Perhaps no more than a decade ago, the notion of ‘smart cities’ probably implied thoughts of which metropolitan areas could be said to have the greatest density of schools, colleges and universities.
You want a smart city? Okay, how about Oxford, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Washington DC, Paris and so on.
But that’s (obviously) not what we mean by smart cities today.
As the dream of a smart city is slowly progressing, many companies are developing new tech to reduce human efforts. And at the core of these technologies lies Artificial Intelligence (AI). Similarly, two tech companies collaborated with each other to create an AI-based automated traffic system. This can spot any inappropriate incident on the roads and alert the emergency services automatically.
The Currux Vision Smart City AI solution is a system that uses surveillance cameras to monitor a specific part of a road and report any incident that occurs on the roads. The system works by using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse the roads and spot any inapt incident such as hit-and-run or an accident.
Weiterlesen: Smart City: This AI Traffic System Can Monitor Roads and Spot Incidents Autonomously
Cities are fast becoming “smart”, and the impact on people’s lives can be immense. Singapore’s smart traffic cameras restrict traffic depending on volume, and ease the commute of thousands of passengers every day. In Kaunas, Lithuania, the cost of parking is automatically deducted from the bank accounts of drivers when they park their cars. In many cities, the timing of public buses is announced at each stop with almost perfect accuracy. And free WiFi is now accessible across entire cities, including Buenos Aires, Argentina and Ramallah, Palestine.
Today, improving urban services through digital transformation is a huge industry, dominated by the likes of Cisco and IBM. But the idea of a “smart city” encompasses more than the clever application of technology in urban areas. That technology must also contribute to making cities more sustainable, and improving the quality of life for the people who live there.
Materials will have a significant role in realising the smart cities of the future, says Max Petersen, AVP, Chemicals & Materials, Dotmatics
Our world is set to change rapidly over the next few decades, with plans to develop cleaner, greener places to live, in cities that need to meet the demands of interconnected devices and autonomous mobility. Indeed, the total value of the global smart city market is expected to exceed US$2.5 trillion in the next five years. When we picture this society of the future, it’s often the potential that a smart city offers to our society that regularly grabs the headlines, but we don’t often think too deeply about what it takes make this promise a reality.
We examined cities that have become hubs for exciting emerging technologies and are using emerging technologies to improve the quality of their residents' lives. Take a break from reading about the coronavirus, close your eyes and think about the phrases “innovative city” or “smart city”. When thinking of these phrases, what current cities come to mind? Or, better yet, if you were to create your own city, what aspects of the city would make it “smart” or “innovative”?