A new project between two technology giants aims to develop a vision for the 'city of tomorrow', complete with innovative new outdoor lights and other advanced features.
Toshiba Lighting will team up with smart meter and smart grid firm Landis+Gyr on the initiative, which hopes to create efficient and economical solutions for external lights in a bid to meet the needs of residents and local councils.
In a statement, Toshiba explained that it plans to "propose intelligent lighting founded on the automatic and optimised management of information".
It is hoped that the project will pave the way for lighting solutions that allow citizens to make the most out of urban spaces.
Among the innovations to be showcased in the development is lighting equipment in streets, buildings and parking lots that is capable of detecting everything from movement to the level of daylight and even the weather conditions. Considering the feedback received from monitoring these parameters, the lighting infrastructure will be able to adapt in ways such as intensifying the brightness or even signalling a maintenance issue that needs to be addressed.
According to the project partners, this approach to lighting offers numerous benefits to local authorities, including reduced management and maintenance costs, improved urban design, a better quality of light in cities, a greater level of security and safety for residents and higher social responsibility through the use of recyclable luminaires that exclude mercury.
The initiative is part of a wider approach from Toshiba called the 2050 Environmental Vision, under which the company is looking to develop a string of new eco-friendly technologies. "The LEDs developed by Toshiba, coupled with the intelligent lighting systems of Landis+Gyr translate into a transition into products that are more environmentally conscious," Toshiba explained.
Founded as a lighting company back in 1875, Toshiba now operates a global network of 550 firms with annual sales of more than $74 billion (£49 billion).
