The technological innovation of artificial intelligence (AI) is seeping into almost all areas of life, including the transportation industry. AI is accelerating innovations for the better, highlighting areas of improvement using vehicles and infrastructure. The integration of this technology can heighten cities’ transportation management by boosting network efficiency, innovating base-solutions for future mobility, and enhance traffic monitoring and regulation.
Stanford University Graduate Yasmin Bashirova is the Chief of Staff at Shift Technologies, Inc. She is an expert in technology, engineering, data analysis, and finance and is currently growing in her career by applying her skills towards AI.
Ms. Yasmin Bashirova takes the time to explain in detail how AI can help cities manage transportation and the future of transportation with the use of AI.
The Big Picture: AI in Transportation
AI is a type of technology that can virtually power machines with human intelligence. With this technological advancement, the transportation sector can improve in multiple areas, such as elevate passenger and driver safety, decrease accidents and traffic congestion, lower CO2 emissions, and cut process costs.
Applications for AI in the transportation industry focuses on targeting and optimizing vehicle use and infrastructure. One of the significant transformative changes AI is opening the door to is vehicle automation. Automated vehicles not only cut down on carbon emissions by eliminating wasted trips but also increase passenger safety by reducing accidents on the road caused by human error.
Transportation management systems are responsible for ensuring public road safety. These systems provide surveillance to generate better insight into the functionality of any vehicle and pedestrian environment. With the help of AI, such surveillance processes can be automated and delegated to algorithms and software, again eliminating human error. The traffic data collected through surveillance, like sensors and cameras, is then sent to the cloud. From there, big data analytics and a system powered by AI will perform analysis and traffic pattern revelation.
Smarter Cities
Traffic management is crucial in cities, especially now as city environments become increasingly advanced and complex. AI is greatly assisting in helping city planners and engineers solve growing issues. Due to innovative technology, certain cities powered by modern technologies that continuously develop and reshape urban communities are labeled as Smart Cities.
Cities that want to embrace AI and allow the technology to manage transportation better should prepare for such changes with a two-fold approach. Cities can choose to invest in the modern technologies that go live on the market and merge said technologies into their already functioning systems.
While current adaptation is essential, keeping the future in mind is crucial for developing cities. Long-term future mobility is critical for cities to plan to ensure a smooth transition towards the future. Such forward plans must contain innovative ideas employing an inclusive, economically sustainable transition that dodges any type of digital divide. To start on the right foot, cities must reevaluate public transport services, fares and regulation, infrastructure maintenance, logistics, and other mobility systems.
