A new AU$1m pilot program by Cisco is underway in Adelaide, Australia aiming to reduce traffic congestion and lay the foundation for autonomous vehicles.
Techrepublic reports that Cisco is partnering with the governments of South Australia and the city of Adelaide using Cisco Kinetic for Cities’ Internet of Things (IoT) platform.
It adds that at CES 2018 Cisco announced that the next-generation, hyper-connected car, featuring its new in-vehicle network, will be ready for production next year and that it is a “natural extension” of the company’s long-standing network and security technology work with cities and major companies.
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.
Techrepublic adds that the pilot includes six sensors at one intersection in Adelaide gathering information on traffic approaching the intersection, such as location and speed of vehicles, as well as the number of pedestrians. 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.
