The rise of super smart streetlights

Global investments in ‘smart pole’ and ‘smart corridor’ technologies will grow from US$10.8 billion in 2022 to more than US$132 billion in 2030, according to technology intelligence firm ABI Research.

Smart streetlighting controllers offer features such as remote dimming and scheduling to reduce energy use and maintenance costs. Smart poles take this further, acting as multi-functional aggregation points on top of smart streetlights and connected utility poles for 5G small cells, Wi-Fi hotspots, security and traffic cameras, environmental sensors, and more.

Some now offer charging points for two and four-wheel vehicles, drones and handsets.

ABI Research expects that more than 10.8 million smart poles will have been installed by 2030, stating that they “represent a cost-efficient, scalable and modular framework for deploying the whole spectrum of smart urban infrastructure.”

Challenges

“The ageing concept of smart cities has largely failed to deliver on its promises,” said Dominique Bonte, VP End Markets and Verticals at ABI Research.

“New approaches are required in the form of more scalable, holistic and effective solutions to transform smart urban infrastructure and accelerate its deployment.”

Bonte says the need for cellular network densification in the form of 5G and future 6G small cells and the use of mmWave radio spectrum is a key driver for smart poles.

“As such, the telco ecosystem is expected to at least partially fund the additional smart cities functionality embedded in smart poles,” he commented.

Cities that have deployed smart poles include Seoul, Los Angeles, Coral Gables, Shenzhen and New Delhi. The EU’s Humble Lamppost Project aims to establish 10 million smart lampposts across EU cities.

ABI also pinpoints challenges to smart pole adoption including issues related to co-ownership and management of light poles, conflicting priorities, and a lack of awareness in some city governments about capabilities and benefits.

Sensors and cameras also raise privacy concerns, leading a growing number of cities to create policies around surveillance technology procurement and use. In San Diego, this was spurred by controversy around the city’s smart streetlight project.

With these issues in mind, smart pole deployments are only expected to gather momentum towards the end of this decade, according to ABI’s analysis.

Smart corridors

Smart corridors are another growth area highlighted in the research. The concept encompasses technologies such as Cooperative Adaptive Traffic Lights (CATL) and roadside infrastructure used to optimise traffic flow, road safety and sustainable transportation across longer distances. The systems will also be key to enabling autonomous driving on cross-border highways, ABI said.

“Smart corridors and smart poles are expected to redefine the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and the wider smart cities markets,” commented Bonte.

He said that premium signal priority for freight and delivery vehicle pre-emption will offer new monetisation opportunities for governments and road operators, ultimately leading to dedicated freight corridors.

Key smart corridor initiatives identified include the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF2) programme for funding and deploying 5G corridors and the US Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.