China's Largest Online Retailer Using Artificial Intelligence to Tackle Congestion

A subsidiary of Alibaba, the massive online retailer, will deploy cloud computing and artificial intelligence to help relieve congestion in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

1 minute read

January 30, 2018, 1:00 PM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Malaysia

Amirul Syaidi / Shutterstock

"Alibaba, China’s largest online retailer, is deploying its cloud-computing power to save Asia’s cities from their suffocating traffic," reports Karen Hao.

Here's how Hao sums up the news:

Its subsidiary AliCloud announced today (Jan. 29) that it will use artificial intelligence to help alleviate road congestion in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The company deployed its traffic-management system, called City Brain, in Hangzhou, China—where Alibaba is headquartered—in September 2016. Afterwards, average traffic speed increased 15%, and traffic violations were reported with 92% accuracy Reuters reports.

The article explains more about how City Brain works, and how AliCloud will deploy the system in Kuala Lumpur. According to Hao, this is the first time the company has deployed the system outside of China. Expect City Brain to be operating on 300 traffic lights and 500 traffic cameras in Kuala Lumpur by May 2018.

Monday, January 29, 2018 in Quartz

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