Cities are shifting to smart technology for traffic to cut down on energy consumption and increase road safety as urban traffic congestion is becoming a growing issue. Among other things, this helps to save time for both drivers and passengers, lower emissions, and reduce traffic congestion.

The technology behind this is based on two principal elements: Hardware and software. The former is the executing component, while it smart technologies for traffic is used as the command and control center. Both are complemented by advanced processing and sensing technologies which include ANPR (automotive license plate recognition) that captures data on vehicle movements and can detect traffic signs.

Depending on the software used, data can be processed on-device by intelligent traffic lights or transmitted to cloud. This type of solution allows for more advanced analysis and modeling to reduce traffic congestion and align the schedules of public transportation. This way, they can cut the average travel time by 25%, cut down signal wait times by 40%, and reduce emissions by 20 percent according to Carnegie Mellon University.

A smart traffic light system in addition to reducing the time it takes to get traffic signals they can also improve pedestrian flow and the flow of micromobility vehicles like ebikes or electric scooters. They’re not able to conform to the traditional traffic signal preemption laws. In London E-scooter accidents increased by 2800% in the first quarter of 2021. Therefore, it is important to include them in traffic light controls.