TEL AVIV, Israel – Everyone who drives or even rides in a car, feels the frustration of an endless line of vehicles crawling through rush hour. A Tel Aviv company called NoTraffic has developed a solution that digitizes an entire city's grid.
When the company is enlisted to take over a community's traffic system NoTraffic puts sensors at intersections that connect to sophisticated Artificial Intelligence.
NoTraffic CEO Tal Kreisler told CBN News, "And from that point on, the system works by itself, autonomously."
Kreiser explained that these artificial eyes then watch movements in and around the intersections. "Private vehicles, buses, pedestrians, bicycles, scooters, whatever," he said.
AI then proceeds to orchestrate traffic flow to keep it moving quickly and safely. That has led to amazing improvements in limiting the time motorists are held up.
"We've managed to cut a dramatic amount – we're talking about 70 percent of delay time," Kreisler told us.
With vehicles more computerized than ever, this new system will be able to communicate directly with individual drivers. That could lead to a warning about a pedestrian potentially in a blind spot about to cross in front of them.
Another safety element is the system's ability to gauge if an oncoming vehicle might run a red light. If so, it can alert nearby drivers while also changing other lights to red at that intersection to prevent collisions.
When accidents do happen, the system can immediately contact first responders, and then give them green lights all the way.
Kreisler noted, "About 70 percent of fatality cases are happening in the first hour after the accident. So, literally every minute that we're saving – from detecting the event to prioritizing first responders to the event, and from the event to the nearby hospital – literally saving life."
Research shows an updated traffic system is sorely needed worldwide.
That's because an additional 90 million cars hit the road each year. Traffic congestion increases by 12 percent annually.
As for those lights that hold you up, block after block, Kreisler asserts, "The way that we are operating them has remained the same for the last 100 years or so."
And there's little to no connection from intersection to intersection.
"Most of the intersections out there are not connected to anything. They just run by themselves," Kreisler declared.
With NoTraffic's sensors and AI saturating a city's traffic grid, it enables each intersection to communicate with all the others. That allows the system to make split-second decisions to keep traffic moving.
The sensors are designed to withstand the wear and tear that comes from constantly being out in the elements. Quality and Liability Director Ian Fountain and his lab technicians ensure each piece can stand up to the most extreme conditions.
"We put them in the ovens. We heat them, we cool them, we add humidity," he explained, and added, "Minus 35 to plus 74 degrees (Celsius)."
In Fahrenheit, that's a range from minus 31 to a super-hot 167 degrees.
Now that several states such as Florida, Arizona, and California utilize the system, NoTraffic has found that in a mid-size city, its platform has reduced waiting times by as much as 50 percent or more. That efficiency can remove around 26 thousand tons of CO-2 emissions each year, comparable to the pollution from 5,700 cars simply vanishing.
To Kreisler, it's all positive transformation. "Improving our lives, reducing emissions, generating massive amounts of time that we can now spend with our loved ones – I think this is one of the things that we are most proud of – literally transforming the world to a better place."
The atmosphere and attitudes in Israel make it easier for an innovative system like NoTraffic's to be created here. Innovators are welcomed and cherished. Smart, forward-thinking is valued and rewarded. And Israelis see themselves as people who can solve global problems, both large and small; and who can dream up solutions not yet seen, but waiting to be dreamed.
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