Live pilot in Georgia smart city showcases groundbreaking advancements in pedestrian safety and roadway technology 

Peachtree Corners — one of the nation’s first smart cities powered by real-world connected infrastructure and 5G — has announced a collaboration for a pilot project with ConnVAS, an innovator in advanced traffic and pedestrian safety solutions.

The pilot launched outside of Pinckneyville Middle School, addresses the safety challenges of busy crosswalks by testing how real-time, AI-driven detection can reduce accidents and create a safer environment for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers by activating alerts, even when pedestrians do not activate crosswalk signals.  

An AI-driven computing system

The pilot utilizes ConnVAS’s MAGIC (Multi-Access Generic Infrastructure Controller), AI-driven edge computing system, which incorporates cameras mounted on RRFB poles (Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon) to monitor pedestrian and vehicle movement, V2X transceivers for real-time vehicle-to-infrastructure communication and an integrated audio-visual alert system.

When the system detects a pedestrian or cyclist using the crosswalk, crossing outside of the crosswalk lines or a vehicle approaching the crosswalk, each of its technologies work together in real time to immediately activate alerts to both the users of the crosswalk and incoming drivers — even if the pedestrians did not press the crosswalk buttons.

The system also continually collects anonymous data such as felonies, near-misses and pedestrian and vehicle counts for ongoing analysis of crosswalk usage and traffic.  

“Peachtree Corners is dedicated to implementing technology solutions that address real-world safety challenges for our residents,” said Brandon Branham, executive director of Curiosity Lab.

“The ConnVAS system provides an innovative solution to common safety hazards such as pedestrians crossing outside of designated areas, failure to press crosswalk buttons and drivers failing to detect pedestrians or cyclists in time,” he continued.

“By integrating advanced AI detection and real-time alerts, this ConnVAS pilot enhances safety in an area where our residents need it the most today, while also generating actionable insights that can guide our development of smarter, more responsive infrastructure in the future. We are excited to be continuing the pilot program to continue to gain insights in how we can improve our city for our residents.”  

Collecting data and observing patterns

Preliminary results from the pilot program that were extracted from a midweek 72-hour period, show distinct patterns that can better help city managers ensure roadways are safe and efficient for VRUs (vulnerable road users) and drivers.

At the pilot location, ConnVAS reported over 220 pedestrian crossings for more than 70 crossing events, with only three false alarms. The system consistently and successfully activated flashing beacons and audio alerts in real time, ensuring those crossing the road and oncoming drivers were promptly warned.

Additionally, traffic data collected by the system is being used to evaluate the technology’s impact and will aid city officials in making informed decisions about improving road safety and urban planning in specific locations.  

“The pilot we are conducting in Peachtree Corners has been instrumental in refining our technology and demonstrating its impact in a real-world environment,” said Danny Frydman, founder and CEO of ConnVAS. “Through continuous testing and data analysis, we’ve been able to improve the accuracy of our system’s AI detection, ensuring faster and more reliable activation of alerts. This has directly enhanced the safety of the area by addressing critical challenges, including missed warnings for pedestrians and cyclists or delayed driver awareness.”

“The insights gained from this pilot are helping us evolve the software to adapt to complex traffic scenarios and create safer, smarter intersections everywhere,” Frydman added. “We hope to scale this solution throughout the city as the pilot and technology continues to develop.”

Evaluating features

The ConnVAS pilot in Peachtree Corners is continuing to evaluate various features, including autonomous operation features that eliminate the need for manual button presses and reduce false alarms, cyclist-friendly designs and V2X connectivity to communicate with connected vehicles to alert drivers of crosswalk activity.

Additional capabilities such as dynamic illumination based on pedestrian location are also being explored to further enhance VRU safety. 

About ConnVAS

ConnVAS is an innovator in advanced traffic and pedestrian safety solutions. At the core of ConnVAS solutions is the ConnVAS MAGIC — an AI-driven edge computing traffic detector. The MAGIC stands at the heart of ConnVAS enhanced RRFB, intelligent signalized intersection and traffic analytics solutions.

Providing edge computing solutions that include AI detection, V2X communication and diverse interfaces, ConnVAS enhances the safety and efficiency of the transportation environment.

For more information, visit connvas.com.

Peachtree Corners, one of the United States’ first 5G smart cities, announced a collaboration with Seyond, a global provider of image-grade LiDAR technology.

Through this collaboration, Seyond will deploy and validate its LiDAR solutions in a real-world environment in an effort to create safer streets and smoother traffic flow for both vehicles and vulnerable road users (VRUs) in the city.

Seyond’s LiDAR solution is already deployed within Curiosity Lab’s smart city ecosystem and at a select intersection in the City of Peachtree Corners.

These locations use a combination of Seyond’s LiDAR, OmniVidi Perception Service Software Platform and Blue-Band Integrator AI to provide a real-time 3D mapping of the areas, with both vehicles and pedestrian object detection.

