Siemens provides the 'brain' for Wuhan's traffic control system

German engineering and electronics conglomerate Siemens AG is one solutions provider in China's burgeoning smart city market.

Xiao Song, president of Siemens Infrastructure & Cities Sector North East Asia, said many of the solutions that are tailor-made for Chinese customers have now attracted interest in overseas markets.

One example is the traffic control system in the city of Wuhan. China's traffic planners had provided the physical infrastructure: wider roads, more buses and longer subway lines. Still lacking, however, was an optimal way of using the newly built network.

By equipping more than 400 road crossings with traffic control technology, including sensors, real-time adaptive traffic-control systems and lights, Siemens helped Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, to increase travel efficiency, cut stop times and shorten delays caused by congestion.

Unlike regular traffic signals, which change in preset patterns, Siemens' system can alter its patterns every five minutes based on real-time traffic information gathered by hundreds of sensors across the city.

The gathered data then flow into a traffic control center that serves as the brain of the city's traffic system.

With this system, the city becomes like a living organism, Xiao said. Not only is it intelligent, it also is responsive.

Siemens said that the system, which was put into use in 2010, has cut travel time on Wuhan roads by an estimated 20 percent.