A division of the Volkswagen Group is studying a system capable of analyze the flows of city traffic, in order to help cities improve their urban plan. The so-called Smart.Production: Lab has developed a software able to recognize and process images, building a specific one over time algorithm.
“Urbanization is one of the most important global trends: today over four billion people live in urban areas, that is more than half of the world population. Managing this large increase in density requires one smart urban planningVolkswagen said in a press release. How to do? According to Markus Zarbock, Head of Technology at Smart.Production: Lab, “software is the only possible solution“. His team is working on intelligent robotics and software for automotive manufacturing; from these activities was born the Volkswagen Vision Workbench (VW²).
VW² is currently used by Volkswagen and Scania specialists in a research project in the United States to analyze traffic in the city of Carmel, in the state of Indiana. Here the software takes advantage of the security cameras to record the traffic flow in the city, creating a large database. The data (collected anonymously and adequately pixelated) are then analyzed by artificial intelligence (AI) and used to optimize the transport infrastructure. The flow of cars, motorcycles and pedestrians can allow urban planning to prevent dangerous situations and possibly avoid blockages. Furthermore, it is possible to obtain useful information on the location of car parks, on the configuration of the public transport network (where to place the lines, where to strengthen them). The software has improved to the point of recognizing the crossing of wild animals, and this can be useful for setting, if necessary, ad hoc speed limits.
The next step is to install this technology on more of Carmel’s streets to create an optimal test environment and consequently a large amount of data to define a traffic model for the city. The routes preferred by cyclists and electric cars will also be analyzed, to intelligently expand cycle paths and charging infrastructure. It is believed that Carmel, 100,000 inhabitants, is the perfect place for this kind of research, because there are ideal weather conditions, from summer heat to winter frost, passing through periods of fog and heavy rains. Fun fact: this town was the first to have electric traffic lights (1924) and has the largest number of roundabouts (over 140) in the entire United States. A good, remote test bed for Europe.
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