Artificial intelligence solution for Dutch traffic jams?

Getting stuck in traffic is one of the biggest annoyances people have in the Netherlands. And often it’s our own fault. Sometimes there is an accident, but often it is also about the phenomenon Phantom traffic jam. Then it’s not really a problem, but a small action causes a traffic jam. The solution: AI.

That Phantom traffic jam has been intensively studied in recent years. Because this problem seems to have a simple solution; If no one – in whatever capacity – applies the brakes, there will be no traffic jams. That Associated Press now writes that there may be a solution: artificial intelligence.

Solution for traffic jams in the Netherlands?

Unfortunately, we cannot yet add AI (artificial intelligence) to our fellow human beings. But we have many resources around us. Smartphones, lamps and cars are of course getting smarter all the time. And the smarter they get, the more factors they can take into account.

The solution: connecting cars via a communication network using adaptive cruise control. Many cars today have sensors that calculate the distance to a car in front of you and a car behind you. When the cruise control is switched on, the current speed is also determined.

AI can play a major role in this

But this is done based on information gathered from a car. What if all cars had access to the information of the cars around them? Such an intelligent system can then make much better decisions about the traffic situation and people may also have to intervene or brake less quickly.

And although hard figures are not yet known, researchers say that the phenomenon phantom traffic jams in any case be significantly reduced in this way. An important detail: This has nothing to do with autonomous cars, but should be seen as an extension of the existing cruise control.