Many of us dread having to go through that poorly timed intersection in our area where the light is red for several minutes, turns green just long enough to let maybe three cars through, then changes back to another long red, over and over again. Another hazard this creates is more people rat running or blowing through red lights because they are tired of waiting, increasing the risk of a serious crash. Researchers at the University of Michigan are testing a system that may help ease congestion using GPS tracking data, according to The Michigan Daily. Early trials in Birmingham, Michigan, resulted in a 20% to 30% decrease in traffic delays at intersections tested using this system.
This success was made possible by using GPS tracking data from vehicles that traveled through these intersections. This may sound a bit too Big Brother for some, but the tracking data was anonymized to erase anything that could identify the vehicle or its owner. Researchers don’t care who went through the intersection, only how long it took to get through. They also only need data from 5% of all vehicles crossing the intersection to get the data they need. Municipalities can then use this data to adjust traffic light timing in real time to ease congestion and get traffic moving again.
From Michigan Engineering News:
The U-M system takes GPS data from a percentage of vehicles on the road and extrapolates traffic patterns. For example, a connected vehicle that comes to a stop roughly 100 feet from an intersection strongly indicates that it is behind at least three or four other vehicles.”While detectors at intersections can provide traffic count and estimated speed, access to vehicle trajectory information, even at low penetration rates, provides more valuable data including vehicle delay, number of stops and route selection,” said Henry Liu, U-M professor of civil engineering and director of both Mcity and the Center for Connected and Automated Transportation.
Read more: These Are The Most Dangerous Cars Our Readers Have Driven
Traditional traffic detectors are expensive and unreliable
Traffic lights with cameras for traffic monitoring – Xphotoz/Getty Images
The traffic sensors currently in use aren’t always effective in detecting traffic. Drivers routinely misuse the classic induction loop sensors, not stopping on top of them so they detect the presence of a car. Such sensors are also notorious for failing to detect motorcycles at all. Cameras work better, but are also expensive to install, making it too costly to use them at every traffic light. That’s why many intersections end up running on a fixed timer, which may not reflect actual traffic patterns as they change over time.
By using GPS tracking data, no sensors are required at the intersection, as it’s already built into the vehicles passing through, making it possible to use it for intersections practically anywhere. General Motors made its anonymized data available to researchers for the first trial in 2022. The current expanded trial gathers it from roadside assistance and ride-sharing vehicles, as well as navigation services. While I don’t care for live tracking of my own location data, anonymized or not, I can see a case for using data from commercial vehicles, which are already closely tracked and have no expectation of privacy.
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