The first smart road test in Europe

The city of Hamburg, Germany has just been selected as the first place to test the first smart roads in Europe .

Smart road tested in Hamburg, Germany

Port city authorities of Hamburg and Cisco have built a test of the road in an effort to make smart roads a reality. This road has undergone four months of construction near Hamburg harbor, linking with 3 branch roads and the Kattwykbrucke bridge.

The road was commissioned in May 2015 with cameras and sensors attached to the light pole along the road. The four main components of the road include smart lighting, smart traffic, smart environments and smart sensors. Smart lighting relies on heat sensors and lights only turn on when someone rides a bicycle or walks across.

When pedestrians cross the area with lights, they will turn off to save energy . The smart environment here is meant to transmit data via WiFi to a common management screen near the port area. And the smart transport feature is used to optimize the energy to operate the components of the road to save electricity. If a person or vehicle falls on the road, information will be shared immediately.

The camera system installed is not intended to record vehicle registration information. The area near the bridge will have a vertical staircase that will open within 20 minutes every 2 hours for the vehicles to cross the other side of the riverbed.Smart sensors will help the bridge to function flexibly and prevent traffic congestion. The test will be conducted until April 2016 to collect data and determine the effectiveness of the project.