One Bay Area town is improving traffic with AI – here's how it works

SAN ANSELMO, Calif. - San Anselmo is pioneering a plan to control traffic with artificial intelligence at one of the Bay Area's non-freeway chokepoints; all of it for about $30,000. 

This experiment may be a bright look at the future of traffic. 

San Anselmo's Hub has been a commuting intersection chokepoint for decades. 

Three major commuter roads intersect: Sir Francis Drake, Red Hill and Center boulevards.

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"The major complaint was the delays at this intersection, which some people say are like 10 or 20 minutes, but it's usually a few minutes," said San Anselmo Public Works Director Sean Condry.

But artificial intelligence now controls the lights, not 20th century timing clocks.

"The A.I. has cut down I think, about 25% at peak time, which is about like 4 to 6 p.m. We've got positive complaints, I call them, where people have said to me, 'I used to be able to wait or text or e-mail, now it's going so fast now, I miss it,'" Condry said.

San Anslemo has a population of about 16,500 people.  But every weekday 65,000 cars use the intersection. That's five times the number of residents and many of those cars have more than one person in them. 

"So, if you take that delay, 65,000 vehicles a day, you're saving 90 hours a day for commuters, which is incredible," said Condry.

High-tech, long-range cameras plus a sophisticated computer algorithm think through traffic in nanoseconds. 

"They're looking at who's coming, how fast they're coming and so the computer in there can analyze it," said San Anselmo Public Works Assistant Director  Scott Schneider.

The system works 24/7.

"It's a perfect application for A.I. That's the kind of thing it will be able to do better than humans 24/7. So, I'm all for it," said one resident Mark Vendetti. 

"There are some times you're sitting but there's no one on the other side of the street and you're waiting because they have their light, they’re timed, and you sit there until it changes. I think it is a perfect use of A.I.," said Cross Creek Pizza server and commuter Karen Donlan.

Resident Jerome Doherty isn’t buying it just yet. 

"There is, down the road, a potential for this. I think we need to slow it up a little bit and study it a bit more. That's my sense. The boys on Wall Street are making money off things that are not even working yet," Doherty said.