This paper presents a 1/10th scale mini-city platform used as a testing bed for evaluating autonomous and connected vehicles. Using the mini-city platform, we can evaluate different driving scenarios including human-driven and autonomous driving. We provide a unique, visual feature-rich environment for evaluating computer vision methods. The conducted experiments utilize onboard sensors mounted on a robotic platform we built, allowing them to navigate in a controlled real-world urban environment. The designed city is occupied by cars, stop signs, a variety of residential and business buildings, and complex intersections mimicking an urban area. Furthermore, We have designed an intelligent infrastructure at one of the intersections in the city which helps safer and more efficient navigation in the presence of multiple cars and pedestrians. We have used the mini-city platform for the analysis of three different applications: city mapping, depth estimation in challenging occluded environments, and smart infrastructure for connected vehicles. Our smart infrastructure is among the first to develop and evaluate Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communication at intersections. The intersection-related result shows how inaccuracy in perception, including mapping and localization, can affect safety. The proposed mini-city platform can be considered as a baseline environment for developing research and education in intelligent transportation systems.

This is a summary paper of a use case of a Robotdog dedicated to guide visually impaired people in complex environment like a smart intersection. In such scenarios, the Robotdog has to autonomously decide whether it is safe to cross the intersection or not in order to further guide the human. We leverage data sharing and collaboration between the Robotdog and other autonomous systems operating in the same environment. We propose a system architecture for autonomous systems through a separation of a collaborative decision layer, to enable collective decision making processes, where data about the environment, relevant to the Robotdog decision, together with evidences for trustworthiness about other systems and the environment are shared.

Smart mobility infrastructure management company Iteris has unveiled a new artificial intelligence-powered smart sensor for smart intersections. Iteris claims Vantage Apex is the industry's first 1,080p high-definition (HD) video and four-dimensional (4D) radar sensor with integrated artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. Vantage Apex identifies objects using Iteris' AI video analytics, image library, high-performance GPU/CPU-based computing, machine learning and neural network algorithms. This enables high-precision and detailed classification of many different vehicle types and vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists. According to Iteris, using forward-fire radar technology to'virtually' eliminate occlusion, the Vantage Apex hybrid sensor uses 4D/HD radar technology with a field of view exceeding 600 feet.

The Las Vegas self-driving shuttle is one of many smart cities projects. Welcome to Las Vegas, city of smart lights, self-driving shuttles and startups. Away from the glittering, casino-strewn area known as the Strip is a far more pedestrian-looking area. It's just a 15-minute drive from Las Vegas Boulevard, but it feels like a different world. It's quiet downtown, because while the Strip was thronging with 200,000 extra visitors for CES 2020 last week, the streets here were cold and empty.

A collaborative research group has developed a conceptual traffic system that would enable driverless vehicles to whizz through intersections without colliding, eliminating the need for signals ( movie). Researchers from MIT, the Swiss Institute of Technology and the Italian National Research Council came up with the idea for the slot-based interaction called Light Traffic. Their system would use sensors to keep driverless cars at a safe distance from each other and allocate slots as they arrive at a crossroads. Speeds would be automatically adjusted on approach to ensure the vehicles take it in turns to pass across without having to stop. "Traffic intersections are particularly complex spaces, because you have two flows of traffic competing for the same piece of real estate," said Carlo Ratti, director of the MIT Senseable City Lab.

Honda's exhibit at CES 2020 will feature global debuts of concepts that integrate connected, autonomous, shared and electric (CASE) technologies in new mobility products and services. Some of the eye-catching technology concepts and prototypes include the augmented driving concept, the energy management solutions and'Safe Swarm' and'Smart Intersection' prototypes. This augmented driving concept features a seamless transition from autonomous to semi-autonomous driving operation. This system is constantly on standby, ready to intervene and control the vehicle when needed. Various sensors in the vehicle continuously read the user's intention to smoothly shift between these modes, creating an instinctive driving experience.

KITCHENER, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Miovision, a global leader in smart city technology, today launched the next generation of traffic technology. Using a type of artificial intelligence (AI) called deep learning, Miovision SmartSense brings AI to the roadside to help cities sense and understand what's happening at the intersection in real time. SmartSense can detect the presence and movement of vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists and use this data to improve congestion and safety. The new Miovision SmartSense technology completes the company's TrafficLink solution, which also includes a 360-degree fisheye camera and an IoT connected hub that allows traffic professionals to remotely access the intersection. Together, these components make up a powerful AI toolkit that uncovers insights about the intersection.

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer. From Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" to Bruce Springsteen's blue-collar Romeo racing in the street, cars have long been central to America's mythology and self-image. Even the type of car one drives--hybrid or convertible, minivan or sportscar--can often serve as a shorthand description of its owner.

Stop-start journeys punctuated with annoying queues at traffic lights could become a thing of the past. In the city of tomorrow, traffic lights will be replaced by intelligent intersections enabling cars with sensors embedded to automatically weave around each other, town planners have claimed. Such smart junctions, where lanes of cars merge harmoniously from one to the next, would cut traffic jams while enabling twice as many vehicles to use a road. The concept was developed by researchers at MIT's Senseable City Lab who believe such junctions will become a reality with the take up of cars fitted with sensors that enable them to'talk' to one another. Connected and self-driving vehicles are predicted to lead to safer and more efficient cities, for example.