this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2023
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This doesn't appear to be anything new. Traffic engineers have been optimizing lights in large networks for decades.
They just have access to all the data they've been collecting on you, which is way more than the traffic meter cords can provide.
I imagine Google has more traffic information both in aggregate and in real time than any traffic engineer just because so many people have Google maps or Waze installed.
Personally I really like it when I get rerouted around traffic jams and that is just because Google can tell that there are a lot of cars moving slower than normal. I've gotten notifications on my phone warning me of traffic problems on my way to work before I leave the house.
There's no way any civil engineer would have access to that kind of data. If that information could be used to improve traffic lights why wouldn't that be a good thing? How many times have you idled at a red light with absolutely no cross traffic?
I'm not trying to say that Google's some magnanimous gift to humanity but it also isn't a malevolent villain trying to destroy humanity.