Seoul to use AI drone fleets to prevent, manage traffic jams

South Korea is enthusiastically planning for the introduction of future advanced urban air activities using UAVs and air taxis to lift delivery trucks and cars into the skies. Now officials in the nation’s capital are preparing to use drones to better manage vehicles that will be left clogging Seoul’s streets.

The municipal Seoul Metropolitan Government has said it plans on deploying fleets of drones over the city’s byways to both spot traffic jams about to materialize, and redirect drivers heading toward them. According to the Korea Herald, those sharp-eyed UAVs will go into operation in 2024.

Planned for rollout in September of next year, those fleets of drones will be flown high above Seoul to gain wider perspectives on ground traffic flows. The video feeds they’ll provide will be linked to artificial intelligence (AI) software designed to draw from accumulating data of when, how, and where traffic jams have formed. 

Over time, they are expected to be able to both predict when slowing movement signals major clogs about to form, and provide drivers connected to informational services with warnings and alternative routes to avoid them.

Those drone fleets will hover above the city’s streets at altitudes of between 200 and 230 meter to take in wider swathes of the capital they’ll patrol. The Seoul Metropolitan Government began testing the technique earlier this year, using UAVs and AI systems to gauge, monitor, and understand the accumulation and movement of crowds at large events, as well as traffic driving to and from them.

The drones and AI pairings will form part of a wider system the Seoul Metropolitan Government is assembling to both observe and manage vehicle and crowd movement around the capital.

UAVs will also be used for tangential activity like road repair or construction to monitor progress and detect any safety infractions or code violations.

“By utilizing advanced technologies, the Seoul Metropolitan Government will be able to enhance Seoul’s traffic management capabilities,” Yoon Jong-jang, the head of Seoul’s Urban Transportation Department, was quoted by the Korea Herald. “The new technologies will allow us to acquire traffic information quickly and accurately and therefore help us to provide a safer traffic environment for our citizens.”

Image: Will Ma/Unsplash