Intelligent Traffic Management Systems

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May 11, 2021

In the next decade, transportation systems and management will face many exciting changes. According to the Transparency Market Research, the global market of intelligent traffic systems will surpass $80 billion by 2027. It will be a leading logistics field, implemented all over the world.

How can logistics providers get on board by offering global transportation innovations for the intelligent road system market? What technologies are required to build a powerful, intelligent traffic management system? Let’s take a look at current patterns and future trends, as well as examine some real-life examples. We will also cover how to build a custom traffic management system.


What is an intelligent traffic management system?

An intelligent traffic system (ITS) is a combination of services and tools, connected to various transportation modes and traffic management software. The most common uses of such systems are providing citizens with detailed transportation information, shortening the commute duration, preventing downtime, and reducing traffic jams.

As mobility becomes a key part of modern lives, intelligent traffic management systems market taps into people’s day-to-day needs, serving thousands of users simultaneously. Vehicle operators, on the other hand, can navigate through routes and schedules, synchronizing their activities with colleagues. 

Use cases for ITS

An intelligent traffic management system can be connected to all types of transportation, from public transportation to emergency vehicles. Let’s see the most common applications of the on-demand transportation management system with existing global examples.

Providing real-time commute data 

The main feature of the intelligent transport management system is to provide commuters with schedules, real-time updates, route availability, the current location of a vehicle, and report seat availability. Such a system has been implemented in Glasgow, where users have applications that collect real-time commute updates.

In Seoul, the government designed the application to store night bus schedules and allows users to pick transportation means that provide the shortest and safest late commutes. The government partners with telecom providers to analyze calls made before 5 am.

Communication with emergency services

In 2015, the European Union required car manufacturers to implement e-Call, a smart system that contacts emergency services immediately after collisions. A call request can be sent manually by car drivers and passengers, or by an automatic system. 

The system automatically sends datasets with accident’s time, location, travel direction, and vehicle identification data. The intelligent traffic management system market is available on mobile devices or connected to the seats. 

Automatic road enforcement

People traffic management systems can be used to identify drivers who disobey traffic rules and enforce immediate punishments. The system uses cameras to identify cars that exceed the speed limit and electromagnetic radars that measure the speed precisely. Additional measures include intelligent traffic lights management systems and bus lane cameras, which spot cars that travel in bus-only road sections. Level-crossing cameras are used to spot drivers that illegally cross railways.

Such smart transportation management systems have already been implemented in the United States, Brazil, the UK, and many European countries. An ITS installed on the M25 motorway near London led to shortened commute times, a decrease of accidents, and reduced traffic jams. 

Transportation automation

An integrated traffic management system is often equipped with AI and IoT to reduce human involvement in city transportation. A good example is the Cityringen initiative in Copenhagen. The city government is developing a driverless subway that will fully rely on the intelligent transportation management system for communication and management. This line will fulfill the transportation needs of 240,000 passengers and work 24/7. Such an application will cut costs on training and employing personnel, achieve constant availability, and reduce the incidents of human errors. 

Read also: Artificial Intelligence in Transportation Industry

Car-to-car cooperation

Vehicle-to-vehicle communication, also known as V2V, is the use of communicating nodes, machine learning, and AI to enable vehicle cooperation for assuring seamless and safe traffic. Vehicles can transmit data about their speed, direction, trajectory, and technical state.

The American government is already discussing making V2V ITSs mandatory for automobile manufacturers. In 2016, the U.S Department of Transportation proposed a project that would gradually introduce required V2V technologies into production. 

Connecting non-traditional transportation methods

Intelligent transportation systems aren’t limited to traditional transit means. As new business models rise to prominence — this is mostly relevant for car, bike, and scooter sharing. Logistics providers can integrate these solutions into their systems. Startups like Bird and Lime are becoming more popular in big European and American cities, which will motivate governments and transportation specialists to develop new, smart solutions. Already, there are projects for smart parking of rental cars, scooters, and bikes, especially common among last-mile delivery workers. 

Enabling new payment options

Innovative mobility methods require an innovative approach to billing and accepting payments. Customers would be able to pay directly from their cards and online wallets without using the intermediate hardware. Frequent commuters prefer to be rewarded with special offers, loyalty bonuses, and discounts. ITSs can enable additional payment sources and provide customers with personalized payment plans based on their activity.

Technologies for intelligent traffic control systems

What are the essential features in transport management system? All described applications use similar technology to provide users with seamless real-time data streams and connect all participants of the transportation processes. Let’s take a look at the main technologies that are applied in ITSs. 

Wireless data exchange

A smart traffic management system uses short-range and long-range communications. They are executed with protocols that respond to governmental standards and 3G, 4G, and 5G networks. 

Computation

ITS platforms work with vast amounts of data that require powerful storage and databases. Developers can connect Cloud storages to store these masses of information. The raw data analysis is executed by Artificial Intelligence that recognizes logical relationships between acquired data. 

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GPS-based communications

Vehicles are connected to satellite systems that define their precise location and send it back to a device. It can be a mobile phone or a device embedded in the car. GPS readings of different vehicles can be exchanged and compared to determine how close they are to each other, and prevent a potential collision. 

Read also: How to develop a GPS vehicle tracking system?

Using smartphone sensors

Smartphones have many sensors that can be potentially useful in monitoring location and movement speed. ITSs can get access to the smartphone’s accelerometer and alert car drivers on violations and safety risks. GPS-connection can be used to determine the probability of traffic jams in a given route by comparing readings from multiple mobile devices. This algorithm was successfully demonstrated in India by a research team. 

