Smart Transportation: Integrating Smart Mobility Solutions

Smart Comprehensive Transportation

Whether transporting people or goods, today’s transportation services need to collaborate to create seamless experiences. Both transportation service processes and infrastructure are going digital, using the latest intelligent technologies.

But what does “smart” actually mean in transportation?

The use of intelligent technologies has grown remarkably in the past few years. Model algorithms in computer vision, natural language processing, machine learning, and other fields are now more accurate than ever. These bring a lot of value to the transportation industry, which is gradually integrating smart solutions in a variety of contexts. This includes anything from seamless travel and shipping, to resource allocation and operations, and even urban traffic governance and safety.

What smart tech essentially does is perform the same actions as a person would, but faster and more efficiently. It can be trained to recognize images and speech, analyze data and optimize decisions based on these analyses, as well as generate multi-dimensional awareness by considering a variety of information sources. This means that intelligent solutions need to be trained for each specific scenario — the same way a person would need to learn to perform different activities — and only then can it streamline and optimize processes.

In the case of transportation, the applications of intelligent technologies are endless, but they rarely work alone. Typically, these technologies are integrated with digital platforms, big data analysis, 5G, and IoT, in order to deliver optimal results. Let’s look at the ways Huawei’s smart solutions propel transportation into the future.

Image Recognition

One of the many ways in which smart tech streamlines processes is by analyzing images from a variety of feeds in near real-time. Novel devices — such as software-defined cameras (SDCs) with smart chips and intelligent sensors — facilitate this process. For example, train stations use SDCs to identify illegal behaviors on railway tracks, thus preventing accidents and increasing safety. SDCs at urban intersections help better control traffic. In logistics, image recognition technologies can streamline and integrate label recognition and therefore avoid delays.

Huawei One ID Solution

At airports, the use of smart image recognition is key for smooth, seamless travel. Travelers often fret about the wait times at airports, finding air travel a nuisance. At some airports (like those in Shenzhen, Chengdu, and Kunming), Huawei’s One ID solution is already reducing the time it takes from check-in to boarding, often taking just a few minutes.

Everything from dropping off your luggage, to going through security checks, and finally boarding becomes smarter — largely relying on image recognition, which replaces manual checks. Passengers also spend less time in line-ups, the airport needs fewer staff, and travel becomes generally more convenient.

Learn more about how we’re changing airport travel and operations with the Huawei Smart Airport solution.

Data Analysis and Decision-Making

In a fast-moving world, making the right decisions quickly is key. Everything is faster and more precise, including the movement of people and goods. Smart tech helps cities, transportation authorities, and logistics companies make better decisions faster. In the most basic form, accurately trained algorithms learn to read and analyze data, and then make decisions based on the analysis. But transportation systems are often much more complex than just one action. So, more advanced smart technologies are also involved in Huawei’s solutions, such as the FusionInsight Intelligent Data Lake.

As all the different processes create endless streams of data, the data lake stores this data in its original form, making it ready for use as soon as it’s needed. Embedded intelligence can then draw on the data in the data lake and supply the needed information for decision-making. This helps cities make sure that logistics centers, urban roads, traffic governance, and even individual vehicles can collaborate for smoother, safer traffic.

Green Coding: Smart Charging Algorithm

Shenzhen Bus Group is an excellent example of how a single algorithm can help make better decisions, saving lots of money and time. Smart solutions are helping the Group analyze bus running duration, routes, battery status, locations and quantity of charging stations, and power consumption costs. The Group uses Huawei’s smart charging scheduling algorithms to save up to 10% in energy costs by charging them at off-peak times. They are also optimizing schedules to reduce the number of empty buses on routes and damage caused to batteries by driving beyond their range.

Multi-dimensional Awareness

Many things happen on a road all at once, making road safety a constant global concern. Multi-dimensional awareness technologies, such as video intelligence, radar, and thermal imaging, can monitor traffic in real time, including traffic volume, incidents, as well as weather conditions and environments. While a person can certainly follow various indicators at once, smart tech has an easier time aggregating all of the information and getting a full picture of what’s happening on the road. It can then use this information to inform various other systems of accidents, risks, or unsafe behaviors. This is particularly helpful on railway tracks, at urban intersections, in isolated areas, or in other special conditions.

Wushaoling Tunnel in Gansu Province

For example, in a tunnel, radars and video intelligence detect incidents. The system analyzes and predicts what is happening on the road and senses incidents in real time. It warns of various abnormalities, like tunnel fires, traffic accidents, parking violations, abandoned objects, congestion, and other issues. By placing a multi-dimensional computing unit at the edge, this information reaches operators in just 6 seconds, allowing for faster emergency response. This, in turn, results in 20% fewer accidents inside the tunnel.  

Intelligent Operations

Behind most transportation processes are operators, who tirelessly monitor everything that goes on. This starts with a single unit like the Wushaoling Tunnel or a check-in counter at an airport, expanding to a mammoth of a structure that involves hundreds if not thousands of checkpoints, processes, and operations. Intelligence is the key to digitalizing these processes and making them a lot more efficient. It does so in many ways. For example, many transportation companies are using Intelligent Digital Twin technologies for O&M. They digitally replicate real-life systems and processes. The simulations help predict and mitigate risks by running different scenarios through AI algorithms, preventing a lot of manual work and creating safer operations.

TrafficGo: Improving Traffic Flows 

Urban traffic governance is tricky business. China’s roads are adding hundreds of millions of vehicles each year, leading to more and more congested cities. Huawei’s TrafficGo uses HUAWEI CLOUD Enterprise Intelligence, drawing on a variety of smart technologies to improve urban governance. The solution takes data from various sensors placed at intersections, runs it through multi-dimensional smart diagnosis and analysis, and makes decisions that optimize mobility at key intersections. To date, Shenzhen and Tianjin Eco-City have piloted TrafficGo at several intersections. As a result, vehicles go about 4.2% faster and commutes take 5.1% less, with overall vehicle delays down by 17.7%.

Individually, each smart application in the transportation sector creates a lot of value. However, when every single application collaborates, we can create comprehensive transportation systems that make people’s lives better. When everything is connected through intelligent sensing, recognition, and collaboration, transportation won’t be an obstacle, but a service experience. Not only will it contribute to our everyday lives, but integrating smart tech will make transportation greener and safer for everyone. Huawei hopes to be part of this shift in the transportation industry, delivering the latest technology to improve mobility. 

Read more about Huawei’s Intelligent Traffic Management System.

Disclaimer: Any views and/or opinions expressed in this post by individual authors or contributors are their personal views and/or opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views and/or opinions of Huawei Technologies.