Dubai has begun trialling ‘City Brain,’ Alibaba’s artificial intelligence system, to manage traffic in urban areas. The system uses traffic cameras in the city to analyse traffic movement patterns and coordinate road signals. ‘City Brain’ can manage traffic flow and reduce traffic congestions. Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) is currently using it to achieve efficiencies in bus scheduling and to reduce average waiting times for customers.

“The system analyses a massive number of big data received from nol cards, operating buses and taxis as well as the Enterprise Command and Control Centre. Then it converts the data into useful information that could be used in sending instant notifications and improving bus schedules and routes. The system is expected to improve the bus ridership by 17 per cent, average waiting time by 10 per cent, and the journey time and the average bus usage by 5 per cent,” said Mattar Mohammed Al Tayer, Director-General of RTA.

Al Tayer said public transport ridership in Dubai was recovering and is currently at 70 per cent of pre-Covid-19 levels. He said that RTA would continue to roll out public transport projects and integrated infrastructure and facilities to provide smooth services to riders and promote the welfare and happiness of residents.

Alibaba’s ‘City Brain’ system was first implemented in China’s Hangzhou city in 2016 and has since been successfully rolled out in over 50 cities. Within one year of its implementation, Hangzhou’s ranking on the list of China’s most congested cities dropped from among the top three to 48th place. Another function of City Brain is that it controls traffic lights to help first responders reach an emergency site in half the time it took before the system was implemented.

Dubai’s RTA deploys hi-tech to not just monitor and manage traffic, but also its fleet of public transport. “In cooperation with FAMCO, RTA has recently inaugurated a remote Bus Performance Monitoring Centre Al Quoz Bus Depot, for instant tracking and monitoring the performance efficiency of RTA’s new 516 Volvo buses fitted with Telematics system,” said Al Tayer. The system includes 47 types of mechanical and safety alerts, including fuel consumption per kilometre.