The system was developed at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University. Researchers there recently spun it out as a new company, Rapid Flow Technologies LLC, with the goal of commercializing the Surtrac adaptive signal control technology developed in the university’s Robotics Institute.

The company’s website describes Surtrac as “an innovative approach to real-time traffic signal control, combining research from artificial intelligence and traffic theory. Surtrac optimizes the performance of signals for the traffic that is actually on the road, improving flow for both urban grids and corridors and leading to less waiting, reduced congestion, shorter trips, less pollution, and happier drivers.”

The technology has been piloted in Pittsburgh over the past three years and now extends to a network of 47 intersections. Atlanta is also experimenting with Surtrac.
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