A six-month trial between an Israeli startup and Las Vegas will use artificial intelligence to predict traffic accidents, allowing first responders to help drivers on U.S. 95 and Interstate 15 faster than ever before.
The startup, WayCare, uses historical and real-time data from freeway sensors, traffic lights, smartphones and vehicles equipped with certain onboard data systems. The data in WayCare’s predictive analytics platform includes vehicle speeds, counts and occupancies, traffic light timing and weather conditions. WayCare’s system, in addition to predicting traffic and traffic accidents, can also automatically identify incidents — like vehicles stopped on the side of the road — and act before the incident develops into anything more serious.
“We’re bringing data into the city,” said Noam Maital, WayCare’s chief executive officer.
According to Maital, one connected car could provide 200 times more data than Las Vegas has with all of its current road sensors. The Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) of Southern Nevada could use the predictions from WayCare to improve traffic flow through the pilot corridors. With Nevada dubbed the nation’s second-fastest growing state, managing traffic is only going to get more important.
But WayCare isn’t Las Vegas’s first traffic innovation rodeo. Las Vegas and the region of Southern Nevada are among leaders in the country when it comes to smart traffic projects. Audi, Nexar (another Israeli traffic startup) and GENIVI (a non-profit alliance working on traffic software) are all running pilots in the Silver state. Plus, there’s the autonomous bus testing and Cisco’s Smart+Connected Digital Platform pilot.
Driving smart traffic in Nevada
Nevada was the first state to put autonomous vehicle (AV) legislation on the books. Last month, new legislation that further promotes research and testing on Nevada roads was signed into law. In fact, the laws in Nevada are so AV-friendly that Dan Langford, the director of the Nevada Center for Advanced Mobility (NCAM), said if you could buy a fleet of autonomous vehicles, you could have them on Nevada roads today.
Previous autonomous testing showed that Las Vegas is ready for the technology. The downtown bus shuttle pilot had 10,000 riders in 10 days, and the city is already considering a second round.
“It was a very big success,” David Bowers, the director of Las Vegas Public Works told Smart Cities Dive in May. “There was a lot of excitement about it.”
But many of the projects in the works now are happening before widespread AV deployment. The city’s partnership with Cisco has deployed technology at 10 intersections…