Technology is increasingly becoming a part of everyone’s everyday life. Lviv Polytechnic student Yevhen Surkov told Audytoriya weekly newspaper how with the help of their new project they can optimize traffic flows.
The boy is a second-year student at the Department of Computerized Automation Systems, the Institute of Computer Technologies, Automation and Metrology. He and his three groupmates: Anastasiia Khomenko, Vladyslav Tvardovskyi and Danylo Chalyi created the Smart Road project. The development must improve traffic flow. The team is mentored by Vitalii Dutka, SoftServe Project Manager.
According to Yevhen, the idea for this project they had at a lecture by one of SoftServe Directors last year. As it turned out, in Ukraine there is no system where traffic lights response to the cars’ movement. For example, if the car is going at a speed greater than 70 km/h, then the traffic light must stop color switching. This can prevent accidents.
– This year we have chosen new project, as the one we were engaged in earlier do not inspire us anymore. We thought it would be cool to explore the topic of traffic. This is relevant, as a person spends a year on average in the traffic jams. We wanted to improve this statistic, says Yevhen.
The student explains that the traffic lights do not work properly and are badly timed. His team wants to coordinate them into one system. According to their development, motion sensors, cameras and face recognition can be used to make traffic flow much more efficient. Artificial intelligence can also be involved in this process:
– In the future, we would like to use it to impose fines. That is, if the camera captures that the person is speeding, it could recognize the car number and impose a fine. It will be difficult to implement, as numerous laws and regulations must be taken into account.
Currently, such traffic regulation is being tested in the United States. However, there is no perfect technology, it is only being developed. Yevhen says that in order to start such changes in Ukraine, especially in Lviv, first of all, it is necessary to have the support of the city and Ukravtodor and to find financing.
According to Surkov, many companies are engaged in the development of the Smart Road:
– The only difference: they have money for it and we do not. But we are enthusiasts and that is why our team can also implement something. We have been engaged in the project for half a year. Now we have a digital copy of the intersections. This is how we learn to regulate vehicles at them. We want to create a demo project by the end of this year.
In addition, the Polytechnic team uses the Sumo digital simulation program developed by one of German universities. It simulates traffic on a specific map, and students use it to test their own algorithms.
