Cisco said one goal of the smart city initiative is to reduce traffic congestion in the city of Adelaide
Cisco announced an investment of $1 million in a smart city project in Adelaide, Australia, with a primary goal of reducing traffic congestion and pave the way for the deployment of autonomous vehicles on busy roads across the city.
The smart city pilot, which is being carried out in partnership with the Government of South Australia and the City of Adelaide, will measure the dwell time and queue length of vehicles as they wait at an intersection. Cisco’s smart city trial also calculates rolling averages across the day via a customized dashboard and a suite of metrics that show how well the traffic light sequences are operating at specific intersections.
The pilot, built on Cisco’s IoT platform Cisco Kinetic for Cities, will be split into two phases. In the first phase, six sensors will be set up at a busy intersection.
These sensors will gather key traffic information, such as location and speed of vehicles as well as pedestrians. With this information, tailored algorithms to recommend traffic light intervals can be recommended to improve traffic and pedestrian-crossing flow.
The second phase involves an assessment of whether the same infrastructure can be applied to accurately determine the location and movements of autonomous vehicles.
Following this initial trial, other intersections in Adelaide will be selected to potentially test and scale the solution city-wide followed by a national roll-out.
“Traffic congestion in Australia’s cities is getting worse, and we need to act now before autonomous vehicles join our already busy roads,” said Kevin Bloch, CTO at Cisco Australia & New Zealand. “We believe this technology could have a real impact on drivers, cyclists and pedestrians in Adelaide, and other cities, because its traffic light network will be able to make real-time decisions.”
“The South Australian Government remains focused on establishing Adelaide as a dynamic and liveable smart city underpinned by robust innovation initiatives, digital infrastructure and support programs to help local business and entrepreneurs thrive,” said Science and Information Economy Minister Kyam Maher.
In October 2017, Cisco signed an agreement for the deployment of a number of smart city initiatives in Southend-on-Sea, in the U.K.
Southend-on-Sea’s smart city project has primary goal of the initiative is to create opportunities for energy saving, carbon reduction and sustainable growth. The smart city plan also aims to increase communication and interactions with citizens and businesses across the city.
Under the terms of the project, Cisco will help architect and collaborate on a number of pilot initiatives including:
- Community safety – with the creation of an intelligence hub using IP-based public safety solutions, leveraging CCTV and video analytics to help reduce anti-social behaviour, noise and aid crowd control;
- Smart traffic access and parking management – incorporating data solutions already deployed by the city to ease congestion, provide smart parking and improve pedestrian safety;
- Energy management – exploring new energy efficient solutions to help reduce power consumption across the city.
