First Canadian city to get emergency vehicle traffic signal pre-emption system

Quebec City will become the first major metropolitan area in Canada to deploy connected vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) technology to automatically give emergency vehicles green lights at traffic signals.

One of the USA’s leading providers of intelligent transportation infrastructure technology, Georgia-based Applied Information Inc. (AII), has been selected by Quebec City to provide the connected vehicle (CV) technology that will give emergency vehicles pre-emptive green lights at traffic signals, reducing their response times and improving safety at intersections. Orange Traffic of Mirabel in Canada is AII’s partner on the project that includes installing the technology at 440 traffic signals and on 80 emergency vehicles. The company is the largest manufacturer of LED traffic signs in Canada and has installed more than 10,000 traffic cabinets across the country’s roadways.

Applied Information’s glance priority and pre-emption technology uses LTE cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) connectivity, in parallel with redundant 900MHz radio, which enables the emergency vehicle to command multiple traffic signals in the direction of travel and change the light to green or hold the light on green. Traffic in front of the emergency vehicle is kept moving while oncoming and cross traffic is brought safely to a halt. The GPS used in the vehicles’ on-board units (OBUs) is enhanced with ‘dead reckoning’, so the device can still calculate and track their locations even in places such as road tunnels or under overpasses. Deployments in other cities indicate a time saving of about 12 seconds or more per light using the technology. The deployment is scheduled to begin in November and is expected to be completed by March 2021.

“Working with our partners Orange Traffic, we are pleased to have been selected by Quebec City to provide this life-saving technology for its first responders,” said Bryan Mulligan, president of AII. “As our first major international deployment, Quebec City is a significant milestone for the company and speaks to the utility and versatility of our technology platform.”

Orange Traffic’s president, Roger Fugère, added, “Quebec City is taking a national leadership role in deploying innovative traffic solutions that will help save lives on a daily basis. We are very excited to be the city’s partner, along with Applied Information, to improve safety and reduce response time of emergency personnel when responding to someone in need.”