how the Italians negotiate them today. Then again, he wouldn't be driving. He never had a license and was rich enough to employ a chauffeur.

  • Corey Lewis Think how dated this 80s design was by 1995!
  • Tassos Jong-iL Communist America Rises!
  • Merc190 A CB7 Accord with the 5 cylinder
  • MRF 95 T-Bird Daihatsu Copen- A fun Kei sized roadster. Equipped with a 660cc three, a five speed manual and a retractable roof it’s all you need. Subaru Levorg wagon-because not everyone needs a lifted Outback.
  • Merc190 I test drive one of these back in the day with an automatic, just to drive an Alfa, with a Busso no less. Didn't care for the dash design, would be a fun adventure to find some scrapped Lancia Themas or Saab 900's and do some swapping to make car even sweeter. But definitely lose the ground effects.
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