No one likes traffic - and thanks to technology, we may not have to deal with congestion forever.
A study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology revealed a new way to reduce traffic by 75 percent in the Big Apple.
The solution: a computer algorithm and ride sharing. Think Uber and Lyft.
Using their new system which would leverage those on-demand services, researchers from the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory say in a news release that 3,000 four-passenger cars could meet most of the demand in NYC -- that's compared to the 14,000 that operate right now.
And here's the beautiful thing: the average wait time would only be 2.7 minutes.
The algorithm for the on-demand rides can reportedly change routes based on requests coming in at any given moment, or know to send cars to areas where they are most needed.
Researchers say this type of system would work well with autonomous vehicles and could also help combat air pollution.
“A key challenge was to develop a real-time solution that considers the thousands of vehicles and requests at once,” stated Professor Daniela Rus in a press release. “We can do this in our method because that first step enables us to understand and abstract the road network at a fine level of detail.”
