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Smart Traffic Lights and Elon Musk
Derq is a company based in Detroit, Michigan. I had the opportunity to dig into Derq a little more and saw that the CEO even responded to a Tweet by Elon Musk saying that Tesla could build a system that could integrate with traffic lights to make traffic more efficient. It turns out, Derq is already tackling this problem.
Derq provides cities with an AI platform that integrates with existing infrastructure, creating a smart infrastructure for traffic light, pedestrian crossings, and more. Derq tracks real-time data of pedestrians and vehicles moving. If a car runs a red light, they are able to track the timing of when the car ran the red light, how much time it took to cross and more.
They can locate pedestrians crossing and notify drivers on the road of the pedestrians crossing. The AI can also give cars a heads up if they are turning and don't see a pedestrian. Elon Musk sent out his Tweet about a week and a half ago that was saying Tesla should take their technology and essentially do what Derq is already doing.
Derq's technology can be integrated right now. Georges Aoude, CEO of Derq, responded to Elon on Twitter and said he is ready to go to work on this now. It would be interesting to see if Tesla takes a look at Derq's technology.
@elonmusk we've already built such a system at @DerqAI. MIT technology, AI vision based too. We're ready to partner with @Telsa. We even have a deployment in Fremont, CA, close to the Tesla factory there (https://t.co/DHskMFf7Ep). Let me know how to explore such a partnership.— Dr. Georges Aoude (@gaoude) March 6, 2022
This Technology is Needed
The technology needs to be out there. Traffic as it is right now, is very inefficient in a lot of ways. The first inefficiency is waiting at red lights for too long. If all the traffic flows could be coordinated and understood, it would reduce the time waiting at red lights. With an understanding of traffic flows and patterns of vehicles and people, comes the ability to better predict.
Derq's software would mostly be used for EVs with cameras and systems that are adaptable to be able to be notified. Existing ICE cars would be difficult to retrofit to have the software workable.
Derq's mission is:
"Powering the future of roads for the safe and efficient movement of road users and autonomous vehicles"
This is an empowering mission and I am very much in favor of it.
According to Derq.com, Derq is an MIT spinoff powering the future of connected and autonomous roads, making cities smarter and safer for all road users and enabling the deployment of autonomous vehicles at scale.
Derq provides cities and fleets with an award-winning and patented smart infrastructure Platform powered by AI that helps them tackle the most challenging road safety and traffic management problems.
Derq’s platform ingests and fuses data from IoT traffic cameras and sensors then runs real-time edge analytics to enable infrastructure perception and V2X/5G applications as well as actionable safety and traffic insights.
Their platform consists of 3 primary things:
REAL-TIME ADVANCED ANALYTICS
Proprietary and patented computer vision, machine learning and sensor fusion techniques. Enables highly accurate road user detection, classification and multi-sensor tracking with cutting-edge intent prediction capabilities.
FLEXIBLE & OPEN SYSTEM
Hardware agnostic Platform compatible with a wide range of sensors (video detection, CCTV, radar, etc.), traffic controllers and V2X technologies. Integrates with both existing and newly deployed infrastructure.
MODULAR DESIGN
Robust and modular design, allowing for a versatile and cost-efficient deployments of V2X, traffic and safety applications. Flexible reporting mechanisms to Derq’s Dashboard or through APIs to third-party systems.
I think Tesla and Elon Musk should take a look at this technology and see what can be done. I for one would appreciate the added safety and efficiency in driving - and when robotaxis come around, it would be good to know traffic patterns anyway to reduce travel time and increase safety.
Will Tesla and Elon Musk get in touch with Derq? Should Elon Musk and Tesla utilize Derq's technology in order to improve our roads?
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Jeremy Johnson is a Tesla investor and supporter. He first invested in Tesla in 2017 after years of following Elon Musk and admiring his work ethic and intelligence. Since then, he's become a Tesla bull, covering anything about Tesla he can find, while also dabbling in other electric vehicle companies. Jeremy covers Tesla developments at Torque News. You can follow him on Twitter or LinkedIn to stay in touch and follow his Tesla news coverage on Torque News.
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