Page 46 - GCN, June/July 2018

SMART CITIES
the signal timing and optimization of the city’s traffic signals. Right now, the opti- mization process is conducted every five years and is time-consuming and costly, he said.
“It first collects traffic data, geographic data and geometric data to build existing traffic models, which emulates real-life traffic conditions in the field,” Raja said. “Once we build the traffic models, then we optimize those models to make multi- modal improvements, not only to reduce vehicle or traffic congestion but also to make our traffic signals safer and friend- lier for the pedestrians.... We improve bus-running times and also...reduce the harmful emissions from the traffic.”
As autonomous vehicles become wide- spread, DDOT can collect an increasing amount of data. “It has a tremendous potential to reduce our overall costs for keeping our traffic signals optimized and synchronized,” Raja said.
Launched in March, the system is al- ready providing the department with greater visibility into signal uptime and
reliability in some areas. Overall, though, Dey said he expects it to address three is- sues. “No. 1 is it provides people informa- tion, so it’s not that the light is going to turn green faster, but at least the people know what to expect,” he added. “This is trying to take that frustration out of our customer base by providing information on time-to-green in the vehicle itself.”
The second benefit is for the environ- ment. For example, if drivers see that they must wait 30 seconds for the light to change, they could turn their engines off, which results in reduced fuel consump- tion and emissions, Dey said.
Third is improved safety. Drivers might not be able to see a signal when they’re behind a large truck or other obstruction, and the system gives them another way of knowing what the traffic signal is doing.
But the data the city receives from Audi might be the most important fac- tor. “From an agency perspective, we can take the information from the vehicle manufacturer and find out how many de-
lays we are experiencing at different in- tersections, and we can use that informa- tion to help us fine-tune the signal timing of specific intersections,” Dey said. “That has implications for improved traffic flow, reduced delay and all of that.”
No money exchanged hands in this deal. Instead, a memorandum of under- standing was created to test the Audi V2I system in Washington.
The car company started working with Las Vegas in 2016 and is also partnering with Phoenix; Kansas City, Kan.; Dallas; Houston; Palo Alto and Arcadia, Calif.; Portland, Ore.; and Denver.
Dey said the long-term plan is to build a foundation to which other automobile manufacturers can connect as they de- velop similar technology.
“I think this is an example of where there are benefits obviously to the com- pany, benefits to the customers and then there are tangible potential ben- efits to the district,” Dey said. “We are keeping our fingers crossed and hoping it takes off.” •
46 GCN JUNE/JULY 2018 • GCN.COM