Bengaluru becomes first city to collaborate with Google to ease traffic congestion

Bengaluru: Handling chaotic traffic on Bengaluru city roads has become a daunting task for city traffic police. To address this, they have announced a collaboration with technological giant Google to help with traffic control. According to Bengaluru Police Commissioner Pratap Reddy, this is the first time in the country that a police department has directly collaborated with Google.

"We are happy to be partnering with Google to work on lowering traffic congestion and easier traffic management in the city," said the police commissioner. "This will have a positive influence on the everyday lives of millions of commuters. We just began a test effort with Google to optimize traffic light design. This has already reduced signal waiting time for commuters," he added.

He also said that they are now attempting to utilize Google inputs in every traffic issue in the city. "Google employs artificial intelligence to analyse driving behaviours in the city and will offer a new strategy for traffic officers for the day. According to Google statistics, this has already decreased commuters' wait time on the road by 20% on an average. Not only will this save time, but it will also save fuel and minimise unnecessary traffic congestion in the city," Pratap Reddy explained.

Most of the city's traffic lights will soon be optimised by this technology, which is predicted to have a large impact. "At least one crore automobiles in the city would feel the impact shortly. Google will also display real-time live road closures around the city so that commuters are kept up to date on the inconvenience. We have implemented speed limitations on Google Maps, which will assist us in dealing with speeding vehicles in the city digital," he added.