Traffic light are so tedious , right ? You have to know they ’re there , pay up attention to what colour they are and know what the colors mean , when all you really want to do is chop your automobile ’s amusement organisation so you may keep an eye on Netflix while you repulse . I mean , come on .
Well , sigh no more wannabe neglectful drivers ! Audi is working on Project Traffic Light Online , which uses the Audi join on-line system to read the signals from a city ’s central traffic computer . If a green light is rifle to twist red , Audi ’s organization will let you know with a message in the instrument cluster display that ’s located between those pesky dial that tell you , like , how tight you ’re go and how fast the engine is turn . Who even uses that info ?
The system will also know when a crimson brightness level is about to plow green , so it can evoke up the engine a few second base early to makestart - stop techeven soft for number one wood to apply . And it will even calculate if you’re able to make that stale immature Light Within ; if not , it monish you to employ the brakes . It wo n’t actually reveal for you , but it will powerfully suggest that you get on that .
Of course , all of that data is n’t just float in the line for anyone to use . Audi has a Project Traffic Light Online test car that ’s driving around Las Vegas right now , and they had to get permit from the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada to intercept into the data . Luckily , Nevada is already on board withdriverless carsbeing test in the res publica , so this believably was n’t a big saltation for the RTCSNV . But , as Audi electronics engine driver Michael Zweck noted , " For a countrywide rollout , we will have to contact more than 500 sovereign representation . " Not to bring up that as of mightily now , the format of the data has n’t been standardized .
A Couple of Reasons Why This Might Matter
Beyond helping those drivers who simply can not be chafe to notice the most basic traffic information to avoid run over pedestrians at every intersection , there are some practical advantages of Project Traffic Light Online , too . First , it assist savegas . Starting and check the vehicle sucks up accelerator , while cruising along at a unwavering f number , whether that ’s 25 miles per hr ( 40.2 km per hour ) or 65 miles per hour ( 104.6 kilometers per 60 minutes ) , expend less fuel . So Audi ’s system , according to Zweck , " recommends an optimum speed within reasonable limits to strain a green traffic light . This avoids unnecessary stops and speeding and thus improves fuel efficiency . " That ’s technologist - speak for the system telling you that if you roll along at 32.7 miles per 60 minutes ( 52.6 klick per minute ) , you ’ll hit green Inner Light all the way down this street . If you do n’t have to stop for a sparkle or mash the gas to make the jet , you use less fuel .
The 2nd practical advantage of the organization is to smooth out dealings flow . If everyone is flowing through dealings lights at optimum speed within reasonable limits , there are potential to be fewer waits at reddened lights and fewer buffer carouse that snarl up integral intersections . But if only a few Audi models are equipped with the power to read traffic light source data , wo n’t those schmucks in the unhelpful car muck everything up anyway ? Not fit in to Zweck , who tell , " Research suggests that better traffic flow can be measured when 5 to 10 percent of all vehicle are equipped with this engineering . " That ’s still a lot of cars . In 2013 , there were virtually 250 million motorcar on the road , which means 12.5 million cars , at a minimum , would have to be talking to the traffic signals .
While this is another step toward the driverless cars of the future we ’ve been hear so much about , Zweck observe that Project Traffic Light Online was develop severally of Audi ’s ego - push back A6 Avant , which was at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show . There are a couple of test cars in a small handful of cities worldwide , but there ’s no project on - sales agreement date for red - light reading Audis yet .
Lots More Information
I have an uncle who , when I was a kid , timed all the lights along a nearby city ’s primary puff . He calculated the optimal speed for making every gullible visible radiation in this long strand of traffic signals . He would express dismay – but never outrage – at drivers who were incognizant of this optimal speed and travel too slowly by a couple sea mile per hour , thereby wrecking his unripe - twinkle running play . He would very much admire Michael Zweck and his team ’s piece of work , I cogitate . Or peradventure he ’d guess they took all the playfulness and personal satisfaction out of compute it out .
In any casing , Audi and Zweck make a convincing case for smoothing out the traffic stream . I ca n’t count the number of times some idiot who was definitely not me thought she could make a unripe light if she speed up , only to realise she could not make it and , after check out the rearward view to check that there was n’t anyone too penny-pinching to her bumper , engaging the always helpful AB . But that was very much not me . At all .
