The major Brisbane roads set to use AI to speed up traffic

Artificial intelligence will be rolled out on two Brisbane roads to change traffic light sequences in real time and speed up traffic as part of a six-month trial, according to Brisbane council.

The AI system will take place on Logan Road and Kelvin Grove Road, located in the inner suburbs on either side of the river.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner described the pilot, which begins early next year, as “cutting edge” and “the biggest step we’ve had in traffic management in decades”.

The corridors comprise 37 different intersections, making it the biggest trial of its kind in Australia, Schrinner said. The technology will be installed on top of existing traffic signal boxes.

“We’re talking about tens of thousands of vehicles each day using these corridors,” Schrinner said.

“We expect to have the technology up and running early next year. We will take around six months to assess the effectiveness of the technology, and by around mid next year we’ll be in a position to report on how that has gone.”

Schrinner said similar trials resulted in a 15 per cent improvement in traffic flow and a 22 per cent reduction in queueing at intersections.

“If you upgraded all 37 of these intersections in a traditional manner, using concrete and road expansions, you would cost hundreds of millions of dollars to do that. This pilot is a $15 million pilot.”

Infrastructure chair Ryan Murphy said approximately 20 staff at the Brisbane Metropolitan Traffic Management Centre currently perform manual interventions in the network as necessary, and this will give them the ability to operate more efficiently.

“We still need humans in the loop, we still need humans to operate this, but right now they’re very limited in what they can do,” Murphy said.

The system will react in real time and provide different scenario planning depending on weather, historical data and events.

“So if there’s a game at Suncorp Stadium, it will be operating in a different way than if there is a match at the Gabba. It will behave differently if it’s a rainy day,” he said.

“It will give us the ability to truly manage our transport network, rather than just observe it.”

Murphy said action has been taken to protect people’s privacy and safety.

“Faces are blurred, number plates are blurred, and no data will be sent offshore,” he said.

“All data will be retained here in Brisbane, in Brisbane City Council owned and controlled data centres.

“[If] law enforcement authorities request that information, that can then be undone for them based on that individual request.”

Murphy said he hopes to see the technology rolled out on other major transport corridors such as Old Cleveland Road, Ipswich Road and Gympie Road.

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Dominique Tassell is a reporter at Brisbane Times.AdvertisementAdvertisement