An innovative traffic management system, which uses artificial intelligence to optimise urban traffic flow, has expanded into more towns and cities, as well as being granted a patent for use in China.

The technology was developed by Simplifai Systems in collaboration with a team of leading experts in AI and transport, including the University of Huddersfield’s Professor Mauro Vallati and his AI4UTMC research team.

It is designed to solve traffic control issues with the technology making use of available information on congestion, traffic lights, bus movements, incidents and air quality to generate real-time strategies that can transform traffic flow.

The AI-powered system has already been very successfully trialled in Hull and Kirklees and is currently in use commercially in Blackpool and Glasgow, with Sheffield soon to come on board. It can be used not only to optimise driving at peak hours, but also to ease congestion during big local events, such as music concerts or significant sporting matches.

Professor Vallati, who is Director of the University’s Centre for Autonomous and Intelligent Systems (CAIS), and a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow, commented: “Our collaboration with Simplifai clearly demonstrates how research at the University can deliver tangible impact. Not only driving economic growth through new technologies and markets, but also improving the quality of life of people in urban environments. The granting of the patent opens the door to applying our research in entirely new contexts and at a truly global scale.”

The AI4UTMC research team includes Saumya Bhatnagar-Knox, Dr Sandra Castellanos-Paez, Dr Francesco Percassi, and Dr Megan Robinson.

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