Just as our cars and trucks are getting smarter and more autonomous, we can expect the roads we drive on to get smarter. Cities and states are embracing smart road technology to improve traffic management, save energy, and create a safer driving experience.
It may sound futuristic, but smart roads are on their way, and they'll be here soon. You're going to like the benefits they bring.
Smart Parking
If you live in a city, you know how difficult it is to find a parking place, especially during the workday and for big after-hours events. Wouldn't it be great if you could quickly see where the nearest open parking space was, so you wouldn't spend half your time driving around looking for it?
This particular problem can be solved with smart parking technology. All you need is the right technology and a smartphone app, and your parking problems will disappear.
In many cities, smart parking technology is already here. Take, for example, Smart Parking, an Australian company that makes special parking sensors that cities, shopping centers, airports, and private parking lots embed in their parking spaces. These sensors detect if a car is parked there or not, and send that data to the company's central servers. The company integrates that information with Google Maps to create a real-time map of available parking spaces in a given area.
Drivers use the Smart Parking mobile app to pull up a map of the nearest unoccupied spaces and navigate there. Smart Parking also manages parking payments, so you don't have to feed the meter manually.
In the future, it's likely that this capability can be built into smart vehicles. You could then have your car automatically navigate to the best available parking with the press of a button or voice command.
By the way, Smart Parking and similar companies also provide data to cities about parking usage. Based on this data, cities can revise parking policies, rates, and regulations—and know where more parking spaces are needed. As a result, smart cities around the world are adopting this and similar technologies to better serve their citizens.
Smart Traffic Management
Parking is just part of the urban traffic problem. Traffic is often a nightmare, with massive congestion commonplace in many metro areas, especially during rush hours.
Fortunately, smart traffic management can help you avoid traffic jams and minimize the number of red lights you have to stop at. By constantly monitoring traffic flow via embedded roadside sensors, smart traffic management systems can manipulate traffic signals and even lane availability to ensure that most drivers get to their destinations with the least interruption.
This type of smart traffic management isn't necessarily a thing of the future, as much of the necessary technology exists today. For example, most cities already utilize in-pavement traffic detectors, camera monitors, and timed traffic lights. But today's crude mechanical sensors pale in comparison to what tomorrow's smart sensors and devices will do.
What's coming in the future are more intelligent sensors monitoring critical points, providing a denser grid of data. Different sensors will monitor different data points, such as vehicle traffic, air quality, noise levels, and the like. These smart sensors can be embedded in roadways or installed streetside in traffic signals or light poles.
It's a simple concept—use smart technology to manage traffic signals and other activities designed to keep cars moving as rapidly as legally possible. As a result, drivers get where they're going faster, there are fewer accidents, road deterioration is minimized, and the air quality improves.
As a proof of concept, Carnegie Mellon University ran a pilot project in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, using various adaptive traffic signal technologies. In this test, motion sensors were tied to traffic signals, which themselves were connected via signal-to-signal communications. The results? There was a 40% reduction in the time spent stopped at traffic lights and a corresponding 26% decrease in travel times. That also contributed to a 21% reduction in exhaust emissions, so it was a win-win, across the board.
Smart Roadway Displays
Several companies are working on smart displays built into the actual roadway. There are a few ways to do this.
The first approach is to use glow-in-the-dark paint for road markings. This paint "charges up" during daylight hours, then the road markings glow green for up to ten hours during the nighttime.
Another approach is to use temperature-sensitive paint for weather-related markings. For example, glowing snowflakes could display on the roadway in adverse winter conditions.
Still another approach is to embed LED lights in roads instead of relying on traditional overhead or side-of-roadway signs. Imagine a smart road with lighted arrows that alert you to upcoming lane changes, numbers that display your speed or the posted speed limit, or words that deliver important real-time messages.
For example, Israeli company Valerann is testing a road monitoring system with short wireless "smart studs" embedded in one of that country's busiest freeways, the Ayalon Highway. The studs contain sensors that monitor traffic and road conditions then light up in patterns to provide real-time visual information to drivers, warning them of high traffic levels, stranded cars on the roadside, hazardous driving conditions, and more.
Smart Road Lighting
Lighted roads are safer than dark stretches of highway, but it costs money to power all those lights. Smart roadway lighting uses motion-sensing technology to tell when a car is approaching and then lights that section of highway for a short period. The lights grow brighter when a car comes closer and slowly dims as it passes. It's a great technology for less-busy roadways where lighting is necessary but not currently economically feasible.
Another approach is to use wind energy to power road lighting. Wind-powered lights use roadside pinwheels to generate electricity, using wind drafts from passing cars. The pinwheels only revolve when cars speed by, thus lighting up the road ahead for them. The motorists themselves provide the energy for the lighting they use.
Solar Roadways
Smart roadways require electricity to power their sensors and special features. Since all those millions of miles of roadway are out in the sun during the day, it makes sense to harness solar power for this purpose. Several companies are working on glass solar panels that can be embedded into the roadway surface. The energy generated by these solar panels can be transferred to roadway lighting, melt snow and ice, or be used to power sensors and other devices.
While solar energy is becoming more feasible for homeowners, several attempts at building solar roadways have proved unsuccessful. Current solar panel technology doesn't generate enough energy to offset the high cost of road-based panels. However, expect this to change in the future as solar technology becomes lower-priced and more energy efficient.
How Smart Roads Will Affect You
No matter what smart road technologies develop, some things will remain the same. You'll still get in your car and drive on the same roads and through the same intersections to where you want to go. What happens while you're driving, however, could change considerably.
Smart parking systems will make it easier for you to find and pay for urban parking. Smart roads will provide more useful information as you drive. Smart road lighting will always be on when you drive by but turn itself off when you pass.
If all this sounds overly futuristic, just wait. Some smart road technology is here today, and more is coming in the near future. It won't be long before smart roads are part of your everyday driving experience.