Can we make traffic jams a thing of the past?

“Why do we accept such “dumb” traffic lights?” was a headline on the Greater Auckland website a while back. Everyone who drives knows the frustrations: waiting and waiting when no traffic is coming the other way, intersections that operate on cycles whether any traffic is waiting or not, slow cycles, supposedly slower than those overseas, and so on.

One irksome aspect in city centres is pedestrians pushing the button to cross, not waiting for ‘cross now’, and delaying cars wanting to turn. But pedestrians are also disadvantaged, cyclists, everyone has gripes.

Here’s a glimpse of the future, finally, the world’s first traffic control system of its kind, they say, using artificial intelligence, designed to make urban traffic jams a thing of the past.

Computer scientist Dr Maria Chli joins Jim  from Aston University in Birmingham.