Google’s Project Green Light Arrives in Quebec City

Quebec City has become the first in Canada to deploy Google’s AI-powered Project Green Light to ease congestion and cut emissions by optimizing traffic light timing.

Drivers in Quebec City collectively lose nearly two full days each year stuck in traffic according to the 2024 TomTom Traffic Index, which puts the annual delay at about 47 hours per commuter.

Cities often rely on costly hardware or manual counts to guide traffic light changes. Project Green Light removes that burden by working with existing infrastructure and enables engineers to implement adjustments in mere minutes.

In Quebec City thirteen priority intersections have already undergone optimization under the program. Early results show Project Green Light has shown promise in reducing the number of stops by up to 30% and cutting intersection related CO2 emissions by as much as 10%. Worldwide, the initiative now touches more than 55 million vehicle trips every month across AI tuned intersections.

Earlier pilots in cities such as Seattle Bengaluru Hamburg Rio de Janeiro and Kolkata have demonstrated that AI based recommendations help engineers spot bottlenecks that were previously invisible and act on them swiftly. The AI models combine data about traffic light cycles intersection geometry and timing trends to form a rich picture of movement patterns.

These insights allow traffic engineers to tweak timing plans to create green wave effects across multiple intersections.

Quebec City’s engagement sends a powerful message to other Canadian cities watching closely. The success of the rollout may encourage broader adoption across the country with tangible benefits for commuters and the climate. As traffic patterns evolve the collaboration between cities and AI researchers could become a vital tool in urban planning.