the essential
For Maxime Boyer, the elected official responsible for mobility in the Toulouse metropolis, if it is always difficult to regulate complex intersections, everything is done to facilitate traffic.
What do you say to motorists who scream against the management of red lights?
How difficult it is to regulate certain complex intersections where cars, two-wheelers, public transport and pedestrians intersect. What is certain is that our algorithm systems best optimize the management of all its flows. If there is really a problem, our operators at the Campus Traffic center, who monitor traffic jams with cameras, can also take action to make traffic flow more smoothly. Our first concern.
Can artificial intelligence be an effective solution?
We’ll find out! We are going to launch an experiment at an intersection on the Narbonne road with four traffic lights to better regulate the passage of priority vehicles, buses or emergency vehicles with a system developed by the French company Wisp to optimize and reduce waiting times, by capturing information and data from connected cars. This will allow us to see if artificial intelligence is more efficient than humans.
Some cities, like Bordeaux, want to reduce the number of traffic lights, what about in Toulouse?
We also want to reduce their number, six were dismantled last year and five others will be dismantled by the end of the year, but we are proceeding pragmatically. We are studying their gradual shutdown. But on the other hand, neighborhood associations are asking for it. It is an element of street security. That said, we only put a red light if other solutions do not work.
To improve traffic flow, are you also going to test the “green zones”?
Yes, it involves sequencing the traffic lights on the main roads so as to make them all turn green successively as the car passes. Coordinated management which allows traffic to flow more smoothly on major avenues such as in Barcelona. But this will only be possible on roads where there are no pedestrian lights on demand.
