WEBVTT - How Could Smart Traffic Lights Work? 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey 0:00:07.840 --> 0:00:11.400 brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum here. If you've ever been in 0:00:11.400 --> 0:00:14.800 a motor vehicle in a city or suburb, you've likely 0:00:14.880 --> 0:00:18.279 experienced the frustration of being stuck in a long line 0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:21.479 of vehicles at a traffic light. You wait for what 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:24.720 seems like forever until the red turns to green, but 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:27.720 then only crawl forward a few feet before the light 0:00:27.800 --> 0:00:31.480 turns yellow and red again. Once it's finally your turn 0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:34.199 to get across the intersection, you may only get to 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:37.640 roll a few hundred yards before you're confronted by another 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:41.559 light about to turn red. Even in the year, a 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:45.320 year in which the pandemic shutdowns reduced traffic, drivers in 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:49.440 the United States experienced slowdowns that added twenty seven hours 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:52.839 to their commuting time and increased their fuel costs by 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:56.880 six hundred and five dollars per driver. And that was 0:00:57.040 --> 0:01:01.440 down considerably from non pandemic years of slowdowns added fifty 0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:05.679 four hours to commutes in twenty nine. With streets and 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:10.080 highways returning to normal traffic density and gasoline costs soaring, 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:14.640 this year's numbers are likely to be much higher. There's 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:19.000 got to be a better way. Unfortunately, engineering visionaries have 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:21.800 been thinking the same thing for years and have developed 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:27.399 a potential answer, smart traffic lights. These monitor incoming traffic 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:31.400 and continuously adjust their timing to keep vehicles flowing as 0:01:31.400 --> 0:01:35.200 smoothly as possible, communicating with other lights along routes, and 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:40.480 working together to prevent log jams from developing. Numerous companies, 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:44.080 large and small, are pushing smart traffic light technology ahead. 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:48.120 For the article this episode is based on how Stuff Works, 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:51.920 spoke with Carnegie Mellon University research professor Stephen Smith, who 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:54.640 began working on the problem back in two thousand nine. 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:57.640 That's when a local Pittsburgh business leader approached him with 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:01.120 concerns that worsening grid luck might interfere with the city's 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:04.400 efforts to transform itself from a smokestack city into a 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:08.160 technology and healthcare hub. A Smith, a faculty member at 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:11.520 Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute who studies the use of artificial 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:16.520 intelligence to coordinate large systems in transportation, manufacturing, and other fields, 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:21.320 developed traffic signals equipped with individual computers and software that 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:25.720 have AI capabilities, which can use cameras, radar, or inductive 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:29.160 loop detectors in the pavement to spot approaching vehicles and 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:33.359 adjust the signals timing. When Smith installed a few experimental 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:37.519 prototypes at intersections in East Liberty, a heavily congested area 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:42.480 on Pittsburgh's East End, he immediately got results. Drivers average 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:46.640 travel time to get to their destinations decreased by and 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:51.240 they spent forty percent less time idling and traffic jams. 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:55.240 Since then, Smith's company, called rapid Flow Technologies, has installed 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:59.400 its smart traffic management technology in twenty two North American cities. 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:03.799 Smith said, we generate the timing plans in real time, 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:07.239 and so we watch the traffic that's approaching the intersection, 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:10.640 and then in real time we generate a signal timing 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:14.280 plan for moving that traffic through the intersection, and so 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:18.720 we're actually scheduling the actual traffic on the road. A 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:21.440 Once an intersection builds up a timing plan and starts 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:24.160 to execute it, it will send to its downstream neighbors, 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:26.760 for example, what traffic it expects to be sending their 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:31.400 way according to its schedule. Smart traffic lights like these 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:34.760 could become even more powerful as increasing numbers of cars 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:38.800 and trucks employ connected vehicle technology, which could enable them 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:41.960 to communicate both with one another and with infrastructure such 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:46.640 as traffic signals. Instead of smart traffic lights relying upon 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:49.960 spotting vehicles as they come in range of cameras, for example, 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:53.240 they could make decisions based on messages that they're receiving 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:56.920 from the cars about their location and direction, or even 0:03:56.960 --> 0:04:02.120 their entire planned route. In advance. Smart traffic signals may 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:04.760 even make it safer for cars and trucks to share 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:08.840 streets with cyclists, pedestrians, and people using mobility devices such 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:12.080 as scooters. A smart traffic light could have the ability 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:15.440 to detect pedestrians at street corners and calculate how much 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:19.080 time they'll need to get across an intersection safely. Smith said, 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:21.719 if you're moving with a walker or something like that, 0:04:21.960 --> 0:04:24.120 it knows how long you need to get across the street, 0:04:24.520 --> 0:04:27.480 so it communicates that to the signal in advance, so 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:29.600 that when you do get the green light, you'll be 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:33.640 assured to get enough time to cross. Meanwhile, an Israeli 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:38.000 company called No Traffic takes a somewhat different approach. Instead 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:41.960 of decentralized smart traffic signals, it provides cities with plug 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:45.479 and play Internet of Things sensors for intersections, which include 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:48.719 cameras and radar, and combines them with a cloud based 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:53.160 virtual management center. The effect is the same though, autonomous 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:56.560 optimization of traffic flow for everyone on the road, reducing 0:04:56.560 --> 0:05:00.480 emissions and making roads safer. How stuff Works also spoke 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:04.279 via email with Vera Resnik, the company's vice president of marketing. 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:08.520 He said, we demonstrated how our platform can potentially reduce 0:05:08.600 --> 0:05:11.280 the number of drivers driving through a red light by 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:16.159 an average of almost also by eliminating time wasted and 0:05:16.200 --> 0:05:19.680 clogged traffic, smart traffic lights could play a significant role 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:24.599 in combating climate change. Study by Juniper Research found that 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:28.240 smart traffic management systems could lower global emissions by two 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:34.000 twenty six million tons by However, although the idea of 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:38.000 adaptive signal control systems is gaining traction in the United States, 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:43.000 it's still far from being universally accepted and implemented. Part 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:45.720 of the reason maybe the cost. According to the U 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:49.480 S Department of Transportation, the cost of deploying certain intelligent 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:54.600 transportation systems technologies is upward of twenty thousand dollars per intersection, 0:05:55.160 --> 0:05:58.160 and the numbers for these systems vary widely depending on 0:05:58.200 --> 0:06:01.880 location and any intersect and remodels or upgrades that might 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:05.680 be necessary. As Smith thinks it will take a couple 0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:08.520 of decades for this technology to become the norm, and 0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:11.520 even that could be a generous estimate and depending on 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:15.320 how companies and municipalities alike are able and willing to 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:24.279 adopt the technology and cooperate with each other. Today's episode 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:27.240 is based on the article going Nowhere Fast Smart traffic 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:29.800 lights can help ease gridlock on how stuff works dot com, 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:32.640 written by Patrick J. Keiger. Brain Stuff is production of 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:35.000 I Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot Com, 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:38.040 and it's produced by Tyler Klang. For more podcasts from 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:41.160 my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 0:06:41.240 --> 0:06:43.080 or wherever you listen into your favorite shows.