launcht Cisco has invested $1 million in a smart city pilot program in Adelaide, Australia that involves placing sensors at key intersections throughout the city. The program is intended to reduce traffic congestion and lay the foundation for autonomous vehicles. The governments of both South Australia and the city of Adelaide are partnering with Cisco for on this project.
The pilot program is divided into two phases. The first phase involves the sensors gathering information based on the traffic approaching the intersection. Later, tailored algorithms will be created with recommended traffic light interval timing to improve traffic flow. If this phase is successful, other intersections in Adelaide will be selected to potentially test and scale the solution city-wide followed by a national rollout.
The second phase will assess if the same infrastructure can be applied to quickly and accurately determine the location and movements of autonomous vehicles, which is critical to being able to manage and control autonomous vehicles.
Traffic congestion in Australia’s cities is getting worse, and we need to act now before autonomous vehicles join our already busy roads.
– Kevin Bloch, CTO – Cisco Australia & New Zealand.
The smart city technology being deployed in Adelaide will measure how long vehicles sit at a traffic light, and how many cars are in line at intersections. A dashboard will display analytics on the averages for wait times and the number of vehicles throughout the day, and how well traffic lights are operating in sequence at any specific intersection.
