The Prefeitura de Belo Horizonte, capital of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais with 2,315,560 residents in the 2022 census, is replacing 500 traffic signal controllers covering about 1,500 signals. The new camera-fed units adjust their own timings and can be operated remotely from the city’s operations centre, under a R$10,250,000 first phase launched on 2 July 2026 and due for completion by December 2026.
How The Controllers Sense Traffic And Set Their Timings
Each new intersection is fitted with cameras that create virtual detection loops, counting vehicles and measuring queue lengths on every approach, according to O Tempo. No source mentions inductive loops or radar, so camera detection is the only traffic input the city has described.
Software then calculates signal cycles from that data and the controllers exchange information with neighbouring intersections, the municipality says, so that timings along a corridor can be coordinated into a green wave rather than set junction by junction.
The same cameras are meant to detect pedestrians waiting to cross and extend crossing time when needed, while buses and emergency vehicles will carry identification tags that trigger automatic signal priority, according to Estado de Minas.
“Installation begins in August and, by December, the traffic signals will talk to buses, to SAMU ambulances and to other emergency vehicles through an identification technology,” said Álvaro Damião, Mayor of Belo Horizonte, as reported by Hoje em Dia on 2 July 2026.
The city has not said which tag technology will be used. It has also not said whether the software optimises green splits and offsets continuously or selects between stored plans, or whether calculations run inside each controller or on central servers.
Fibre, 4G And 5G Links Into COP-BH
The controllers will connect over a mix of fibre optic, 4G and 5G links, with all data centralised at the Centro Integrado de Operações de Belo Horizonte, according to Estado de Minas, although the split between fixed and cellular connections by site has not been published.
That link is what makes the system remotely managed. O Tempo reports that the signals can be operated from the operations centre, and Itatiaia reports that the centre will detect signals that have fallen into flashing amber, a common failure mode for signal controllers.
The operations centre, opened in June 2014, already draws on more than 5,000 cameras owned by the city and partner agencies, according to the municipality. In 2023 the city said 78% of its 1,098 signalised intersections were already monitored and adjusted in real time from there.
Estado de Minas also reports that the system will share information with Waze and Google Maps, without stating whether navigation data flows into the signal logic or only out to drivers.
Digicon’s Scope: Controllers, Camera Kits And Cloud Hosting
The supplier is Digicon, a Rio Grande do Sul company that has held Belo Horizonte’s signal installation and maintenance work since the 1990s, according to Estado de Minas, although the municipal release does not name it.
According to the prefecture, as cited by Hoje em Dia, Digicon is responsible for supplying, installing, configuring and integrating the new electronic traffic controllers and the camera-based virtual loop detection kits, along with hosting, remote technical support, connectivity and operator training.
The nine-signal bus priority pilot on Rua Niquelina and Rua Domingos Vieira, which began operating in May 2026, shows the unit costs: Estado de Minas reported CD 300 FIT controllers at R$35,590 each and two-camera detection kits at R$46,245 each, within a total of about R$1,070,000.
In that pilot, cameras watch up to 250 metres of approach and recognise registered buses, then extend the green phase or bring it forward so the bus does not stop. The pilot services include cloud hosting and a connection to Digicon’s Central de Tráfego Web software, according to the municipality.
Digicon also installed Belo Horizonte’s first adaptive control, a SCATS deployment at 28 intersections on Avenida Amazonas in January 2014, as Baguete reported. The city has not said whether the new platform replaces or builds on it.
Projected 30% To 35% Gains Follow A Three-Month Learning Period
The municipality expects travel time on upgraded corridors to fall by about 10% immediately and by 30% to 35% at peak hours after a learning period of about three months, according to Fernando Lopes, President of the municipal technology company Prodabel, in the city’s release.
Lopes told Hoje em Dia that the system combines technologies used in China and Israel, but neither the municipality nor Digicon has named those components or explained what the software learns during the three months.
The projections sit well above the benchmark from the US Federal Highway Administration, which puts average travel time gains from adaptive signal control at more than 10%, rising to 50% or more only where existing timing is badly outdated.
Kurrantly has reported larger figures elsewhere, including Bangkok’s travel time cuts of up to 41% on selected junctions and North Carolina’s 2,500-signal upgrade. Academic studies cited in Brazilian coverage, such as a December 2025 paper in IATSS Research, report results from simulation rather than field trials.
Recent regional coverage has described Belo Horizonte as already running the technology on half its network, but no progress report on how many of the 500 controllers are live has been published since installation was due to begin in August.
