Why don't they do this with AI

[dishstaller]

I was sitting at a traffic light this morning. No cross traffic in sight. Had to sit there for about a minute before it finally turned green and let the long line of cars go about their way. The thought hit me that all we hear about is the wonders of AI yet it seems to not be being used in ways that could really save time and fuel. Seems perfectly logical to have AI cameras at intersections and have it determine when the light needs to change and how LONG the light needs to stay green. If there was no east/west traffic and the light was green in that direction and the cam saw traffic approaching either north or south, it could quickly change the light so the traffic didn't have to even slow down, let alone stop.

I probably need to stop thinking so much while at a red light and just turn up the radio.

 

[meStevo]

You're not wrong, but often a single intersection doesn't exist in a vacuum - traffic is managed at the network level, metering flow over a larger area. Letting your direction run unimpeded could just push the bunching downstream to another chokepoint instead of solving anything.

You can usually see this relax after hours, when lights get more responsive - because there's less overall demand on the network, so there's less need to hold traffic back to protect other intersections.

I get this guy's shorts in my YT feed sometimes, they're usually pretty interesting


View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-F9AssrrYjM?feature=share


Personally at lights my ADHD goes into overdrive. I look at stuff like the back of the car in front of me, and wonder if there was a team that designed the tail lights, did they have to fight for space from the trunk design people, or were they the same. Wondering about the manufacture cost because of accents in the shape, etc.

Audiobooks have helped with that.

 

[NYDutch]

Around here, the traffic lights on the state highways and in some towns are buried sensor controlled. Each light has a default green for the heaviest traffic flow direction, but as soon as crossroad traffic is detected the lights change direction.

 

[osu1991]

We run sensors in the road bed and motion cameras on the traffic standard / mast arm. However budgets and council decisions usually mean they are not the best quality cameras, so they fail quickly in the elements and the intersection will revert to the ground sensors and the built in traffic cabinet timing.

 

[Jimbo]

I was sitting at a traffic light this morning. No cross traffic in sight. Had to sit there for about a minute before it finally turned green and let the long line of cars go about their way. The thought hit me that all we hear about is the wonders of AI yet it seems to not be being used in ways that could really save time and fuel. Seems perfectly logical to have AI cameras at intersections and have it determine when the light needs to change and how LONG the light needs to stay green. If there was no east/west traffic and the light was green in that direction and the cam saw traffic approaching either north or south, it could quickly change the light so the traffic didn't have to even slow down, let alone stop.

I probably need to stop thinking so much while at a red light and just turn up the radio.

You ever notice that a :40 second or 60 second lights seems like Forever ...

I really don't want AI messing with Traffic lights ...
They are probably already, but I don't have to know it.

 

[dishstaller]

You're not wrong, but often a single intersection doesn't exist in a vacuum - traffic is managed at the network level, metering flow over a larger area. Letting your direction run unimpeded could just push the bunching downstream to another chokepoint instead of solving anything.

I should have been clearer about the situation I was talking about. This was a red light that was at an intersection that is a good ways away from the next red light.

I remember back in the 80s when my Grandparents lived down in Tampa, the city had set the timing on Florida Ave so that when everyone was getting off of work, as long as they drove the speed limit (for timing purposes) they lights would go green as you approached them which allowed traffic to flow north out of the downtown area very effectively. Now of course if you were driving south on Florida Ave at the time, this would have been of no benefit at all.

 

[dishstaller]

You ever notice that a :40 second or 60 second lights seems like Forever ...

Yes, it does. There is a particular traffic light that I have to go through every day that catches me 90% of the time. It's at the Walmart out by I-10. Now if I'm coming out of Walmart at that same intersection, I almost always have to sit through a full light cycle. Funny how that works. But, we humans tend to be rather negative in our thinking which is why we call them RED lights and not GREEN lights.

 

[NYDutch]

But, we humans tend to be rather negative in our thinking which is why we call them RED lights and not GREEN lights.

I call them TRAFFIC lights...

 

[Bobby]

I call them TRAFFIC lights...

I actually call them traffic signals.

 

[harshness]

Had to sit there for about a minute before it finally turned green and let the long line of cars go about their way.

What you can or can't see may not be the same as what the sensors are telling the system. More and more systems are implementing pre-crossing for pedestrians, while older ones have to allow some time for vehicles that don't trigger a sensor (two-wheelers) to go.