<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3NaNc6_1H1EPAkC00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3NaNc6_1H1EPAkC00" width="1000" height="500" ><figcaption>West Allis tests AI-powered traffic signals</figcaption></figure><p>MILWAUKEE — Traffic doesn’t always follow a schedule. Construction can push drivers onto other roads. A special event can send a wave of cars through at once. One crash can back up traffic from one intersection to the next.</p><p>West Allis is testing a traffic signal system that uses artificial intelligence to react to what’s happening on the road. The system comes from No Traffic and is running along Greenfield Avenue.</p><h2>Why the company built it</h2><p>Tal Kreisler, the company’s CEO, says the idea started at the end of 2017, when autonomous vehicles, connected cars and micro mobility were getting all the attention. He and his two co-founders noticed that traffic control hadn’t kept pace. In his words, the system “has not fundamentally changed since 1914.”</p><h2>Moving past fixed timing plans</h2><p>Many signals still run on timing plans. Engineers design those plans around expected traffic, and the lights change on that schedule. That approach gets less useful when traffic shifts through the day.</p><p>Kreisler says the vast majority of signals still work this way. He adds that many aren’t connected to any central system at all: “a very outdated, kind of old-fashioned way to manage traffic.”</p><p>West Allis compared its options. Kreisler says the city weighed the cost of hiring a consultant to re-time the signals against installing a system that adjusts on its own.</p><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1h7QqN_1H1EPAkC00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1h7QqN_1H1EPAkC00" width="2048" height="1115" ></figure><h2>How the technology works</h2><p>Each intersection has its own sensors. Kreisler says the system combines video and radar, and algorithms analyze that data right at the intersection, which he calls edge compute.</p><p>The system counts the vehicles approaching an intersection and identifies vehicle types. It shares that data with nearby intersections, so the signals can read the corridor as a whole.</p><p>The goal is to react to conditions as they form, not just to what usually happens at a certain time of day. Greenfield Avenue is a major route through West Allis, and traffic there changes during construction, big events and even the Wisconsin State Fair.</p><h2>What happens when conditions change?</h2><p>A crash, a blocked lane or a sudden backup can change how traffic moves through an intersection fast. Kreisler says a real-time system can adjust once it spots an opening or another change: “you can circumvent traffic in a real time once you identify a gap.”</p><p>It can’t erase congestion in every case. The number of vehicles on a road and a blocked lane still matter. The system works with the roads that already exist and tries to use them better.</p><div style="position:relative;width:100%; height:0; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/savMViNCudo?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https://wtmj.com" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" style="width:100%; height:100%;top:0; left:0; position:absolute"></iframe></div><h2>What about privacy?</h2><p>Cameras and AI raise surveillance concerns, especially after controversies over license-plate and vehicle-tracking systems. Kreisler says No Traffic doesn’t collect license plates or track individual drivers. He names Flock as the tracking he wants to avoid.</p><p>He says the system is built to understand traffic flow and vehicle types, not to identify specific people or vehicles.</p><p>West Allis can compare traffic before and after the system goes live. Those results could show whether the technology makes sense at more intersections. For now, the project shows what a signal looks like when it responds to the traffic in front of it.</p><p>For more information on how No Traffic has helped the Greenfield Ave. corridor in West Allis, click here. </p></div></body>

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MILWAUKEE — Traffic doesn’t always follow a schedule. Construction can push drivers onto other roads. A special event can send a wave of cars through at once. One crash can back up traffic from one intersection to the next. West Allis is testing a traffic signal system that...

West Allis tests AI system designed to make traffic lights more responsive

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MILWAUKEE — Traffic doesn’t always follow a schedule. Construction can push drivers onto other roads. A special event can send a wave of cars through at on

West Allis tests AI system designed to make traffic lights more responsive

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