Adaptive Traffic Signal Control (ATCS/CoSiCoSt)
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) rolled out camera-based adaptive signal control at select junctions starting in 2022, using the Composite Signal Control Strategy (CoSiCoSt) developed by India's Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC). Camera detectors read approaching traffic and adjust green time, cycle length and offsets in real time instead of running a fixed timer. Of the 334 signals covered by this modernisation project, only 122 actually run the adaptive logic — the remaining 212 are older fixed-time HTRIMS controllers, plus 94 separate pedestrian pelican crossings. Neither GHMC nor C-DAC has published an independent before/after measurement of travel time, delay or emissions.
🎓 Lesson
A city can install adaptive signal hardware and still leave most of its modernised corridor running the fixed-time system it was meant to replace, with no independent measurement of whether the upgrade works.
📖 Terms in this entry: Adaptive traffic signals · ANPR (automatic number-plate recognition) · CBTC (communications-based train control)
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This overview was generated with AI from the public sources listed above and checked against them before publication. It has not had a complete human fact-check — treat it as a starting point and follow the sources.
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📎 Cite this project
1001 Smart Cities (2026). “Adaptive Traffic Signal Control (ATCS/CoSiCoSt)” — Hyderabad, India. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/hyderabad-atcs-adaptive-signals/ (last verified 2026-08-02). Data: CC BY 4.0.
The underlying data is free to reuse with attribution — see the open data page.