NoTraffic to install smart lights in Texas. Israel next?

The Israeli company NoTraffic will install smart traffic lights in a Texas city, marking the first time that an entire city's traffic management system will be cloud-connected and managed by AI.

Under a $3 million contract, the company will install its system at 92 intersections in the city of Sugar Land, whose population has grown by over 40% in the past ten years to over 120,000 people. The agreement was signed after a year of rigorous testing by the city's traffic engineers.

NoTraffic specializes in transforming existing traffic lights into smart ones by adding cameras and other sensors, enabling their operation based on current traffic conditions and priorities set by authorities, rather than the fixed programs of existing traffic lights. The goal is to prevent situations where a green light is given to a lane with no cars, wasting valuable intersection time.

The signing of the agreement follows NoTraffic's announcement last year of the completion of a $50 million Series B funding round. The company has installed its systems in hundreds of cities across the U.S. and Canada and expects to grow by over 200% in the number of installations and new customers by the end of the year. The smart traffic systems market, in which NoTraffic operates, is experiencing significant growth and is expected to reach approximately $84.8 billion by 2027. This rapid growth is driven by government initiatives to implement advanced traffic management systems, such as the U.S. Infrastructure Law, which emphasizes upgrading and repairing the U.S. infrastructure with a $1.2 trillion investment, alongside increasing demand for technological solutions to reduce road accident casualties, emissions, and traffic congestion.

Tal Kreisler, CEO and co-founder of the company, told Walla Car that "we are at a tipping point, transitioning from concept to full deployment in dozens of cities, with multi-million-dollar contracts. Each city's authorities decide what they prefer to prioritize. In Tucson, Arizona, priority was given to reducing traffic jams, and we reduced congestion on one of the main routes by 70%, shortening travel time along the route by 10 minutes. In Phoenix, we reduced red-light running incidents by 50% after drivers started waiting much less time for a green light. In British Columbia, Canada, the focus was on pedestrian safety, and we reduced their waiting time at traffic lights by 40%, without delaying cars."

In contrast, the Ministry of Transport in Israel, through Netivei Israel and Netivei Ayalon, continues to install outdated traffic lights that operate according to fixed schedules, without the ability to respond in real time. Kreisler said, "We hope that Israel will also join the new era. There is proven technology; this is not an experiment at some intersection. While we are helping millions abroad, we continue to stand in traffic jams on the way to the office every day."