Sustainable Problem: Civic Engagement, Safety

Sensor-packed pedestrian crossing is fit for a modern city

Technology:

• A prototype LED crossing uses sensors to respond to the movement of vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians
• “We’ve been designing a pedestrian crossing for the 21st century,” says Usman Haque, Umbrellium‘s founding partner. “Crossings that you know were designed in the 1950s, when there was a different type of city and interaction.”
• This smart crossing doesn’t just look more modern than the 60 years old versions; it uses machine learning to make the crossings safer. Figures from the Transport Research Laboratory show that 7,000 incidents happen on them each year in the UK.
• The actual crossing doesn’t exist until it’s safe for you to cross – then LED patterns appear to direct people and stop cars.
• The machines could also learn to project the crossing at a slightly different orientation if, for instance, everyone makes a beeline for a certain shop after a school days.

Stakeholders:

• Umbrellium
• Insurance Firm – Direct Line
• Cities

Deployment/Implementation:

• The project is still some way from completion.
• To speed up the process, the code behind it is being made open source.
• Deploy when figure logistics of implementation are figured out
• Have multiple detection systems, to be fail safe such as version that has a pressure sensor which detects where footsteps are.

Sources:  http://www.wired.co.uk/article/digital-pedestrian-crossing-technology-machine-learning-safety

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UNI:  AV2698