Traffic congestion costs more than $300 billion each year in the U.S. alone, according to INRIX, due to lost productivity, increased transportation cost, wasted fuel and other factors. New smart city advancements aim to alleviate traffic congestion with the help of new technologies, including cellular connectivity, artificial intelligence, new sensors and connected vehicle technologies.
Imagine that a strong storm sweeps through a city and high winds knock traffic signals down from wires and off poles. In addition to creating unsafe driving conditions, these outages can slow emergency response efforts and require emergency personnel to direct traffic when their services might be needed elsewhere. These side effects can quickly add up in cost and social impact.
Imagine that you’re merging onto the highway and your vehicle suddenly takes care of the driving. The car accelerates to fit bumper-to-bumper with a group of vehicles traveling at a fast speed. You’re free to make the most of your commute without worrying about sudden congestion or other dangers of highway driving.
Imagine driving down a street and your car suddenly brakes. You didn’t notice, but a pedestrian was running across the road and passed right in front of your vehicle. Technology in the pedestrian’s pocket communicated with your vehicle to stop it in time, and what once could have been yet another traffic fatality became a minor inconvenience.
Anyone who has driven in Los Angeles will attest that traffic congestion is a major problem, but what they may not realize is that the city ranks worst for congestion in the entire world. In fact, the list of top 25 worst cities for traffic is dominated by cities in the United States—all of them large and fast-growing.
Bryan Mulligan, President of Applied Information, Inc., was recently interviewed by host Mike Strawn on his radio show Case and Point. During the interview, Mulligan shared his thoughts on the transportation industry and the significant role that technology continues to play in the advancement of safety and efficiency.
President Trump’s decision to leave the Paris Climate Accord drew global criticism. While the federal government isn’t taking action, nearly 250 cities across the country have joined the Mayors National Climate Action Agenda to uphold the emissions targets and other environmental commitments contained within the Paris agreement. Cars and trucks
Many cities manually collect traffic data and base traffic management designs on industry standards rather than local information. For example, engineers might count cars at a certain intersection at various times of the day and then time signals based on a standard set of recommendations. The problem is that traffic
Preemption systems can dramatically decrease response times for emergency vehicles. Nationwide studies have demonstrated a 15 to 50 percent reduction in response times and a 70 percent decrease in crashes involving emergency vehicles. These improvements have a big impact on the outcomes of medical emergencies and greatly improved traffic safety.
There’s no doubt that slower vehicles make roads safer for pedestrians, bicyclists, and other motorists, but what’s the best way to persuade motorists to reduce speeds without creating traffic congestion? Traffic calming techniques use physical devices to accomplish these goals. In this article, we will take a closer look at
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