New technology could lead to safer roads and less congestion | News


New technology could lead to safer roads and less congestion | News

GWINNETT County, Ga. (CBS46) — New innovative technology being tested in one Gwinnett County community could make roads safer and traffic less congested.

Brandon Branham is the Assistant City Manager in Peachtree Corners where they are testing new cellular vehicle technology that you won’t find anywhere else in the world.

The technology which is installed in a Ford Edge test vehicle interacts with traffic signals and crosswalks through a 5G-cellular network giving the driver alerts of nearby objects like cars or pedestrians, helping the driver make decisions while behind the wheel.

“We have devices along the roadway connected to our infrastructure so that the vehicles can talk to the traffic signal or the pedestrian crossing where we see the value in this of making our roads safer for both cyclists and pedestrians because now we can alert the drivers ahead of time,” Branham said.

The technology could hit the market in the next two years. It functions similar to the Waze navigation system that many drivers currently use on their phones.

“Very similar concept. Waze uses crowd sourcing, so they have us input that data and now we’re just taking that same concept but using the infrastructure to send it to the vehicle so there’s no person having to do it,” Branham said.

Perhaps the most significant feature of the new technology, it can prompt traffic signals to change in order to accommodate flow.

“We’re able to make adaptive signal changing before it even starts to back up. We can see vehicles 300 to 400 yards up the road and say they’re starting to cue up so let’s go ahead and change that signal. So, it relieves some stress and reduces emissions,” Branham said.

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