IoT sensors

Car manufacturers and city governments can build an intelligent traffic management system using IoT — networks of connected devices and beacon sensors that collect data from vehicles and road infrastructure. Sensors can be installed on the road or in the car. They send data to connected devices, which is usually saved on the Cloud storage, and displayed on mobile applications. Using the Internet of Things allows ITS providers to distribute the same data among multiple devices, provided that they are connected to the online network. 

Services of a smart traffic control system

Intelligent traffic systems can target specific aspects of city commutes or focus on multiple areas. Let’s take a look at the most common features of ITS all over the world.

  • Data provided to the commuter. A user receives information on transportation schedules, personal activities, route navigation, and trip details.
  • Traffic management. ITS provides insights on incident control, on-demand traffic, infrastructure support, vehicle maintenance, and road safety.
  • Improved driving experience. ITS makes transportation easier and safer by automating repetitive actions, alerting drivers to risky situations, clearing the security of the vehicle’s technical state, and conducting road inspections.
  • Commercial transportation management. Administration and clearing of commercial cars, controlling onboard safety, conducting fleet management.
  • Public commutes. Transport management, on-demand consults, shared transport control.
  • Emergency navigation. Assuring drivers’ and passengers’ security, sending incident alerts to police and medical teams, and detecting dangerous materials.
  • Real-time digital payments. Systems enable electronic transactions, assure the safety of financial data, and create smart junctions.
  • Intelligent Transport Systems can incorporate each of these services or focus on a particular aspect, depending on their scope and size of the network. 

    Key stages of intelligent traffic management system development

    When starting to create an intelligent traffic management system, you need to be careful in every stage of the process. Next, we will point out every step of intelligent traffic management system development.

    Data collection. This stage is usually performed on the client’s side. The information from the system, such as time intervals, locations, stops, the workload in the networks, send to the developer server. It is essential to include all possible data for future analysis. It also means that before starting to build an integrated traffic management system, the company needs to analyze and define the goals. 

    Data annotation. This process can be done manually or automatically. We prefer to provide essential work manually and include some automation to upload some annotations. After this combination, we also check all the automatic annotations and download all the analytics to the system. It helps to develop traffic manager software that will provide the most accurate planning for business needs. 

    Data analysis. This stage in the intelligent traffic control system development includes fixing errors, data synthesis, and cleaning. In this step, the data undergoes logistic analysis. After this, the data can be used for building train models to define incorrect system work. 

    Image improvement. There are usually many problems with the quality of images that are used for traffic control software development. In this stage, we need to fix all the factors that can make the image unrecognizable. 

    Testing and training. One of the last stages in building the intelligent traffic monitoring system. In this step, the developer can evaluate the accuracy of the software operations by analyzing the data from training datasets. In some cases, the company needs to retrain the model for real work. That is why this stage can not be skipped. 

    How a basic ITMS works

    Intelligent transport management systems provide the best solution for traffic management optimization and raise the logistic companies’ authenticity. It is often helpful for the road authorities in maximizing working progress. It became efficient to solve the road problems by integrating navigation systems, traffic signal control systems, speed sensors, and other real-time monitoring data from different sources.

    Traffic control system software solutions are also broadly implemented for modeling road situations based on historical data. To speak about traffic signals, they can be changed based on real-time information on the workload on the road or even accidents. They will define the problem and build a smart traffic system’s solution according to customer needs. 

    To build custom intelligent traffic system software, the clients need to understand the goals they want to achieve. The basic system will include a control center, GPS, mobile communication system. The wireless network must connect all those elements. The in-vehicle terminal will connect the informational center and transfer all actual data in real-time. When the company develops a traffic management app, they usually can observe all the data from any location or type of device. It helps to make fast decisions and have all possible information for the accurate evaluation of situations. 

    If the road authorities create a smart transportation management system, it will allow them to change the traffic signal light based on actual traffic density for the transport industry. This app can help the police to find a stolen car, as it will detect the vehicle in road traffic in real-time. It can also send to the essential road center information about accidents or traffic violations. In case of emergency, the system will manage the traffic signals to provide a clear road. Finally, this advanced system provides more safety on the roads.

    Why choose AMCONSOFT for building intelligent traffic solutions?

    The essential thing in building intelligent traffic solutions is data security. Amconsoft team works on the AWS machine without an Internet connection that helps to protect the work. We use S3 Storage to get data access and an ssh-based link to the bitbucket repo for code. Moreover, Amconsoft uses Docker containers to continue various environments. Finally, we install all the packages offline only after the data is transferred to the machine. 

    Creating a smart transportation management system is a challenging but essential process, and you need to be sure that your software has a high level of protection. AMCONSOFT also has a broad experience in Data Science, AI, IoT, Big Data essential for creating intelligent traffic systems. Furthermore, the company uses IoT expertise to build embedded system solutions for traffic management that raise the operational effectiveness of products. Amconsoft has a long-term relationship with industry leaders, such as Cab, In-Logistic, Trafford, and a trustworthy reputation among stakeholders.


    Final Thoughts

    Logistics providers, local governments, and car manufacturers should consider implementing a road traffic management system to optimize day-to-day commute experiences, navigate through road emergencies, plan traffic, and decrease costs associated with accidents and traffic jams. ITS can be implemented on a global scale, on the level of cities or countries, but can also be limited to a particular transport company. Logistics developers can create ITSs for inner operations to optimize communication between vehicles, drivers, and management. Contact our experts who have developed dozens of traffic management and reporting projects for logistics organizations and startups.

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