In Woensdrecht smart street lights turn on automatically when a vehicle is approaching

They last longer than traditional ones and require less electricity

In Woensdrecht in the southern Netherlands, a town of just 22,000 inhabitants, a six-mile bike route to neighboring Bergen op Zoom was a dangerous path to take in the dark winter months. The city installed 65 smart street lights–LEDs that would turn on automatically when a car or bike was approaching and then turn off when there was no traffic. It’s made it safer for children to travel between the two towns in the dark after school.

For small communities, such smart lights represent a significant investment, but the lights last longer than traditional incandescent ones and require considerably less electricity. They also can be used to accommodate additional technologies in the future, such as connected cameras and microphones. Sustainder, a Dutch company that makes smart lamps, says not only can such intelligent lights include infrared and ambient light sensors to turn on and off automatically, but they can also be equipped with accelerometers to automatically alert a local department of transportation whenever a lamp post is hit by a vehicle. Other possible features include air quality sensors, Wi-Fi mesh network transceivers, and future 5G transmission points.

Source: Digital trends