AI-based traffic control gets the green light

At the end of my Melbourne street there's a new system being installed for traffic management. I hadn't even noticed the extra cameras, vehicle and pedestrian sensors, LiDAR and radar on the intersection, but these tools are all part of a larger system, with researchers hoping that a 2.5km section of Nicholson Street, in Carlton, will eventually be run by an artificial intelligence (AI). This might sound a little nerve-wracking to the average commuter, but these "smart corridors" are popping up around the world – systems that promise to provide us with less traffic and better safety. "Many cities around the world have dedicated corridors or smart motorways that are equipped with sensors, CCTV cameras and AI for predicting the traffic flow, speed, or occupancy at a specific moment in time," says Dr Adriana-Simona Mihaita, an AI infrastructure researcher at the University of Technology Sydney, who was not involved in the research. "Accurate predictions will provide transport operators with the means to make informed decisions and apply new control plans, or adjust the current ones according to ongoing traffic or eventual disruptions."