A Conflict-avoiding, Artificial Vision Based, Intelligent Traffic Light Controller

This paper presents an on-going research focused on providing artificial intelligence to a traffic light controller. RACE intends to use this intelligent traffic light in its small educative traffic safety village, in which students exercise practices using traffic signs (vertical and horizontal) and traffic lights. One intersection in this village is controlled by traffic lights and the University Rey Juan Carlos group is designing an artificial vision system to control it. Control will be done with two CCD cameras and an automaton. One computer will process the images and provide orders to the automaton (therefore to the traffic light). One CCD will control vehicle speed and the other will be dedicated to pedestrians. Use of computer and cameras will result in an adaptive control, in which time and sequence of lights will depend on the real conditions of zebra crossing. In this stage of the control, risky situations will be avoided. Control will be done to give enough time for pedestrian and to enforce vehicles to moderate and limit speed. Several sequences of lights will be implemented and each one will be dedicated to avoid specific situations: pedestrian in zebra crossing, excessive vehicle speed, etc. System will be tested in real conditions in RACE premises, with pedestrian and vehicles (in this case: bicycles). Feedback obtained in this test will be valuable to improve the system and to design a full-scale experiment in an urban environment. Also, the system will be fully parameterized, so it is possible to change values and to observe any effects on traffic conditions or in driver or pedestrian behavior.