Portland Installs Smart City Sensors to Reduce Traffic Deaths
Emily Pollock posted on July 10, 2018 | | 164 views
A graphic from the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s site on Vision Zero, an initiative to reduce traffic fatalities. The city’s new traffic sensors will supply data to the Vision Zero program. (Image courtesy of PBOT.)
As part of its Smart City PDX Initiative, Portland has developed a pilot project where traffic safety sensors will collect data from the city’s deadliest intersections.
The city will install 200 sensors, supplied by General Electric’s startup Current, to count the number of pedestrians and vehicles, and collect speed data. The sensors will be connected to Current’s CityIQ Internet of Things (IoT) Platform, which collects vehicle and pedestrian metadata (such as speed, number and direction of travel) in order to understand transportation patterns.
The sensors are being installed as the first part of the Smart City PDX Initiative, which aims to identify social issues and inequalities in the city, then solve them with technology. The initiative, a finalist in the Department of Transportation’s 2016 Smart City Challenge, was approved on June 20 by the Portland City Council. “We are at the forefront of using advanced technology to make our cities safer for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers, helping people more easily get around, save time and reduce the possibility of crashes,” said Mayor Ted Wheeler, after the…