These combined technologies collect data that can be used to implement traffic and VRU signal solutions to make intersections safer and more efficient, while also protecting citizen privacy.

The collected data from Seyond’s data and Blue-Band’s analysis can be used by Peachtree Corners to adjust traffic signals, pedestrian crossing signals, intersection design and more to address specific safety and efficiency needs.

“Curiosity Lab’s shared public domain available for testing, deployment and validation is one of the many characteristics that attracted us to collaborate with the organization,”

“By collecting data from high-volume intersections across vehicular and pedestrian traffic, we will be able to improve the quality and reliability of detection results, which can help validate Intelligent Traffic Solution-based use cases,” said Seyond Co-founder and CEO Junwei Bao.

“Our technology can be used at a signal intersection but also across parking, large areas of pedestrian crossings and more. Curiosity Lab and Peachtree Corners will allow us to explore these use cases in a real-world environment as we continue to advance and validate our solutions for public use to improve safety for all,” he added.

Seyond’s LiDAR system is able to map large environments up to 1,640-foot range that would usually require multiple traffic cameras. The hardware, originally developed and tested for autonomous vehicles, is manufactured to be automotive-grade and has been designed to withstand extreme weather conditions.

These capabilities enable Curiosity Lab and Peachtree Corners to have accurate monitoring 24/7 to make the most educated intelligent transport updates to meet the needs of citizens and visitors.

“LiDAR technology is going to change the way cities look at managing vehicular and pedestrian traffic,” said Curiosity Lab Executive Director Brandon Branham. “

LiDAR allows the city to collect data on traffic movement, congestion, wrecks, near misses and even pedestrian activity, while protecting everyone’s privacy. Seyond’s solution takes the capabilities of LiDAR one step further and enables us as a city to evaluate how we can make our major intersections safer and more efficient for VRUs and everyday traffic,” he explained.

Learn more about Seyond’s technologies at seyond.com.

Besides his monthly newsletter, Peachtree Corners City Councilman Eric Christ occasionally hosts town hall meetings to allow constituents to catch up on what’s going on and give him feedback on a variety of issues. 

On Sunday, March 24, several dozen residents and stakeholders gathered for updates at City Hall’s Community Chest room. Christ probably expected the gathering to last 90 minutes at the most, but the discussion lasted nearly three hours as he shared information about the Marshal program, development projects, the new dog park, deer and the May 21 primary election.

Cutting down on crime

Probably to nobody’s surprise, crime and public safety took up the bulk of the meeting. Christ wanted the audience to take away that crime in Peachtree Corners is down 25% from pre-pandemic times. He showed a chart with crime rates from 2019 through 2023 that showed a significant drop in crime overall.

• Residential burglaries are down by 48%.
• Thefts are down by 34%.
• Robberies are down by 24%.

“Prior to the pandemic in 2017, 2018 and 2019 we were averaging about 100 total [part one crimes] every month, and that dropped almost by half during the pandemic. Then, in 2021, it went back up a little bit again,” said Christ. 

Even though the rate has increased year over year since 2020, it has not returned to pre-COVID levels. However, compared to the previous year, crime has increased by 23%. One solution may be the new City Marshal program that kicked off in November. 

Having a relatively small population, the most heinous crimes, such as homicide and aggravated assault, have stayed lower than in many other areas. However, auto thefts, car break-ins, robberies and other property crimes remain somewhat high.

The City Marshal’s involvement

Chief City Marshal Edward Restrepo gave anecdotal evidence that the marshal program is working and will continue to get better because it fills the gaps left between the Gwinnett Police Department and the city’s code enforcement department.

“We had a jewelry store robbery, and about the time we came in, we had started building up the camera registry as well as the integration system of cameras all around the city,” said Restrepo. “With only three of us, we have to rely on technology as much as we can.”

Although the marshals didn’t apprehend the bad guys, their assistance helped other law enforcement officers do their jobs more effectively. Several residents asked if there were plans to increase the marshal force to provide 24-hour, 7-day-a-week service.

The initial cost was around $900,000, said Christ, and maintaining the three officers and an administrative assistant will require about $700,000. Although Peachtree Corners doesn’t levy a property tax, the city’s share of county taxes goes toward that type of expense.

“It’s up to the people of Peachtree Corners if they want to increase the program,” said Christ. “It will come at a price.”

Those in attendance indicated that they thought that would be money well spent. Several said they liked seeing marshals at city-sponsored events because it sent a message that Peachtree Corners is serious about keeping its residents and visitors safe.

Christ said he and the rest of the council would consider that, but he reminded everyone that they should still report crimes to the police.

“I’ve had people tell me that they left a message on the city’s answering machine on a Friday evening and hadn’t heard back,” he said. “I tell them the first step is always to call 911.”

Catch the episode of the UrbanEBB podcast featuring Edward Restrepo from this past January here:

Chief City Marshal Edward Restrepo: Explore the Future of Community Policing