The cloud computing arm of Chinese internet giant the Alibaba Group has launched a smart city initiative in Malaysia, with the country’s capital Kuala Lumpur to become the first city outside China to use the company’s City Brain data analytics platform.
Alibaba Cloud has announced the launch of its Malaysia City Brain initiative in collaboration with the country’s digital economy development agency, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), and Kuala Lumpur’s city council, Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL).
The Malaysia City Brain is developed on Alibaba Cloud’s robust cloud computing infrastructure and will support the country’s digital transformation with cloud technology and artificial intelligence (AI).
Powered by Alibaba Cloud’s large-scale computing engine Apsara, Malaysia City Brain offers a comprehensive suite of acquisition, integration and analysis of big data generated by a diversity of sources in urban spaces through video and image recognition, data mining and machine learning technology. The power and functionality of the City Brain will enable Malaysian urban planners and city officials to make their cities more ‘intelligent’.
In the first phase of the program, the capital Kuala Lumpur will roll out the Malaysia City Brain for use in traffic management to improve mobility in the city. With its massive cloud computing and data processing capabilities, the City Brain can optimize the flow of vehicles and traffic signals by calculating the time to reach intersections.
It will also be able to generate structured summaries of data, such as traffic volume and speed in particular lanes, which can be used to facilitate other tasks including incident detection.
The City Brain platform can also connect with various urban management systems, including emergency dispatch, ambulance call, traffic command and traffic light control. By integrating and analyzing real-time data generated from these systems, City Brian can optimize urban traffic flow, such as by identifying the quickest route for emergency vehicles to arrive at the scene within the shortest time frame.
“Cloud computing, data technology and AI have become fundamental tools for all companies and organizations to operate effectively. Building on this partnership, we are happy to see Malaysia become the first country outside of China to adopt the City Brain,” commented Simon Hu, president of Alibaba Cloud.
“Through the program, we aim to empower all Malaysian stakeholders, in both the public and private sectors, with the tools to enhance efficiency, advance innovation, and succeed in the digital age. For us, this is the true meaning of inclusive technology.”
