How traffic lights monitor the environment

As the world leader in traffic light production, we know that these signals can feature much more than just red-amber-green. Our COMBIA signals come with intelligently designed add-ons, among them also the monitoring of environmental parameters.

4 to 8 October 2020

Los Angeles Convention Center | California | USA

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In conclusion, by making traffic flow more efficient we are able to minimize congestion all over our cities, ports and parking areas. This plays an important role in our society as ports are, and will continue to be, one of its essential building blocks. ITS ensures that the workflow, traffic flow and trailer management are made more efficient and more environmentally friendly.

“The project has been great in so many ways. Search traffic and congestion will be reduced; people will be able to plan where to drive, and this will also show that there are actually available spots”, says Henrik Lindblom, chairman of Karlstads Parkering AB to Värmland Folkblad.

In total 31 digital signs are installed all over the city. 19 of the signs are showing the direction to the available spots, while the rest are directly connected to the parking areas in the city. As Karlstad is a regional capital, receiving visitors and tourists in a good way is quite important, and an essential part in this is making navigation in traffic and parking more convenient and stress-free.

Good project for citizens and tourists
Especially if you are new to a city, you will feel more welcome if you get helpful services and guidance. Citizens and retailers will also benefit from guidance since the system shows that there ARE available parking spots. Spots which people normally would not find.

“We have always known that there are places to park, and we have also realized that the drivers’ dissatisfaction actually came from not being able to find those parking places”, says Mr. Lindblom.

Instead of people driving around in frustration, they can use their valuable time doing what they came there for.

Would you like to know more about the parking guidance solution?

avoid searching for a place to park

If you drive into a larger city or town and need somewhere to park, you obviously want a convenient parking space close to your destination. Parking Guidance from SWARCO can help you. You will be guided directly to the most optimal parking spot, regardless of whether you park at a park-and-ride or in the city center.

How parking guidance works

Camera-based solutions and sensors detect whether there are available parking spaces, for both indoor and outdoor parking. The information is sent wirelessly to apps, to physical signs along the road and to other devices so you can find parking in the most efficient way. SWARCO also collaborates with car manufacturers to get information about available spots directly into the car.

In the near future, parking can be even more convenient. At the ITS World Congress in Copenhagen last autumn, SWARCO and Audi presented a new parking solution together. In the demo area, the driver stepped out of the car at the entrance of the parking area, and then the car parked itself. When the driver wanted the car back, he just used an app.

“The pilot projects are done on a small scale now,” emphasizes the Managing Director at SWARCO Norge AS, Ørjan Hegg. - But the technology is highly accessible.

Hegg explains that the new technology is both useful and environmentally friendly, and will at the same time create advantages for car manufacturers in the future:

- Car producers must differentiate themselves in the market. We believe that premium cars offering this type of comprehensive service might be rolled out within a couple of years. Parking Guidance, however, is ready for implementation in Norway already today, he adds.

Other European cities are more ahead

SWARCO, which has delivered more than 95% of the traffic lights in Norway, also has long international experience in traffic regulation and parking, including City Guidance.

“- The service is more common in other European countries, such as Germany; Norway however is a little behind”, Hegg explains.

Environmental improvements needed

- Urbanization and a need for environmental improvement raise the importance of streamlining traffic flow in and between cities. He refers to a survey done over years that shows that approximately 30% of all urban driving in some cities and city areas are just people searching for a place to park:

“- It’s obvious that we can reduce the bad environmental impact if motorists in urban areas are guided to the most convenient parking space.”