Boston is planning to use Google AI to help improve the flow of city traffic. The Massachusetts city will be using Google’s Project Green Light to improve the timing of traffic lights.
Google’s Project Green Light relies on AI to evaluate traffic trends in Boston and make traffic light changes as deemed appropriate by the technology.
According to both Google and the city, at stoplights where the AI technology has been implemented in Boston, traffic decreased by more than 50 percent.
Although Google AI and the city are working together, they have quite different goals. Boston aims to create an organized flow of traffic, while Google’s main focus is to use AI to reduce emissions.
Pollution much higher at Boston intersections
The flow of cities has been challenged by volume of traffic, and, of course, this has also impacted carbon emissions.
Through its AI technology, Google has found that in cities like Boston, pollution can be 29 times higher at city intersections than out on open roads.
They also discovered that at intersections, half of the emissions comes from car acceleration after having come to a complete stop. This is exactly what Project Green Light aims to optimize.
Google‘s AI technology uses advanced models to understand global road networks in urban areas like Boston. Complex models are used to provide city traffic engineers with solutions to these issues. Google claims that AI technology reduces unnecessary vehicle stops by 30 percent and greenhouse emissions by 10 percent.
The Google AI system is currently used in more than 70 intersections in 13 different cities in the world. Some of these include Boston, Haifa, Bangalore, and Hamburg.
Boston to use Google to increase road safety
Boston’s traffic congestion is terrible. According to the INRIX 2023 Global Traffic Scorecard, Boston ranks fourth in the United States and eighth worldwide for worst traffic delays.
The situation is so dire that the average Boston driver spent almost 88 hours stuck in traffic in 2023, equating to $1,543 in lost time and productivity for the typical driver in the city. Thus, Boston’s need for Google’s AI is evident.
The busiest area in the city, Interstate 93, an intersection between two highways, is also one that Google’s AI is quite literally built for.
In speaking about Google’s AI, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said:
“We know that even small tweaks can go a long way with traffic. Sometimes it’s just a matter of how long a particular light stays green going one direction in the intersection versus the cross street.”
