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Will Smarter Cars Bring 'Optimized' Traffic Lights?
"Researchers are exploring ways to use features in modern cars, such as GPS, to make traffic safer and more efficient," reports the Associated Press. "Eventually, the upgrades could do away entirely with the red, yellow and green lights of today, ceding control to driverless cars." Among those re...
Rather than doing away with today's traffic signals, Hajbabaie suggests adding a fourth light, perhaps a white one, to indicate when there are enough autonomous vehicles on the road to take charge and lead the way. But the article notes another approach which could happen sooner, talking to Henry Liu, a civil engineering professor who is leading">a study through the University of Michigan: They conducted a pilot program in the Detroit suburb of Birmingham using insights from the speed and location data found in General Motors vehicles to alter the timing of that city's traffic lights. Danielle Deneau, director of traffic safety at the Road Commission in Oakland County, Michigan, said the initial data in Birmingham only adjusted the timing of green lights by a few seconds, but it was still enough to reduce congestion.
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