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Why not use artificial intelligence and cameras to detect the cars, and switch signals based on that? It's 2023, and we still have the dumbest traffic lights th

Why not use artificial intelligence and cameras to detect the cars, and switch signals based on that? It's 2023, and we still have the dumbest traffic lights that are time based, even in the middle of the night. We should be able to use artificial intelligence and cameras to be able to say "there's no cars come in the opposite direction, I'll turn on the left turn green light and let this car go."

refulgentis 3y ago
No we shouldn't, unfortunately, cameras fail trivially in uncommon-but-definitely-yearly weather scenarios in ~all environments.
rurp 3y ago
Why use AI at all? An algorithm informed by traffic sensors seems perfectly sufficient and more reliable.
thathndude 3y ago
I rage when I'm sitting at a red light and there's zero traffic utilizing the green for 30+ seconds.
- c22 3y ago
  Worst is when it turns red on your approach and there was never any cross traffic. I notice this happens frequently at a certain normally-busy road I often cross in the middle of the night and I think it works this way by design to give priority to the maybe-traffic on the main road.
Someone 3y ago
> artificial intelligence and cameras to be able to say "there's no cars come in the opposite direction, I'll turn on the left turn green light and let this car go." You don’t need artificial intelligence or cameras to do that. Inductive loops can detect cars and bicycles and their velocity just fine and control nearby traffic lights, and have been doing that for decades. I would think such local control is less prone to failures, too. Interview with a traffic engineer (IMO one that’s a bit too focused on throughput): https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2016/06/21/traffic-lights-in-s-hertogenbosch-an-interview/ https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2016/06/21/traffic-lights... Their systems aren’t completely local, given “every bus is tagged and the computer knows all the time-tables of every line. The system knows exactly when which bus needs to arrive at a certain intersection. The installation checks whether a bus is too early, on time, or running late and sets the lights accordingly”
dmalik 3y ago
There are companies like Miovision (https://miovision.com https://miovision.com) trying this. The problem is you have to do this city by city and they are so many local regulations not to mention how cheap they are with budgets.
c22 3y ago
There's a long-running construction zone near my house where the road narrows to a single lane (it's a two-way street). At first they had flaggers at both ends controlling traffic, but at some point they rolled in some portable traffic light thingies that have cameras on them and do appear to work this way. I am a little suspicous of it though since the other day I noticed the light turn green for me while the last oncoming car was still clearing the street.
rbanffy 3y ago
> Why not use artificial intelligence and cameras to detect the cars Hell no. You want something that's explainable and predictable, not something that will allow a truck to run over a bunch of kids, just because it's painted in a pattern engineered to make it be identified as a bunny.

refulgentis 3y ago

No we shouldn't, unfortunately, cameras fail trivially in uncommon-but-definitely-yearly weather scenarios in ~all environments.

rurp 3y ago

Why use AI at all? An algorithm informed by traffic sensors seems perfectly sufficient and more reliable.

thathndude 3y ago

I rage when I'm sitting at a red light and there's zero traffic utilizing the green for 30+ seconds.

c22 3y ago
Worst is when it turns red on your approach and there was never any cross traffic. I notice this happens frequently at a certain normally-busy road I often cross in the middle of the night and I think it works this way by design to give priority to the maybe-traffic on the main road.

Someone 3y ago

> artificial intelligence and cameras to be able to say "there's no cars come in the opposite direction, I'll turn on the left turn green light and let this car go." You don’t need artificial intelligence or cameras to do that. Inductive loops can detect cars and bicycles and their velocity just fine and control nearby traffic lights, and have been doing that for decades. I would think such local control is less prone to failures, too. Interview with a traffic engineer (IMO one that’s a bit too focused on throughput): https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2016/06/21/traffic-lights-in-s-hertogenbosch-an-interview/ https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2016/06/21/traffic-lights... Their systems aren’t completely local, given “every bus is tagged and the computer knows all the time-tables of every line. The system knows exactly when which bus needs to arrive at a certain intersection. The installation checks whether a bus is too early, on time, or running late and sets the lights accordingly”

dmalik 3y ago

There are companies like Miovision (https://miovision.com https://miovision.com) trying this. The problem is you have to do this city by city and they are so many local regulations not to mention how cheap they are with budgets.

c22 3y ago

There's a long-running construction zone near my house where the road narrows to a single lane (it's a two-way street). At first they had flaggers at both ends controlling traffic, but at some point they rolled in some portable traffic light thingies that have cameras on them and do appear to work this way. I am a little suspicous of it though since the other day I noticed the light turn green for me while the last oncoming car was still clearing the street.

rbanffy 3y ago

> Why not use artificial intelligence and cameras to detect the cars Hell no. You want something that's explainable and predictable, not something that will allow a truck to run over a bunch of kids, just because it's painted in a pattern engineered to make it be identified as a bunny.