Skip to main content

City of Palo Alto upgrades traffic management

The City of Palo Alto, California is to install what is said to be one of the first traffic management systems in the country to address the needs of connected vehicles. Trafficware will implement a traffic data export system using its ATMS.now 2.0 and SynchroGreen systems that will allow the city to securely disseminate real-time traffic signal data to auto manufacturers using smart vehicle technologies. The traffic signals at 100 intersections will be upgraded using Trafficware controllers, in addit
December 15, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
The City of Palo Alto, California is to install what is said to be one of the first traffic management systems in the country to address the needs of connected vehicles.

5642 Trafficware will implement a traffic data export system using its ATMS.now 2.0 and SynchroGreen systems that will allow the city to securely disseminate real-time traffic signal data to auto manufacturers using smart vehicle technologies.

The traffic signals at 100 intersections will be upgraded using Trafficware controllers, in addition to the installation of the company’s ATMS.now 2.0 traffic management system. The City will also install Trafficware’s SynchroGreen adaptive traffic control system at nine intersections to update signal timings in real-time based on current traffic demand and help alleviate congestion and reduce motorist delay.

Trafficware will introduce a web-based driver information system, allowing the public to view real-time traffic conditions, video feeds and obtain current traffic data using a web browser, smart phone or tablet. The driver information system will integrate with the City’s future parking management system and includes real-time parking occupancy data in downtown Palo Alto, provided by VIMOC Technologies’ Smart Cities Platform. This open platform utilises a technology called Landscape-Computing that minimises network bandwidth consumption and latency, which is critical for accurate real-time parking data.

The project is due to begin this month and is expected to be operational by September 2015.

“As we looked for a partner for traffic management for the next decade, it became important to consider capabilities for connected vehicles,” said Jaime Rodriguez, chief transportation official for the city of Palo Alto. “Trafficware’s ATMS.now is the City’s current traffic management system, so upgrading to ATMS 2.0 was a natural choice. The City is expanding functionality of the traffic management system to meet the data sharing demands that we anticipate within our market.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Missouri’s smart solution for rural road monitoring
    July 7, 2017
    David Crawford sees how Missouri is using commercially available information to rapidly improve monitoring and driver information on rural highways. Missouri is a predominantly rural state with the second largest number of farms in the country and agriculture the main occupation in 97 of its 114 counties. US statistics starkly reveal how road accidents in rural areas tend to be more serious than in urban regions and of the 32,000 US motorists killed each year, 54% die on roads in rural areas even though onl
  • Close shave for Brazilian project
    June 12, 2015
    Signing the order to equip a new control room just 45 days before the city hosts a major sporting event is challenging - but some deadlines just cannot be moved. There is nothing like a deadline to concentrate minds and effort as Mitsubishi and the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte discovered in the run-up to the 2014 World Cup. Although municipal authorities had been considering a new command centre for years, it was the hosting of the World Cup last summer that provided the final impetus.
  • Bluetooth speed and travel data collection shows cost savings
    February 2, 2012
    Houston TranStar is using Bluetooth sensors to collect speed and travel data in a project which is already demonstrating significant cost savings
  • Reducing congestion with Tomtom's historical traffic data
    December 5, 2012
    Historical traffic data provided by TomTom is being used by the local government in Spain’s Basque region to reduce road congestion at less cost. Old habits die hard. Photos from as far back as the 1930s show people counting cars by the roadside in order to provide congestion data to those running road networks. Today, such techniques are still used, albeit augmented by a range of automation technologies such as inductive loops, infra-red sensors and number plate recognition. Even with these advances, howe