With the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) due to open in Las Vegas tomorrow (January 5), the city authorities and the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada have announced a program to deploy new technology to make their streets smarter and to allow traffic to move more efficiently.
In partnership with Acyclica, a leading provider of cloud-based, high-resolution, real-time traffic signal and congestion information, and traffic signal information, Las Vegas is aiming to lead the nation with its smart city initiatives by installing a traffic-monitoring system that uses technology to help determine how well vehicles are moving (or not) and monitors the state of traffic signals in real time. Acyclica will be installing sensors at each of the region’s 2,300 intersections and across its multi-jurisdiction corridors to provide the city and drivers with a more holistic perspective on the area’s traffic. The sensors will be used by the city to monitor and control traffic movement from its traffic control center, where engineers can change traffic-signal timing, check various streets and intersections, and analyze trends in real time.
In addition, any driver in Las Vegas will soon be able to have access to a new type of V2I (vehicle-to-infrastructure) smart city technology that allows traffic lights to communicate with their cars so they can know when the light is going to turn green. Equally important, autonomous cars will also have access to real-time traffic light data so they know when to stop or slow down. As a vehicle approaches a traffic light anywhere in the Las Vegas area, the in-vehicle system car will be able to show the driver the status of the light. The system can also tell cars and drivers the optimum speed along a stretch of road to ensure that they can proceed through the maximum number of green lights. As part of a regional goal to achieve zero traffic fatalities, Acyclica will enable real-time traffic light information, accessible through open APIs (application programming interfaces), to promote safe content delivery while drivers are stopped at traffic signals.
Audi recently announced Traffic Light Information as part of its Connect subscription service, available with selected 2017 Audi models. Audi is the first to take advantage of the new technology, but any car manufacturer can build it in to their dashboards or devices, as Acyclica also works with other automotive OEMs to provide traffic data and traffic signal data services. When CES 2017 kicks off tomorrow, the Las Vegas authorities expect it will herald the dawn of a new world where cars can talk to their surroundings to reduce traffic congestion and reduce accidents, and traffic signals can provide more information to drivers.
