At the ITS World Congress in LA (September 18-22) Swarco has announced a new partnership with Canadian start-up MicroTraffic, to add near miss information to the MyCity software suite, helping to improve intersection safety, particularly for vulnerable road users.
The “MyCity Near Miss” prototype combines MicroTraffic’s near-miss data with MyCity’s map visualization and connectivity to a variety of sensors and data streams. The objective of combining two products is to become the premier source of risk management data for smart cities and smart cars pursuing vision zero.
The prototype has already been implemented in Los Angeles, Pasadena and Wolverhampton (UK), using real data, where the users are able to see the risk level of their intersections. The basic data includes severity of near-misses, type of traffic mode involved in the near misses, a detailed visualization of near misses via a bar chart and access to the video clips of near misses.
Additionally, cities that implemented certain measures to improve their intersection safety are able to visualize the before and after effect of their implementations and therefore assess the effectiveness of their interventions.
MicroTraffic calculates near misses and their kinetic energy and has the ability to classify road users as vehicles, pedestrians, bikes and e-scooters. The value of near-miss data is to provide cities with accurate road safety information on their intersections and allow them to take proactive measures, such as reprogramming the signal phases, prioritizing vulnerable road users or applying special road markings.
“Road safety has always been a focal point for Swarco,” says Swarco CEO Michael Schuch. “We are seeking innovative approaches to prevent injuries and fatalities. Teaming up with a start-up allowed us to implement the feature in MyCity through a great team effort in an agile process taking less than a week.”
“We are excited to work with Swarco because of their commitment to road safety and innovation on a worldwide scale. Swarco’s intersection controllers offer the chance to automate safety interventions, while the MyCity platform allows engineers to work with safety data in a powerful context”, says MicroTraffic CEO Craig Milligan.
The collaboration follows MicroTraffic winning a challenge posed by the Swarco Innovation Hub at Intertraffic Amsterdam in April this year, in the ITSUP area of the exhibition. This led to a full immersion week in the Tyrolean mountains to develop jointly with Swarco experts in a rapid prototyping approach the integration of near-miss analyses in the urban mobility management platform MyCity.
