Summary
- Huawei has a viable solution to end the traffic headache with its Intelligent Transport System (ITS) that uses artificial intelligence to manage urban traffic.
- The company, in partnership with the Kenya Urban Roads Authority has successfully piloted the ITS at several major junctions outside the city centre.
- The ITS uses intelligent cameras, variable timing traffic lights and a control centre to observe and control traffic, thereby reducing the burden on traffic police officers.
Driving into the Nairobi city centre from Muthaiga requires
bravery and patience. At the Globe Cinema roundabout, where three roads
converge, motorists are perpetually treated to rush hour chaos as matatu
drivers dangerously squeeze themselves between other vehicles in the
race to stay ahead of their competitors.
Every so
often, this results in avoidable collisions — and worse traffic jams as
drivers manoeuvre their way around aggressive drivers, adding to the
emotional toll that driving in the city takes on motorists, not to
mention the wastage of precious time.
The situation is
replicated in most other roads across the city, leading to prolonged
traffic bottlenecks, angry motorists and damaged bumpers. Yet, this is
not for want of proposals detailing how to ease congestion. The
challenge has always been that they remain unimplemented.
Now,
however, the international tech giant, Huawei, has a viable solution to
end the traffic headache with its Intelligent Transport System (ITS)
that uses artificial intelligence to manage urban traffic. Huawei, in
partnership with the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura) has successfully
piloted the Intelligent Transport System (ITS) at several major
junctions outside the city centre.
The ITS uses
intelligent cameras, variable timing traffic lights and a control centre
to observe and control traffic, thereby reducing the burden on traffic
police officers.
“So far, the system has been implemented on the Western Ring
Road from Yaya Centre through to Kileleshwa Ring Road extending to
Waiyaki Way,” says Stone He, the Huawei Kenya Chief Executive Officer.
At
the core of the ITS is a traffic management centre located in Kenya
Urban Roads Authority office in Barabara Plaza that handles the task of
city traffic road monitoring, discerns the general traffic conditions
and obtains traffic flow data in real time. Using intelligent
algorithms, the smart traffic lights system allows longer traffic flow
from roads with the most traffic. It also allocates less time where
there are fewer vehicles, thus minimising unnecessary waiting time.
“The
ITS changes with time depending on traffic flow within several arms of
the junction and that makes it more efficient, and more traffic flows
effectively,” Kura director-general Silas Kinoti said in an interview
with the Business Daily’s The Edge Magazine.
According
to Mr Kinoti, the system predicts congestion based on the analysis of
historical and real-time traffic data, serving as a reference to
commanding and dispatching traffic signal control and traffic guidance.
The
systems also comes with a mobile electronic police system that enables
flexible monitoring of roads. The command centre is able to identify
traffic law violation incidents where they occur.
This
functionality is supplementing police efforts in enforcing traffic rules
and regulations for safer roads and fighting crime.
According
to Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia, the ITS has met the
expectations of the government, and plans are underway to implement the
system in other locations across the city.
“The pilot
has matched our expectations in terms of cost-benefit analysis and we
now have the confidence to go to the next level. From the pilot, we
shall be scaling up to more junctions across the city,” Mr Macharia
said.
Motorists who previously had to endure lengthy
red lights even when the roads were clear have welcomed the new system,
saying it should be implemented across the city sooner rather than
later.
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