Scientists working at Germany’s ORINOKO project are making progress on solving commute woes. The ORINOKO (Operative Regional Integrated and Optimized Corridor Control) Project has received funding from Germany and BMW to investigate large-scale transportation modeling that can improve efficiency and reduce traffic.

ORINOKO scientists use complex software systems to monitor an array of factors and respond to real-time traffic flows. Using video sensors mounted on traffic lights, the system sends a constant stream of traffic information back to computers that respond by altering traffic signals accordingly. The video sensors can also use real-time conditions to predict future conditions, recording the number of cars, the length of the backup, the timing of vehicle movements and more.

The ORINOKO model has potential beyond shortening daily commutes; reducing traffic jams can also improve air quality. Idling in stop-and-go traffic is the least efficient use of gas in cars, making commuter hour the driving period that produces a day's most significant emissions. Some cities, like New York and London, have proposed congestion pricing specifically to reduce stop-and-go traffic and its resulting emissions. Though congestion pricing has not been very successful in the U.S., cities can now look to the ORINOKO Project for a hi-tech traffic solution.

Read more at Science Daily.

Photo by Olaf