Traffic Optimization

Autonomous aircraft in the United Kingdom are getting their own superhighway. The UK government approved Project Skyway, a 165-mile system of interconnected drone-only flight routes.

Chinese researchers for the first time swept a competition to develop AI systems that monitor urban traffic. Chinese universities and companies won first and second place place in all five categories of the 2021 AI City Challenge.

Some delivery drivers fired by Amazon contend that the retailer’s automated management system played an unfair role in terminating their employment. Drivers in Amazon Flex, an Uber-like program that enables independent drivers to earn money delivering the company’s packages.

Traffic signals controlled by AI are keeping vehicles rolling citywide. Several U.S. cities are testing systems from Israel-based startup NoTraffic that promise to cut both commute times and carbon emissions.

The European Union proposed sweeping restrictions on AI technologies and applications. The executive arm of the 27-nation EU published draft rules that aim to regulate, and in some cases ban, a range of AI systems.

AI is helping avert traffic accidents by assessing the risk of car crashes at specific intersections. MicroTraffic, a Canadian video analytics company, predicts the odds that accidents will occur at intersections that traditional methods overlook.