ABI Research said smaller cities tend to prioritize projects based on more immediate tangible benefits such as cost savings and reduction of carbon footprint.
Los Angeles, New York and Chicago are the smartest cities in the United States, according to a new study by ABI Research.
The research firm said the cities were evaluated across various metrics such as deployment of LED streetlights, smart meters, renewable energy, electric mobility, smart parking, mobility-as-a-service (MaaS), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technologies, smart waste, and first responder communications.
“New York is the leading city with the highest deployment of LED streetlights in the U.S., followed closely by Los Angeles,” said Raquel Artes, industry analyst at ABI Research.
Chicago will have the highest upgrade of current legacy streetlights as the local government is targeting to replace 270,000 legacy streetlights with energy-efficient LED lights by 2021. Silver Spring Networks, Telensa, Philips, and GE are the key stakeholders in this project.
Additionally, New York and Miami are among the cities that would likely have the highest deployment of V2X technologies due to government initiatives to boost road safety and accelerate the development of autonomous vehicles, ABI Research said. Meanwhile, New York leads in the replacement of existing legacy pay phones with state-of-the-art kiosks. Additionally, Chicago and Kansas City have recently trial-launched smart Wi-Fi kiosks. And, smart sanitation bins are gaining traction in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Tampa City, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco and Texas.
While larger cities are focusing on large-scale deployment of smart city projects and experimental technologies, smaller cities tend to prioritize projects based on more immediate tangible benefits such as cost savings, reduction of carbon footprint, and the overall improvement of quality of life.
In the smart meter space, California, Texas, and Florida were the leading states with the highest deployments of smart meters in the United States in 2016. Among medium-sized states, Maryland ranked first, followed by Alabama and Oklahoma. Among smaller states, Maine ranked first, followed by Idaho and Delaware, according to ABI Research.
