Glasgow City Council has announced a partnership with transport technology scale-up VivaCity to improve traffic flow and road safety for pedestrians and cyclists with AI-enabled sensors.
The council has commissioned sensors at two intersections on Byres Road – the junction with Church Road and White Street, and the junction at Dumbarton Road – aiming to improve cycle and vehicle detection and enabling traffic signals to respond more effectively.
The project is being funded by the Glasgow City Region City Deal, which is an initiative to invest more than £1bn in transport improvements and infrastructure in the Glasgow City Region.
VivaCity technology is also being used on a crossing on Paisley Road West, to improve bus journey times to and from the city centre and reduce the time pedestrians have to wait to cross junctions.
The sensors anonymously count the number of pedestrians waiting to cross, providing larger groups with greater priority.
Buses are detected on the approaches to enable Glasgow City Council to better balance bus and pedestrian movements at the crossing, assess different classes, directions and volumes of road users, and feed the data into the traffic signal controller.
In addition to collecting multimodal data to feed the traffic signals and therefore optimise the crossing, the sensors also gather accurate, detailed and anonymous data on other travel modes.
According to Glasgow City Council, the data is also being used to provide a clearer understanding of how the junctions are used to ensure that new junction layouts meet the needs of all road users.
This is completed while also providing real-time data for signal control.
Mark Nicholson, CEO of VivaCity, said: “By improving traffic signal responsiveness and providing valuable insights into road usage, we are confident that this partnership will help to improve travel in Glasgow and make it safer.”
Achievements and innovations in AI and data analytics will be celebrated at the third annual CiTTi Awards, which will be held on 26 November 2024 at De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London. Nominations are open now! Please visit www.cittiawards.co.uk to learn more about this unmissable event for the UK’s transportation sector
