Google Combines AI & Traffic Lights to Slash Fuel Emissions

Ever found yourself stuck at a red light with no traffic in sight? 

Most drivers spend about eight minutes a day just waiting at lights. 

It might not seem like much, but these short stops add up, especially when it comes to fuel emissions. 

At city intersections, pollution levels are a staggering 29 times higher than on open roads, with nearly half of these emissions caused by cars accelerating from a stop.

Now, imagine the impact if we could reduce these unnecessary stops. 

With millions of traffic lights around the world, even a small improvement could make a huge difference. That’s where Google’s Project Green Light comes in. 

By harnessing the power of AI and Google Maps data, this initiative aims to optimise traffic light timings, cutting down on stop-and-go traffic and its associated emissions.

Kate Brandt, Chief Sustainability Officer at Google, says: “We believe that fighting climate change is an important collective challenge, and for three decades, we have been using technology to accelerate meaningful action.” 

“While we recognise that digital technology alone will not solve the climate crisis, we can already see the tremendous potential that it holds to help accelerate action on sustainability and climate while simultaneously empowering economic growth.”

Traffic emissions

The transport sector is a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for about 25% of all energy-related emissions, according to the United Nations. 

Outdoor air pollution, exacerbated by traffic, leads to more than 3.2 million premature deaths globally each year. 

With stop-and-go traffic increasing fuel consumption and pollutants, particularly in congested urban areas, optimising traffic light timings could significantly reduce these harmful effects.

The research behind Project Green Light

Project Green Light is built on a foundation of data and AI. 

The team at Google discovered that, while some stop-and-go traffic is inevitable, much of it can be reduced by tweaking the timing of traffic lights. 

Traditionally, cities have tackled this problem by installing costly software or conducting time-consuming manual traffic counts. 

But these methods often fall short, missing key information needed for truly effective solutions.

This is where Google’s vast repository of data comes into play. 

“We quickly understood we have a strong advantage that cities could benefit from — over a decade of Google Maps driving trends from across the globe,” says Dotan Emanuel, a Software Engineer at Google.

How Project Green Light works

Google uses AI to model traffic patterns and develop intelligent recommendations for traffic engineers. 

The beauty of Project Green Light lies in its simplicity. 

The recommendations can be implemented using existing infrastructure in just a few minutes, without the need for expensive new software or hardware.

Alon Harris, Senior Climate AI Program Manager at Google, says: “In order to achieve a positive climate impact, we want to be able to deploy high-quality Green Light recommendations to many cities globally and scale fast. 

“We purposely set up everything to be simple and lightweight — cities don’t need to invest in any dedicated software or hardware integrations. We just share our recommendations with the city, and then they evaluate them and take action.”

Real-world impact and future potential

The impact of Project Green Light is already being felt in cities like Abu Dhabi, Kolkata, Seattle, Manchester, and Hamburg. 

By optimising adjacent intersections, the project aims to create waves of green lights, reducing the need for cars to stop and start repeatedly. 

Early tests have shown that this approach can cut the number of stops by 30% and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10%.

Alon explains, “We offer each city dedicated reports with tangible impact metrics, such as how many stops drivers saved at an intersection over time. 

“We think that’s going to be a real incentive to not just implement the first recommendations, but also bring Green Light to more intersections.”

With its scalable and easy-to-implement approach, Project Green Light has the potential to transform urban traffic management worldwide, paving the way for a greener future.

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