California wants to reduce traffic. The Newsom administration thinks AI can help

finance.yahoo.com California wants to reduce traffic. The Newsom administration thinks AI can help

Caltrans says AI can help generate recommendations so workers can take steps to improve the flow of traffic and potentially prevent accidents on the road.

California wants to reduce traffic. The Newsom administration thinks AI can help::Caltrans says AI can help generate recommendations so workers can take steps to improve the flow of traffic and potentially prevent accidents on the road.

27 comments

Oh, I've been working on a new AI recently. I can sell it to California for pretty cheap.

#/bin/bash echo "install more railroads" exit 0
- Is the train-ing data open source?
  
  You can bet your caboose it will be.
A: "Gee, I wonder what we could do "

B: "Make the streets bike and pedestrian friendly!"

A: "We really need a high tech solution."

B: "Bring back public transport!"

A: "If there was someone to show us the way..."

B: "Reform building regulations!"

A: "Oh, I know! Let's use AI!"

B: 🤦
Bad traffic is just a consequence of how cities are being built. People might point to car-centric designs, lack of quality public transport, and other problems that only look at the transportation PoV, but a "real" solution needs to change the urban layout to favor short trips and reduce distances.

Cities need regulations that encourage higher autonomy of neighborhoods to reduce this over-reliance on transportation - regardless whether it's public or private. Policies such as drastically reducing parking spot requirements (parking lots that remain mostly empty and make a terrible use of the horizontal space), enforcing sidewalks and encouraging pedestrian-first layouts, and reforming zoning policies that force everything to be far apart by design.

We can't expect to have a decent amount of traffic in large urban centers if most need to get across the city to get to work, or drive 10 miles for a grocery trip. This American/suburban lifestyle needs a reform.
- Yes, every amenities should be at 15 min walk/bike max, that is the only way.
Feels like this would only be a bandage solution to traffic. Roads and freeways can only support so many people before they get congested. Lots of LA is congested during peak traffic times and AI could at best help evenly spread out the congestion. Developing our cities to encourage public transit, walking and biking use is hopefully getting more priority as that will reduce pedestrian deaths. In terms of traffic, it would probably increase the number of people that get to their location, and reduce transit time, but I don't think there's realistically a way to make our roads free flowing.the reason being, people will always resort to cars if transit time decreases.
- I feel like intelligent control of traffic lights could make a huge difference in how much traffic can flow. An AI with an overview of all traffic could adjust light timing on the fly to prioritize flow where it's most needed and synchronize the lights on main routes so that you get all green lights if you stick to the speed limit. They already do that to some degree, but it's nothing compared to what's possible.
  
  I think that mainly helps when streets aren't over filled. Which is most likely to happen during rush hour. During rush hours, especially on streets, you can see where cars begin to just block each other and the light signals don't matter as much. Cars just take up too much space per person, and where traffic is the biggest problem, there's too little streets\roads for the number of cars that are trying to get around
Yeah this sounds more like a distraction so as not to spend a single dollar extra on real measures.
- I hope it tells them to reduce the number of cars and expand public transport programs.
- I didn’t read the article yet but these typically seem to be
  
  Use more dynamic red light patterns than a simple timer
  
  Model traffic flows and potential solutions
  
  Neither of which are ai
- It sounds like the road equivalent to the companies who keep trying to recreate the car
  
  Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
  
  the companies who keep trying to recreate the car
  
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  
  I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
  
  Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
  
  the companies who keep trying to recreate the car
  
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  
  I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
Governments will do fucking anything to avoid public transit and bike lanes
Want to reduce traffic? Ooohhh, ai!

Hoe about just redesigning your cities to become walkable safely, centered ablriund humans instead of cars?

Look at the Netherlands, follow the example, 50 years later traffic inside cities will be a fucking breeze, but you probably won't even want to have a car anymore
- 50 years later traffic inside cities will be a fucking breeze, but you probably won't even want to have a car anymore
  
  Fossil fuel and big car lobbies say no
It all depends on the approach, Let AI control everything. I will pass Tie AI into the lights, cameras to better keep up with traffic patterns. I could see that as possible win

AI isnt the devil, but it doesn't solve everything.
spoiler

this is going to be a spicy comment section
I'm sure it will HELP traffic, but the problem is that our public transit SUCKS and is fucking DISGUSTING. I take BART about once a year just to see if it's gotten better and have regretted it immensely ever since about a year before the pandemic.

The traffic problem CANNOT be solved without investing a fuck-ton of money into our public transit. Stop trying to be a cheap fuck, Newsom. Yes, it's going to be hard, but it's literally your only option.
If idiots would stop camping out in the left lane that’d be a start. Need to actually ticket for that like some other countries do.
I hope it tells them to reduce the number of cars and expand public transport programs.
Traffic managers hate this one weird trick.
AI could totally help here… seriously, once everyone gets laid off because corporations think AI is going to replace us all, there won’t be rush hour anymore!
How does ChatGPT answers some of the toughest questions in traffic issues:

Reducing traffic in Los Angeles would require a multi-faceted approach that addresses both supply and demand factors. Some solutions include:

Improving public transportation: Expand and upgrade the subway, bus, and light rail systems to provide more convenient and reliable alternatives to driving.

Encouraging carpooling: Implement incentives for carpooling such as HOV lanes, discounted tolls, and priority parking.

Implementing congestion pricing: Charge drivers for using congested roads during peak hours to reduce demand for travel during these times.

Improving road networks: Invest in road infrastructure such as widening freeways, improving intersections, and adding toll lanes to increase capacity and reduce bottlenecks.

Promoting active transportation: Encourage walking, biking, and scootering by building more bike lanes and sidewalks and creating bike-share programs.

Encouraging telecommuting: Encourage employers to offer more flexible work arrangements such as telecommuting and flexible hours, reducing the need for commuting during peak hours.

Land use planning: Encourage more compact, mixed-use development patterns that reduce the need for long commutes and car trips.
Men will literally let an AI kill thousands of drivers a year instead of ~~going to therapy~~ building high-speed rail.
- almost like it's cheaper and faster to implement sensors and deploy some machine learning models on existing infrastructure than build high speed rails that won't solve the last mile problems.

You've viewed 27 comments.