Making Traffic a Thing of the Past

Americans wasted a whopping 3.4 billion hours in 2021 thanks to traffic, according to research from connected car analytics company INRIX, which also noted that this equates to 36 hours lost per person. The numbers are clear: Even with drops in traffic thanks to new travel patterns in the wake of the pandemic, we still lose an entire workweek each year to traffic. Soon enough, artificial intelligence (AI) may be able to alleviate--or fully solve--the problem. Today, researchers and companies are working to develop AI-powered systems that tackle the problem of traffic from a number of angles. For instance, Intelligent Traffic Control of Tel Aviv, Israel, has developed a solution that collects data from traffic cams, then regulates traffic signals to optimally route vehicles.