Google is trialling artificial intelligence (AI) in Manchester’s traffic light system to reduce stop-and-go emissions and improve the flow of vehicles. The technology giant announced the UK launch of its Project Green Light on Tuesday, working alongside Transport for Great Manchester (TfGM) to run the pilot. It coincides with Google hosting a major sustainability event in Brussels, where the firm will outline the innovations it has been working on across high-emission industries like transport and energy, including how it is using AI for climate solutions. The company said it found that half of emissions at traffic intersections come from vehicles stopping and starting. To help reduce these emissions, Google’s Green Light research initiative uses AI as well as driving trends from Google Maps to model traffic patterns and make recommendations for making the existing traffic light plans more efficient. Google said city engineers can implement these plans in as little as five minutes using existing infrastructure. The Green Light programme is live at 70 junctions across 12 cities, including Haifa in Israel, Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and Bangalore in India. Early data from those cities indicate a potential for up to 30% reduction in stops and up to 10% reduction in emissions at junctions, Google said. Manchester, the first UK city to host the pilot, has around 2,400 traffic signals and sees millions of journeys each week. Debbie Weinstein, Google UK managing director and vice president, said: “AI is the most profound technology that we’re working on today, with the potential to boost the UK’s productivity and support net zero ambitions. “That’s why we’re excited to be partnering with Transport for Greater Manchester to pilot Project Green Light here in the UK. Our aim is to make the network run as efficiently as possible and we look forward to seeing how we can use what we’ve learnt from this pilot to improve journey times for all road users David Atkin, Traffic for Greater Manchester “Already, this early stage AI-powered tool uses existing infrastructure to provide city planners with a cost-effective and efficient way to improve traffic flow, reduce stop-and-go traffic and cut emissions. “We look forward to partnering with more organisations across the country to help drive innovative solutions that unlock the benefits of AI.” David Atkin, TfGM’s analysis and reporting manager, said Greater Manchester’s road network is “complex”, adding that the needs of motorists, cyclists, pedestrians and public transport users need to be balanced. “With traffic levels now at or beyond pre-pandemic levels, we are working really hard to tackle congestion and are delighted to be amongst the first areas in the world – and the first in the UK – to work with Google on the innovative Green Light initiative,” he said. “The pilot provided valuable insights and teams from both Green Light and TfGM brought expertise and ideas to the table to improve journeys by up to 18% and reduce emissions. “Our aim is to make the network run as efficiently as possible and we look forward to seeing how we can use what we’ve learnt from this pilot to improve journey times for all road users.” Read More Broadband customers face £150 hikes because of ‘outrageous’ rises – Which? Rise of AI chatbots ‘worrying’ after man urged to kill Queen, psychologist warns William hails ‘amazing’ eco-friendly start-up businesses Royal website subject to ‘denial of service attack’, royal source says TikTok finds and shuts down secret operation to stir up conflict in Ireland Viral WhatsApp warning of cyberattack targeting Jewish people is fake

Scientists are hoping to receive a message from aliens imminently, after waiting for 30 years. But the chances are slim: the message was sent to a star that does not appear to have any planets, and there will only be an hour to hear the message. It is 40 years since Japanese astronomers Masaki Morimoto and Hisashi Hirabayashi composed a message intended to show what humans are like and how life works on Earth, and send it into the cosmos. They did so using a telescope at Stanford University and sent a message to Altair, a star 16.7 light years away that could potentially have life around it. Decades on, a team led by Shinya Narusawa at the University of Hyogo will use a large Japanese telescope to try and see if anything is sending back a reply to our message. Astronomers believe that it is conceivable a reply would come around now, given the distance to the star and the time that has elapsed. They will listen for messages coming from the star on 22 August. That date was chosen because of its significance in Japan’s Tanabata star festival, which symbolically celebrates the meeting of two deities Orihime and Hikoboshi, the latter of which is represented by Altair. Narusawa is hopeful that aliens are out there somewhere and that the message could have really been sent towards alien life around the distant star. “A large number of exoplanets have been detected since the 1990s,” he told Japanese newspaper The Asahi Shimbun. “Altair may have a planet whose environment can sustain life.” The original message was sent on 15 August, 1983, as part of a collaboration with a Japanese weekly comic anthology. But the attempt to contact aliens never seemed entirely serious, and so any scientists involved are unlikely to be disappointed. In 2008, when the email was unearthed, Hirabayashi admitted that the pair had been drunk when they came up with the idea of sending the message, according to Gizmodo at the time. “I believe in aliens, but they are very difficult to find,” he said then. He also noted that he had received an array of messages from schoolchildren about the message, which had made sending it worth it. Read More Exact number of people needed for a Mars colony found – and it’s less than you think Strange hidden ‘structures’ hundreds of metres deep discovered on dark side of moon Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft crashes into moon in failed mission

KYOTO, Japan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 7, 2023--

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Chef Ainsley Harriott has contributed some great memes to the internet during his distinguished broadcasting career, but the presenter brought back an absolute classic for his first post on Instagram’s new text-based Twitter rival Threads on Thursday. The iconic catchphrase “Why hello Jill” – especially beloved by Radio 1 presenter Greg James – went viral back in 2018 after Harriott made a surprise appearance in a member of the public’s house during a segment of This Morning. Jill Hatton, who was selected to receive a number of surprises as part of Mother’s Day, looked stunned when hosts Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford cut to her in her living room, and seemed equally as shocked as TV personality Alison Hammond sat on her sofa and explained all the amazing gifts she would be receiving. But that wasn’t the moment which would become known across social media. It actually came in the form of what Hammond said after the TV crew brought a brand new TV into her house. Hammond said: “There’s going to be more, because we’ve only got Ainsley Harriott. here, who’s going to do a treat dish for you. He’s going to cook you a lovely treat in your very own kitchen – here he is.” Shaking a frying pan in his hand as he enters the room, Harriott can be heard saying, in a wonderful sing-song voice, “Why hello Jill!” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter And for those wondering, a follow-up segment of This Morning which aired in December 2019 saw Langsford confirm to James that Jill was doing “very very well” – and check in on the viral sensation who confirmed people were saying it to her in the street “for a long time afterwards”. The saying was even referenced by Ant and Dec in a series of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! last year, when ex-Lioness Jill Scott appeared as a campmate in the Australian jungle. Now, Harriott did his own take on the meme on the Instagram app by posting “why hello, Threads”, delighting users on the platform. “This is the content I’m here for,” replied one. Another commented: “Worth following just for that.” “Best thread I’ve seen so far, hands down,” declared a third. And of course, James himself was thrilled with the meme’s resurgence, attaching a screenshot of the Thread to his very first post on the platform, which was a picture of a naked Harriott on a sofa, with grapes covering his privates. Harriot isn’t the only one to make a pretty epic entrance on the new social media app, either, as Good Morning Britain presenter and former Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls’ first post was exactly what you expect it to be. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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