What is Google’s Green Light Project?

Traffic is not only a waste of time, but is also directly related to increased air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. For this reason, it threatens both our time saving in daily life and the health of our world. It’s a pretty big problem.

This problem, which steals a lot of time from our lives, manifests itself especially in our country. Google has a good solution to this problem. Google’s Green Light Projectstands out as an initiative designed to find a solution to this problem by optimizing traffic lights.

“What is Google’s Green Light project?” Let’s start by answering the question.

It’s happened to all of us. Getting stuck at red lights repeatedly in a very short time is quite annoying. Especially when the road is empty… This situation actually creates a very inefficient situation in terms of both time and resources. Especially when vehicles stop and go unnecessarily and wait at traffic lights, it not only tires the drivers mentally but also It also pollutes our world.

We mentioned that road transport is responsible for most of the increasing air pollution. However, when we look at the statistics, the pollution caused by traffic in the city is higher than that of the ring roads. 29 times more It seems to be. In addition to this information, the biggest responsible for traffic-related greenhouse gas emissions in the city is the stop-start of vehicles at traffic lights.

Starting from this very point, with the support of Google artificial intelligence by optimizing traffic lights unnecessary stop and go of vehicles and reduce waiting time He proposes the Green Light Project as a solution to this problem.

With this project implemented by Google in 2021, approximately 2.4 million tons It is said that carbon emissions can be prevented.

How exactly does the Green Light project work?

Google states that traffic light optimization takes place in four steps within the scope of the Green Light project. Let’s explain these four steps one by one.

1. Understanding intersections: First of all, Google states that thanks to its years of effort to create maps of cities around the world, it has gained valuable information about the operating parameters of traffic lights. The first step aims to provide a basic understanding of how to optimize traffic lights in the relevant area, using parameters such as cycle length, transit time, green division (i.e. right-of-way duration and sequence), coordination and sensor operation (triggering).
2. Measuring traffic trends: In the second step, a systematic model is created to understand the traffic functioning in the region. In other words, thanks to the model it created to understand the traffic flow at intersections, the project provides a clear view of starting and stopping patterns, average waiting times at a traffic light, coordination between adjacent intersections and how traffic light plans change throughout the day. Thanks to the created model, typical traffic patterns in the relevant region can be understood more clearly. Using this information, Google determines how it can further improve traffic light timings to reduce waiting and stop-starting at intersections.
3. Development of proposals for the city: In the third step, the Green Light Project determines the best possible optimization in traffic light timings with support from artificial intelligence. Detected traffic light optimizations are presented as suggestions to relevant people. After the suggestions are approved by authorized persons, traffic light regulations can be implemented within 5 minutes.
4. Analysis of the impact: In the last step, the effect obtained as a result of the traffic light optimization is determined. In other words, within the scope of the Green Light Project, how many stop-starts are prevented for drivers and the impact of this situation on the existing traffic flow are determined. In addition, the impact of these changes on the climate is calculated and the result is shared with the authorities.

In summary, the Green Light Project, which uses the machine learning system, processes the data received from the maps and uses it with artificial intelligence models. optimizing the timing of traffic lights aims. In this way, it is aimed to reduce carbon emissions and therefore reduce the damage to the environment by reducing the amount of waiting, braking and acceleration of vehicles.

Where is the Green Light project currently used?

• Abu Dhabi
• Bali
• Bangalore
• Budapest
• Haifa
• Hamburg
• hyderabad
• jakarta
• Kolkata
• Manchester
• Rio de Janeiro
• Seattle

Project for the first time in 2021 It was tested at four intersections in Israel. It was reported that after this test, a 10% to 20% decrease in traffic was observed. Currently, according to the information provided by Google, the Green Light Project is available worldwide. In 12 cities and 70 intersections has been implemented.

The first figures of the Green Light Project, which is planned to be implemented in more cities by 2024, show that there is an approximately 30% decrease in the traffic rate of the cities.

Let’s talk about the other advantages of the Green Light Project.

Google’s Green Light project provides great advantages to the cities that currently use this project or will use it in the future. If we talk about these advantages;

• Since the Green Light project uses existing infrastructure, it does not require any extra hardware. In this way, a large cost advantage creates.
• Additionally, this project uses Google Maps’ extensive data network. Since it is based on a large data set Therefore, it makes predictions and optimizations based on a large data set.
• Traffic lights automatically Since it is monitored and optimized, no extra workforce is needed. In addition, this ensures that traffic lights are constantly improved.
• Having a user-friendly interface makes it easy to optimize traffic lights and monitor the performance of the relevant lights. In addition, these project processes be monitored regularly It makes it easier.
• Since it provides very clear and actionable suggestions, the optimization process of traffic lights is quick and easy.
• The Green Light project, which is currently in its early stages, is not supported by Google. without any fee is offered. In this context, Google’s primary goals are Supporting cities’ sustainability goals states that it is.

As a result, the Green Light Project is very innovative and innovative for modern cities, with its cost reduction, ease of use and effective results in terms of both the environment and daily life. a solution-oriented approach stands out as.

This content is offered by Google. Green Light Project We talked about the details. So, what is your opinion on the issue? Do you think it should be in Turkey?

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