Harnessing AI for Better Traffic Management: Inside Google’s Project Green Light

According to Google, Project Green Light is accessible in more than a dozen global locations, including Bengaluru, Boston, Rio de Janeiro, and Seattle.

A project being conducted by Google Research seeks to reduce the amount of time spent at traffic signals, particularly in urban areas. Project Green Light is an initiative that aims to accelerate climate mitigation by utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) and traffic engineering to enhance traffic flow, reduce fuel use, and address congestion. With support from Google Maps, the initiative is currently operational in multiple cities worldwide.

What is Project Green Light at Google?

Google disclosed in a blog post that its team at Google Research has been working on Project Green Light as a sustainability project. It is designed to address road transportation, which is thought to have a significant role in greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, particularly in stop-and-go traffic. The effort is supported by a specific AI model that the company's experts developed using the driving trends that Google Maps provides.

The study team stated that although it isn't possible to totally eliminate stop-and-go traffic, communities can nevertheless reduce it by either installing costly technology or allowing manual car counts. But according to Google, none of them can give comprehensive information on all of the characteristics.

Several ideas were explored, but Project Green Light was selected because of its "simplicity, scalability and potential for impact." It is claimed to help city traffic engineers improve traffic flow by modeling traffic patterns and then providing recommendations via an extensive dashboard. It is said to identify possible improvements, like shaving several seconds off a stop light during hours when traffic is minimal or coordinating between unsynced intersections.

According to Google, this effort can cut pollution at junctions by up to 10% and stop-and-go traffic by up to 30%.

How It works?

According to Google, Project Green Light operates by inferring traffic signal characteristics such as cycle duration, transition time, green split, and sensor operation. Next, a model is developed to comprehend traffic patterns, including typical wait durations, stop-and-go periods, and daily light variations.

The AI model then determines what can be changed or improved upon after analyzing these factors. Traffic engineers can analyze the recommendations after they are given to the city officials. According to Google Research, putting its recommendations into practice with current infrastructure can take as little as five minutes.

Next, the group keeps an eye on how much time vehicles have saved at stop signs. Using models based on industry standards, it determines how these changes would affect the climate and provides the results to the partner city.

As to Google, Project Green Light is accessible in more than 12 global locations, such as Bengaluru, Boston, Rio de Janeiro, and Seattle. Up to 30 million car trips per month are said to benefit from the alleged reduction in pollutants and fuel consumption.