The smart intersection: roads of the future

**The intelligent or smart intersection is an approach to ensure greater safety and efficiency at important junctions in road traffic. This is because long waiting times, traffic jams and accidents often occur in inner-city areas in general and at junctions in particular. But what exactly are smart junctions? What advantages and challenges can we expect? And when will they finally become a reality?

On this page, you can find out all the important information about smart junctions - and what makes them such an important building block for the mobility of the future.**

Intelligent or smart intersection - what is it?

No matter what you call it, the core task of the intelligent intersection always remains the same: it is an intelligent traffic system designed to facilitate the safe and efficient transfer of people between intersecting roads.

What exactly is intelligent about it?

Quite simply, intelligent traffic systems are solutions that use new technologies to control traffic. By using sensors, cameras, environment models and data analysis, traffic situations are checked, evaluated and managed accordingly - with the aim of improving general mobility and making it fit for the future.

The Smart Intersection has the same goal - it will specifically help to improve flow of traffic at junctions and prevent accidents. The environment is analyzed in real time and the resulting information is forwarded to the vehicles. The intersection basically thinks for itself and helps all road users to cross it as efficiently as possible.

How do Smart Intersections work?

The basic idea behind an intelligent intersection is that not only cars recognize and react to their surroundings, but also the intersection itself. The result is adaptive traffic control that reacts to real conditions and forwards the corresponding output to road users. By adapting to the respective situation in real time, traffic can be made more efficient and safer.

But how exactly will smart junctions work?

• Advanced technologies such as lidar sensors and radar-capable cameras are used to analyze the entire intersection area.

• The intersection is thus recorded, including all road users (i.e. cyclists and pedestrians as well as motorized vehicles) and their respective movements.

• The recorded information is converted into a 3D model of the surrounding area and evaluated, enabling the system to analyze the current situation in real time.

• On the one hand, this data is used to control the traffic lights and adapt them to the traffic conditions.

• On the other hand, the information is also forwarded to all relevant vehicles in the vicinity, which can receive it using appropriate Car2x technology.

• This means that some situations can be avoided from the outset by the intervention of the system.

V2x communication refers to technologies that enable vehicles to exchange information in real time. Road users are thus networked with the surrounding infrastructure.

What are the benefits of smart intersections?

Intersections are an important part of the nervous system of our modern society – of course, because after all, you have to cross them to get from A to B. This is where several streams of vehicles meet, which often leads to delays and traffic jams, especially at peak times. Particularly in urban centers, the increase in everyday road traffic is becoming more and more of a challenge for everyone involved.

Daily road traffic will not necessarily become any easier in the future: According to forecasts, passenger traffic is set to increase by 13 percent by 2051. Without innovative new developments to control it, ever-increasing traffic chaos is as good as pre-programmed.

Intelligent intersections are an obvious solution, as they use information and communication technologies to optimize road traffic. They are a basic building block for the mobility of the future, as they have the potential to make traffic routes more efficient, environmentally friendly and safer.

Improved traffic efficiency

Busy and large junctions are usually controlled using preset traffic light cycles – the traffic lights simply switch after a fixed period of time. In theory, this means that the flow of traffic can always continue smoothly. In practice, however, this often does not work.

At junctions with preset traffic light cycles, longer waiting times are usually to be expected when there is heavy traffic. This is because, especially at peak times, there are often more vehicles at the junction than can leave it in one go. This increases the risk of traffic jams.

Intelligent junctions could help to make traffic more efficient in the future. They could adapt the traffic lights to the current traffic conditions in real time and optimize the flow of traffic by communicating directly with road users - for example, by providing up-to-date information on accidents to enable traffic to be diverted immediately.

This shortens transit times, reduces idling and increases traffic flow.

Reduction of CO₂ emissions

Optimizing the flow of traffic would of course also result in shorter waiting times for road users - and that in turn would mean fewer vehicles with running combustion engines waiting in front of red lights for the signal to move on.

Intelligent intersections are an important step towards reducing emissions in road traffic and enabling vehicles to use energy efficiently.

After all, the more efficient the traffic, the less waiting time there is for road users - and the fewer engines are left running.

Prevention of accidents

Intelligent junctions are also the key to greater road safety. This is because junctions are a hotspot for accidents – from minor rear-end collisions to more extreme situations. An intelligent intersection could help to prevent many of these accidents.

In the future, for example, potential hazards could be detected by the smart intersection and forwarded directly to the drivers concerned.

This is because it is designed to perceive everything in the intersection environment – even in the blind spot of the driver's perspective or the turning assistant. This could reduce the risk of crossing accidents.

According to the ADAC, over a quarter (around 27%) of all accidents in Germany are turning and crossing accidents. In 2021 alone, a total of 305 deaths occurred as a result of these accidents.