Google has announced a number of new initiatives – two in the area of weather and two in the area of traffic – all in the name of sustainability and safety.
While most of these programs are aimed at local authorities and humanitarian organizations, they can also be used by individuals.
Severe weather
Since 2018, Google has used an AI-powered flood forecasting tool to predict local flooding. The tool processes publicly available data and sends warnings to local governments and aid organizations up to seven days before a flooding event occurs.
The Flood Hub currently covers more than 80 countries around the world – including France – and provides forecasts to nearly 2,000 sites.
As wildfires become more frequent and larger, Google is doing something similar in this area. Using satellite imagery and artificial intelligence, the company can predict in near real time (within 15 minutes) how quickly and where a forest fire will spread. According to Google, a partnership with the US Forest Service (in the United States) constitutes the most significant update to its fire spread model in 50 years.
Traffic jams and automobile carbon emissions
If you’re tired of sitting in your car waiting for the light to turn green, Google may have something for you. With Project Greenlight, Google is using AI to help city engineers optimize traffic lights so that traffic at intersections moves as quickly as possible, thereby reducing emissions at those locations.
Starting today, Project Greenlight is available in 12 cities around the world – Abu Dhabi, Bali, Bangalore, Budapest, Haifa, Hamburg, Hyderabad, Jakarta, Kolkata, Manchester, Rio de Janeiro and Seattle – with more to come . According to Google, the goal is to reduce traffic stoppages by 30% and carbon emissions by 10%.
Google is also making fuel-saving routes available to more Google Maps users. With this route, you can not only find roads with charging stations, but also access a more personalized route that takes into account slopes, traffic and speed limit. Since launching this program, Google says nearly 2.5 million tons of CO2e emissions have been saved, or about one year of driving for 500,000 fuel-powered cars.
Source: “ZDNet.com”