A new way to streamline transportation using artificial intelligence could soon be introduced to cities across the country.
According to a report from CBS News, tech giant Google's new Project Green Light system is currently being used in Seattle as a way to combat traffic congestion in the city, using the company's map database and AI to improve traffic lights. The company will optimize the system and suggest changes to city engineers.
Christopher Alexander, chief analytics officer at Pioneer Development Group, said such a system may be an ideal use for AI in its current form, noting that traffic management requires “sifting through large amounts of data to identify patterns. He pointed out that this can be done perfectly by AI. Through the use of machine learning.
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This view shows Seattle's downtown skyline with the Space Needle and Mount Rainier in the background. (Donald Millar/Getty Images for Rock and Roll Marathon)
“AI capabilities can replicate the dozens of analysts who typically perform tasks like this and constantly make adjustments as needed,” Alexander said. “With all AI, it is important that humans vet the work, and as long as trained experts use AI as a form of augmentation, this is an ideal application for the current state of AI capabilities.”
Google's Juliet Rosenberg, who helped spearhead the program in Seattle, told CBS that shifting things by “a few seconds” could significantly improve efficiency.
So far, city officials say the plan has been successful, helping to ease some of the nuisance traffic congestion in parts of the city.
“At certain times of the day, we had one case where we went from a north-south street to an east-west street in 4 seconds, so that could take some of the traffic out of the way,” Laura Wojcicki said. says. A Seattle Department of Transportation engineer told CBS News.
AI could help streamline traffic lights. (CyberGuy.com)
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Even better, Google is offering this service for free and plans to expand it to thousands of cities.
Phil Siegel, founder of the Center for Advanced Preparedness and Threat Response Simulation, agreed that using AI for traffic management would be ideal, but said the technology “has been around for a long time.” Stated.
“The truth is that what Google is doing is adding new targets, such as idling time and its carbon footprint. Traffic management systems are already quite sophisticated. Perhaps the most The important thing is that it's free,” Siegel told Fox News Digital.
Seattle is the first U.S. city to try Project Green Light, but the Google program is also being tested at 70 intersections in 13 cities around the world. According to the report, the program impacts 30 million car trips per month, and Google believes it can reduce stop-and-go traffic by up to 30%.
Google headquarters in Mountain View, California (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
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“Not only does this mean a lot to drivers, but it also means a lot to emissions,” Wojcicki said.
Samuel Mangold-Renett, an editorial staff member at The Federalist, said such uses of AI are now “inevitable,” but noted that “human behavior” must continue to be taken into account.
“America's infrastructure will be integrated with AI, but that doesn't necessarily mean things will be easier or better,” Mangold-Renett told FOX News Digital. “We all know that humans tend to be irrational when behind the wheel. This could very well be just a crazy attempt at social engineering and micromanagement.”
