An innovative trial of connected vehicle technology in the UK city of Manchester is using open data provided by TRL Software’s SCOOT 7 traffic management software to create a demonstration app that helps drivers minimize wait times at traffic lights.
KL Systems, an intelligent transport consultancy and engineering firm, is using this data to generate in-vehicle alerts to inform drivers how long there is to go until the next change of lights. The trial is part of a wider deployment that also examines the provision of in-vehicle messages that can instantly alert drivers to hazards on the road.
Thanks to SCOOT 7 data provided by TRL Software, KL Systems is able to show that live second-by-second traffic light information can be fed to vehicles without the need for additional, expensive hardware to be installed. The KL Systems app tells the driver how long they have until the next change of lights and the optimal speed to drive at in order to minimize time spent at red lights.
Although this is not the first Green Light Optimal Speed Advisory (GLOSA) deployment, it is one of the few still active and providing real-world benefits.
“Once we had created the app for displaying the information to the driver and then successfully linked it up to interpret the data that SCOOT 7 was firing into the cloud, there was no need to install any hardware, or take any down afterwards,” says George Brown, founder of KL Systems. “The open data is still being transmitted, because that’s what SCOOT 7 does, and our app continues to work with it.”
“When it comes to GLOSA, the potential benefits are massive in terms of journey times, fuel savings and emission reductions, all of it realized by cutting down on the time spent at red lights,” Brown continues. “However, we’re still quite far from seeing GLOSA available to the general public, because we’d need to ensure people can use the system without getting distracted or it encouraging dangerous behavior such as accelerating excessively to make a green light. That risk could be tackled with good system designs that would only inform the driver when they need to slow down rather than speed up.”
“We’re excited that KL Systems has been able to capitalize on our open-data philosophy by using our market-leading UTC SCOOT,” says Subu Kamal, head of product at TRL Software. “We strongly believe that open data drives innovation and liberates legacy-locked industries. There is no better evidence to support this view than KL Systems’ innovative solution, which drives down costs while providing a better end-user experience. It’s also fantastic that it is being done on the ground, in one of the UK’s biggest and most progressive cities. We are focused on making sure that we continue to push the boundaries of innovation for our customers (and ultimately the users of their road networks) to ensure that we keep roads flowing, make them safer, reduce congestion and help to deliver on clean-air targets.”
TRL’s UTC software is designed to work with any hardware in a user-friendly, easy-to-learn, cost-effective manner that supports all modes of transport – saving users up to 60% on the total cost of ownership compared to other traffic management software on the market.
Images: Adobe Stock
