Ideaz

One of the largest issues in urban cities is traffic congestion; it squanders precious time, money, and gas and increases pollution. General traffic lights have a fixed timer that follows a predetermined timed sequence like green for 20 seconds, orange for 5 seconds, and then red for 30 seconds, and it goes back to green in a loop. However, this can lead to traffic congestion and is highly inefficient, as the traffic on each road is different, and some might need more time for the light to be green to avoid traffic congestion, and some will need less. Even in smart traffic light cities, there is no integration with real-time traffic data, public transport, and emergency vehicles.

My idea is to build a traffic control system that uses artificial intelligence, which basically uses real-time information from sensors at intersections or signals, CCTV cameras, and cars that use GPS to dynamically change the time for each signal for a road; the time in green is higher for a road with more cars and less for one with fewer cars.

Current solutions for traffic congestion are like Google Maps or Apple Maps, and these route people to a different route, but they don’t solve the problem of traffic congestion. Likewise, governments test smart lights, but they are on a smaller scale and don’t have citywide linkage.

Implementing a traffic control system that uses AI in place of traditional traffic signals will benefit commuters daily, as it will save them time and reduce their stress. Another upside is that due to reduced congestion, they will have improved fuel economy and lower levels of pollution. Most importantly, emergency services also will have better response times, and this will help save lives.

This problem is important to me because I notice traffic congestion on a daily basis in my city, burning away hours of productivity and causing frustration. With current technology, we can make traffic not just tolerable but predictable and efficient.