Some scientists claim that traffic congestion is a mathematical problem and that the introduction of Artificial lntelligence would go a long way to solving the problem.  They believe that self-driving cars can avoid slow movement and collisions; the two main causes of traffic in Beijing.

Like Us on Facebook

Future Forum, a recently launched science award body at the New York University, Shanghai campus, said on Thursday that self-driving cars would ease traffic congestion over the next five years.

"I believe there will be no traffic jams in Beijing in five years' time. The implementation of Al is going to completely change our lives in every way, from transportation to health care," said Fei-Yue Wang, director of the State Key Laboratory for Management and Control of Complex Systems at the institution.    

While supporting Wang, Bill Russo, a consultant at Gao Feng Advisory, said that the prediction was indeed a possibility, but government regulation is a key determinant.

"The government needs to allocate space on the road for self-driving vehicles, which is a much more difficult problem to navigate," he said. "Autonomous and human driven cars will need to mingle on the highways."

"We're going to see the commercialization of this space much faster in China because Chinese consumers expect cars to be connected devices," he added.

Russo explained that China is in a position to push the market to the point that self-driven cars can operate smoothly.

Recent accidents involving drivers of Tesla cars has led to self-driving cars being banned on China's public roads. The scientists argue that this is slowing down the development of the industry.

Tagschina, Beijing, New York University, Self-driving cars