Rapid Flow Technologies: A "Surtrac" to Smart Cities

Rapid Flow Technologies Inc. provides smart transportation solutions for reducing traffic congestion and improving urban mobility. Its Surtrac adaptive traffic signal control software provides unprecedented responsiveness to real-time traffic conditions and a unique ability to optimize traffic fl ow in complex, multi-modal urban grid networks. “We love Pittsburgh and we love optimizing its traffic to make it fl ow better for everyone who lives, works, or visits here,” said Griffin Schultz, Rapid Flow Technologies CEO. Surtrac is an innovative approach to real-time traffic signal control, combining research from artificial intelligence and traffic theory. Griffin said that it optimizes the performance of signals for the traffic that is actually on the road, improving traffic and leading to less waiting, reduced congestion, shorter trips, less pollution and happier drivers. Unlike other systems which may take minutes to respond to changes in traffic, Surtrac adapts in real-time to changing traffic by optimizing traffic flows every second. This allows Surtrac to coordinate highly variable traffic flows on complex grids, as well as on arterials or corridors with much less dynamic traffic patterns. Surtrac optimizes for many modes of travel, keeping vehicles, cyclists, pedestrians and transit moving and safe. According to Schultz, Surtrac is proven in the fi eld to yield significant improvement over conventional traffic signal timing and other adaptive systems. Travel times have been reduced by 25%, time spent waiting at signals by 40%, stops by 30% and emissions by 20%. Because Surtrac is a decentralized system, groups of intersections can be added to the network over time, reducing the cost and implementation risk of having to transition an entire city grid traffic network at once. Surtrac is also designed with the future in mind. Surtrac can share vital information via two-way communication with CAVs (connected and autonomous vehicles), city buses and pedestrians, to further improve traffic optimization and traveler experience. Read more RoadTrip 2.0 coverage here.