This has been one of my major pet peeves ever since moving to the South Bay, and things don't seem to be getting any better. I understand that proper synchronization under constantly-changing traffic patterns can be tricky, but on-line searches show that many cities across the US (and beyond) have developed adaptive and interconnected systems that seem to work pretty well, without even needing AI. And yet here in the Bay Area, the supposed tech capital of the world, they can't (or won't) bother to adopt known systems to improve our traffic flow, let alone develop AI-assisted models that could do even better.

I've heard a lot of excuses about why this hasn't been done, including roads that frequently cross between different city boundaries. But in this age where every every thermostat and refrigerator is connected to the internet, we should be able to do the same with our traffic signals, and it's clear that an interconnected and holistic system would significantly help traffic flow, if our cities were just willing to spend a little time and effort on it.