Carnegie Science Center Podcast

Dr. Stephen F. Smith Research professor in the Robotics Institute and Director of the Intelligent Coordination and Logistics Laboratory Carnegie Mellon University   Smart Traffic Signals Traffic congestion in United States metropolitan areas is an increasing problem, now estimated to cost travelers $121 billion annually in lost time and fuel consumption, and to release 56 billion pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year. In this talk, Dr. Stephen F. Smith will describe recent research aimed at addressing this problem through smart traffic signals. A smart traffic signal perceives approaching traffic in real time and dynamically allocates green light time to move all current traffic through the intersection as efficiently as possible. Signal plans are coordinated with neighboring smart signals. Smith will summarize how this technology works, present results obtained from an initial experimental deployment of smart traffic signals in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and discuss futur