Page 44 - Frontier Technologies to Protect the Environment and Tackle Climate Change

Frontier Technologies to Protect the Environment and Tackle Climate Change

Figure 11: Improved flow of traffic in the Tverskaya Zastava
Square - Belorussky Railway Station [xi]

Moscow is endeavouring to reduce traffic volumes even further by making alternative
travel and commuting methods more attractive and accessible. One example is Moscow’s
encouragement of its citizens to take advantage of car-sharing programmes, which utilize
AI-based algorithms to map shared routes, by offering shared vehicles and free or low-cost
parking at various locations around the city, as well as by incentivizing the development of
smart parking applications.

Recognizing that public transport is one of the most efficient ways to relieve traffic congestion,
Moscow has also invested significantly in improving the city’s public transport system. As a
result, Moscow’s public transport system has become one of the world’s largest and most
efficient. Its Metro system is now ranked number 1 in the Western Hemisphere in terms of
passenger volume (2.5 billion passengers), and number 1 on minimal headways maintained
at all lines during all peak hours (1.5 minutes).
Managing this high volume of passengers is possible only with the implementation of ICT-
based tracking and AI-based signaling controls. Furthermore, Moscow has plans to launch
driverless trains, powered by AI, on the Koltsevaya metro line within the next five years.
Self-driving cars could also play a role in improving future traffic flows in Moscow by
automatically following the most optimized routes, recalculating routes in real time, based
on updated traffic information, and eliminating errors of human decision making through
reliance on AI. Moscow recently hosted the world’s best engineering students at an event
labelled ‘the world’s first hackathon for driverless cars’. And it is leveraging the relatively
tougher conditions that exist for use of autonomous cars within the city into solutions that
can more creatively drive self-driving cars forward.

Moscow’s phased introduction and implementation of AI components within its ‘ITS’ offer an example
for other cities looking to integrate advanced frontier technologies such as AI into their existing or
planned traffic and transport management systems. Another key takeaway from Moscow’s experience
has been the pivotal role that public and private partnerships have played in the deployment of its
smart technologies. Several uses of disruptive technologies are being developed by Moscow’s private
sector and are being incentivized by the city’s government. There exists, therefore, a tremendous

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