Smart cities to dramatically ease congestion

New information from Juniper Research suggests that by 2021, the average driver will save an entire working day per year through less driving time. The advent of smart city initiatives, including including advanced traffic management and smart parking, will contribute to 4.2 billion fewer man hours on the road.

The company’s study, ‘Worldwide Smart Cities: Energy, Transport & Lighting 2016–2021’, found that traffic easing is the first area of consideration in the development of smart cities and that key to that consideration is the establishment of viable public transport networks to replace private vehicle use. Additionally, Juniper suggests that there will be 2 million smart parking spaces installed globally in the next five years, which will serve to improve traffic flow.

The smart street lighting market is also expected to surge in the next five years, which aligns with recent announcement of Australia’s own government-backed Street Lighting and Smart Controls Program (SLSC). Juniper says that over half of the microcontrolled LED street lighting units installed worldwide will be networked by 2021 and the push is for more than a reduction in energy costs. Through the use of additional sensors on fixtures, new avenues for revenue generation will be open, including municipal Wi-Fi and even retail marketing opportunites. The jury is still out on that one.

The research says that the combination of falling LED costs and the emergence of hardware standards is expected to contribute to driving the market forward.

For more information, visit Juniper’s website here.