If the development proves successful, smart traffic signals will help driverless cars move around the city, writes Mos.ru. According to the website experts are discussing the possibility of introducing self-driving cars in Moscow. At a meeting of the research council under the Moscow Department of Transport, experts from the Higher School of Economics said that in a very near future, taxis and car-sharing vehicles will be moving around Moscow. Department officials believe that the current system of traffic signals connected to the Road Traffic Organisation Centre will allow for exchanging signals with driverless cars.
“Our colleagues from the Higher School of Economics believe that in the next ten years, taxi and car-sharing services will utilise autonomous cars, thus merging these two services. In order for these cars to be able to move about the city, they need to exchange special signals with traffic lights. All our traffic signals are connected to the Road Traffic Organisation Centre, so we can enable them to exchange signals with driverless cars when they appear in the streets,” said Maxim Liksutov, Deputy Mayor and Head of the Department for Transport and Road Infrastructure Development.
The first autonomous taxis appeared this year in Singapore, where the local authorities assigned a special area in the outskirts of the city to test the project. The city of Pittsburg in the US has also launched test runs of driverless taxis.
It was announced earlier that in Moscow one of the largest taxi aggregators, together with a car manufacturer, has launched the development of a system of semi-autonomous cars based on artificial intelligence technologies (computer vision, machine learning and speech technology). The system will help drivers keep their cars in the lane, deploy an emergency brake assist when needed and monitor the driver’s fatigue levels.
