Quantum Computing Partnership Aims to Revolutionize City Traffic Management

Ayalon Highways, Israel's largest transportation and traffic management organization, is partnering with Quantum Art, a trapped-ion quantum computing company, on a groundbreaking project that applies quantum computing to citywide traffic optimization. The collaboration centers on joint development to reduce travel time through smart, near real-time traffic light management. As part of the project, quantum-accelerated algorithms will be benchmarked against the leading classical simulation and optimization tools in use today.

Urban congestion represents a significant challenge for cities worldwide, draining time, productivity and air quality. Across the United States, gridlock costs billions of dollars each year, with a 2024 report estimating $74 billion in lost time alone. Coordinating hundreds of intersections simultaneously presents a complex combinatorial problem that current tools struggle to solve at citywide scale in near real time. While existing systems often manage local optimization effectively, scaling to full metropolitan networks remains extremely difficult using classical computing approaches.

Tal Elimelech, Director of Experimental Transportation Systems and Innovative Mobility Solutions at Ayalon Highways, emphasized the potential impact of this collaboration. "Our job is to keep traffic moving across one of the busiest networks in Israel," Elimelech stated. "We believe quantum computing can help us manage hundreds of intersections in near real time, to provide benefits to commuters, businesses and the environment. The economic impact of upgrading our capabilities using quantum computing is expected to be huge."

Quantum Art's architecture, which features high connectivity, multi-qubit gates and dynamically reconfigurable multi-core computing, appears particularly well-suited for network-like optimization problems and complex traffic coordination across entire metropolitan areas. The company's technology represents a significant advancement in quantum computing capabilities for real-world applications. More information about Quantum Art's approach can be found at https://www.quantum-art.tech/.

Initial project efforts will focus on reducing average travel time, while longer-term goals include lowering emissions, shortening pedestrian wait times and reducing stop frequency. The partnership also explores possible expansions into heavy truck routing, bus scheduling, parking optimization and shuttle services. These types of scheduling tasks have applications across numerous industries beyond transportation, suggesting broader implications for quantum computing in solving complex logistical challenges.

Dr. Tal David, CEO and co-founder of Quantum Art, highlighted the fundamental alignment between quantum computing capabilities and traffic optimization challenges. "Cities struggle every day with gridlock because traffic systems can't coordinate at scale," David explained. "Quantum computing is built for exactly this type of problem. Working with Ayalon Highways lets us demonstrate how our technology can reduce travel times, improve safety, and make daily life easier for millions of people." This collaboration represents one of the first large-scale implementations of quantum computing in municipal infrastructure management, potentially setting a precedent for future urban technology deployments worldwide.