Are you able to share your results? I agree with you about traffic optimization, even if it works it will encourage more traffic and more sprawl, I have a chapter in press that, among other things, warns of the risk of doing dumb things with smart tech
I have recently published a paper (attached) which discusses city brains as an instance of urban AI:
Cugurullo F (2020) Urban Artificial Intelligence: From Automation to Autonomy in the Smart City. Front. Sustain. Cities 2:38. doi: 10.3389/frsc.2020.00038