Google is now looking at artificial intelligence to create solutions against traffic jams, specifically time spent waiting for the traffic light to go green. 

According to Gadgets360, Google Research is working on a project to reduce the amount of time people spend waiting at traffic lights, particularly at city intersections.

The program known as 'Project Green Light' uses traffic engineering and artificial intelligence to enhance traffic flow, address congestion, and decrease fuel usage to speed up climate change mitigation. Supported by data from Google Maps, the project is currently underway in multiple cities around the world.

In a recent blog post, Google shared that Project Green Light was created by their Google Research team as an environmental sustainability project. Designed to address road transportation, which is considered a significant source of global greenhouse gas emissions, particularly in congested traffic situations. The company's researchers created a specialized AI model for the project using driving trends from Google Maps.

The project team stated that eliminating stop-and-go traffic may not be feasible, but cities can reduce it by either installing costly equipment or conducting manual vehicle tallies. Nevertheless, all of them cannot offer full details on specific variables, according to Google.

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Project Green Lights Joins City Traffic Engineers

Project Green Light is involved in this. It is said to assist city traffic engineers in enhancing traffic flow by analyzing traffic patterns and offering suggestions through a detailed dashboard.

Identifying potential enhancements is recommended, such as reducing a few seconds from a traffic light during low traffic times or synchronizing unsynchronized intersections. Although various concepts were considered, this project was selected because of its "ease of use, ability to grow, and possibility for making a difference."

Google states that this project can decrease stop-and-go traffic by up to 30 percent and also lower emissions at intersections by up to 10 percent. 

California's AI-Powered Traffic Solutions

Google's Project Green Light comes just a few months after the company was announced to be working with the state of California to create AI-powered solutions for traffic jams, tax guidance, and safer roads. 

Administration officials reported that the state was collaborating with five companies to create generative AI tools using technology supported by major internet companies such as OpenAI, Amazon, Google, and Anthropic. In the end, this will enable the state to provide improved services to the public.

The companies were planning to start an internal trial lasting six months, during which state employees would try out and evaluate the products. Each company will receive $1 in return for their proposals.

Next, the state can assess which tools could be fully implemented in new contracts despite having a significant budget shortfall. As per a spokesperson from the administration, each tool is categorized as low-risk as it does not handle private or sensitive information.

Governor Newsom, a Democrat, showcases California as a leading hub for AI, noting that 35 out of the top 50 global AI firms are located in the state.

In January, the state started asking tech companies to create AI solutions that generate services for the public. California was one of the first states last month to release suggestions on how state agencies should procure such instruments.  

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