By admin 
Rancho Cordova wants to test how a major event could affect traffic or how changes to an intersection might work before making them in the real world. A new AI-powered virtual model of the city could help planners do that.
Read more Update: Details on Hayden Panettiere’s tragic death in Greenville SC
The city is working with artificial intelligence companies to create a “digital twin” of Rancho Cordova, a virtual replica that officials say could be used to simulate real-world scenarios and inform planning decisions.
The project is a partnership among the city, the Human Machine Collaboration Institute, an artificial intelligence research and consulting organization based in Rancho Cordova, and Niantic Spatial, a company that develops AI-powered spatial models, according to a release.
The first step involved using drone footage to create a 3D model of about 1½ square miles of Rancho Cordova. Niantic Spatial developed the model, which can accurately depict street dimensions and includes buildings and street signs, according to the release.
Next, the Human Machine Collaboration Institute will use the 3D model to develop the “digital twin,” which could allow city planners to run simulations of scenarios such as traffic changes, according to the release.
“Because it reflects real geometry, it can be used to run scenarios, such as how traffic moves through an intersection, without altering anything in the physical world first,” the release said. “For a city, that means planners and stakeholders can test ideas against an accurate model before committing time and budget to them.”
» Rancho Cordova news in your inbox: Get our free email newsletter here
Rancho Cordova City Manager Micah Runner said that the digital twin could help officials understand how proposed projects might affect the community before moving forward with them.
“When you think about the future of what you could use a digital twin for, I think the options are a little bit endless,” Runner said. “You could, for instance, say, ‘What if we had a big event here? What would that do to traffic?’ And in a few minutes, have an answer.”
Read more PG&E to pay SLO County $16 million to make up for lost Diablo Canyon tax money
The project is part of Rancho Cordova’s broader effort to develop an AI and robotics industry in the city through job creation, research and partnerships with companies including NVIDIA and Solidigm.
Runner said the city’s approach includes both partnerships with technology companies and efforts to use emerging technologies within city government.
“You have the external partnerships with NVIDIA and Solidigm and HMCI, really thinking about the future of work, whether it’s workforce development or investing in new technologies and innovation technologies, more of an economic development effort,” Runner said. “Then there’s the internal layer, which is what are we doing as a city to create new efficiencies and new opportunities with these new technologies and new efforts that are taking place.”
The digital twin could also provide robotics companies with a virtual environment to test new robots and other technologies, Runner said, allowing companies to run “real world scenarios” using the virtual model of Rancho Cordova.
“It’s an attraction tool from an economic development approach,” Runner said. “People will have to come to Rancho Cordova and test in a virtual environment.”
Sadie St. Lawrence, founder and chief executive officer of the Human Machine Collaboration Institute, said in the release that the digital twin was a step toward what she described as a broader effort to enable AI systems to understand and make decisions about the physical world.
“Niantic Spatial is making Rancho Cordova machine-readable, while Rancho Cordova is giving us something equally rare: a city willing to become a real-world laboratory where researchers, companies, and the community can safely build, test, and shape the future of physical AI together,” St. Lawrence said in the release.
Read more When to Draft Kickers and D/ST in Fantasy Football