Full Breakdown
AI-Driven Adaptive Traffic Lights Aim to Ease Israel’s Congestion
8/17/2026, 2:56:09 AM
Adaptive Traffic Lights Deployment
Netivei Israel – the National Transport Infrastructure Company – has installed roughly 170 AI-based adaptive traffic lights across the country. The system, developed jointly by Intelligent Traffic Control (ITC) and Netivei Israel’s traffic-management, operations-maintenance, and engineering R&D divisions, uses cameras to detect vehicles and queue lengths up to 100 m from each junction. The algorithm then adjusts signal timing in real time, contrasting with conventional lights that follow pre-set cycles based on periodic traffic counts.
Performance Data and Economic Impact
A pilot sample of 25 junctions representing varied traffic conditions showed an average saving of 25 seconds per vehicle over a full day. At the Furedeis junction, which handles about 80,000 vehicles daily, the cumulative time saved was estimated at 771 hours per day. The entrance-to-Kiryat Tivon junction recorded up to 56 seconds saved per vehicle, amounting to 679 hours daily. Netivei Israel projects that expanding the technology to 100 junctions could generate economic benefits exceeding NIS 500 million per year.
Implementation Plan and Future Goals
Current deployment covers a fraction of the 750 junctions under Netivei Israel’s responsibility. The agency’s stated aspiration is to equip all 750 sites with adaptive control within the next five years, aiming to curb the growing congestion that threatens to worsen without a major shift toward public transport.
Official Perspective
Eitan Silberstein, head of the technologies unit in Netivei Israel’s traffic-management department, emphasizes that the adaptive system’s real-time responsiveness is intended to match the constantly changing traffic demand, including sudden spikes, directional shifts, and unexpected incidents such as jams on the Ayalon highway in Tel Aviv.
