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Despite the boom in Work-From-Home and Work-From-Anywhere, we all still must move from point A to point B once in a while – and sometimes a lot more than that. It might be for the weekly in-office check-in, going to the grocery store or a concert venue, or heading to the airport for Fiber Connect 2024 in Nashville next month. Vehicles are a part of our daily lives that are here to stay, and fiber will hope to move traffic more efficiently than ever in the decades to come.
Already, fiber plays a key role in today’s transportation system, linking together sensors, stoplights, and cameras in cities across the country, enabling officials to monitor traffic in real-time, adjusting stoplight timing, and proactively dispatching public safety resources and tow trucks when accidents and breakdowns occur. Data collected in real-time enables the increasing use of toll roads combined with adjustable pricing based on overall traffic flow. Denver and other cities use connectivity and real-time info to keep the buses on schedule by tweaking stoplights on the fly.
Today’s smart cities will lead to tomorrow’s smart roads as autonomous vehicles (AVs) take to the streets over time. High-speed, low-latency communication via wireless will be interwoven with fiber backhaul to enable real-time communications between vehicles and infrastructure, enabling city officials to move traffic faster and more safely as each vehicle maintains a constant dialogue with the vehicles around them, the road as it passes along surface conditions affected by weather, and coordination with local transportation bureaus in response to accidents and major events affecting the number of vehicles on the road.
Arizona intends to take a glimpse into that future with a partnership with a broadband provider to lay 400 miles of fiber on three of its interstates, as Government Technology reports. The fiber infrastructure will support today’s applications of overhead message boards, traffic cameras, weather stations, and wrong-way driving detection, as well as provide the underlying infrastructure for connected and automated vehicles down the road as well as serve as middle-mile connectivity for more rural homes and businesses.
Exactly what that future will look like is certainly a work in progress since connected cars and autonomous vehicles are in their first stages of development. But it’s going to be fun to see what emerges from all the work and experimentation since it will lead to more efficient use of the roads, resulting in faster Amazon deliveries, lower carbon emissions, and less time spent in crawling bumper-to-bumper traffic.
Kevin leads the marketing efforts for Clearfield as Chief Marketing Officer. He joined the fiber company in 2016, leveraging his extensive experience in advanced communications technology, fiber optic systems, and business product marketing. Prior to joining Clearfield, he spent two decades serving in various senior marketing positions at ADTRAN. Before that, he spent a decade at telephone operating company BellSouth, now a part of AT&T, where he worked as the lead broadband product evaluations resource in the Science & Technology department.
Morgan currently serves on the Fiber Broadband Association Senior Council Committee and has also held various leadership positions at the Fiber Broadband Association, including Board of Directors Chair for 2015, 2019, and 2022. Morgan holds an Electrical Engineering degree from Auburn University and an MBA from the University of Alabama.