Audi’s cars are now telling drivers how many seconds remain until the traffic light turns green

[Street Guardian USA]

Audi’s cars are now telling drivers how many seconds remain until the traffic light turns green. It's the first commercial offering of vehicle-to-infrastructure communication in the United States, Audi says.

http://spectrum.ieee.org/cars-that-...re/audi-cars-now-talk-to-stop-lights-in-vegas

https://www.reddit.com/r/Futurology...ing_drivers_how_many/?st=IWGBCHO5&sh=9cd088e6

 

[jokiin]

I prefer the system in China where there is a large countdown timer on the traffic lights for each signal colour, saves a lot of frustration and everyone benefits

 

[kamkar]

Audi will also soon put a "car" on the moon, planning to land at apollo 11 site as far as i know.

The stuff with the traffic lights, then i couldent really care less about car telling me or timer on light bucket, i just lean back wait and then go when it turn green.
The other stuff is just catering to the impatient social media generation, and really those guys need to be calmed down.

 

[reverend]

I wonder how many instances of traffic light racing this will now cause?!

 

[kamkar]

If they should do anything smart in this regard, then they should make it so the intersections reported the red light running cars to the police.
But then again i would not like to be tagged with a RFID chip or something, this is also part of why i hate cellphones.
A voice in the car speakers saying green light now, will just be abused by drivers to put their face in their damn phones, and do so to a much larger degree than now.
And as long as humans are in the equation then it will not get traffic going faster when the light turn green, but when the human element is gone from driving then this will be cool cuz then all 10 cars waiting for green can start going at the same time and then on the fly create gaps between them.

I feel this is silly technology, and a total waste of cobber interconnects and ICs.

 

[Nigel]

Surly the real use for this should be so that the car can put the brakes on to prevent red light runners and mobile phone txters going through red lights and killing/injuring the rest of us. Shutting the engine off on a long wait should also be good to prevent pollution.

I'm not convinced that a countdown for the red light racers in their Audis and BMWs should be allowed!

 

[DT MI]

I wonder how many instances of traffic light racing this will now cause?!

I was thinking the same thing when I saw this on the news last night. Use the countdown in the same way as the 'Christmas Tree' at the drag strip.

http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/starting-christmas-tree-lights-drag.html

 

[kamkar]

I would assume some punk in his mothers basement have made a app that can link 2 phones via Bluetooth and then run a countdown on both phones at the same time.
Probably also being able via the GPS in the phones to tell when the 1/4 mile is over and who won.

If not, well there is your business plan laid out for you.

 

[Rajagra]

I'd rather know when the lights are going to turn red. How the hell are we in the 21st century and still putting up with a system that forces regular, unnecessary emergency stops?
And why do we still have dumb traffic lights that make people sit at red, while the green lights are facing an empty road?

 

[DT MI]

...And why do we still have dumb traffic lights that make people sit at red, while the green lights are facing an empty road?

This is starting to be addressed. There are a couple of intersections near me that have camera controlled lights (at least during some time periods) when traffic is analyzed and lights managed appropriately. It's a bit frustrating at times because I generally come to these on the lesser traveled road and, if traffic is heavy on the intersecting street, can sit for a few minutes if there are only 1 or 2 vehicles waiting on red.

 

[SawMaster]

Most traffic signals have a wire sensor in the road which lets the timing equipment know someone is there. Sometimes if the roads are not busy, it will change immediately and sometimes it will wait till a certain number of cars trigger it before initiating a change. That sensor is a coaxial cable and the weight of the vehicle changes it's capacitance to send the signal, so pulling forward slightly doesn't change the capacitance but pulling forward and jamming the brakes herd will because of braking inertia changing into downward force. One signal near here needs 3 inputs ti change so I stop, let off the brake and roll a tiny bit then jam the brake and on the 3rd braking the light always instantly changes to yellow for the other road. If another car is across from me waiting it takes only twice. I used to get the same by zig-zagging with my motorcycle, fooling the sensor into thinking there was more than just me there. I don't do it if there's someone behind me as they may not be expecting me to stop again

Most of those circuits operate on 100Hz or 200Hz and in theory pulsing a radio signal on the same frequency should do the same thing. One day I'll build an oscillator circuit to try that with. With an unbalanced design, one transmitter on 100Hz should produce a strong harmonic on 200Hz so one device would work all of these. And here in the US it's legal for me to transmit on those frequencies as long as I don't exceed 100mW ERP which given the closeness should be plenty It's not legal to interfere with the traffic signal's operation, though that would take quite some doing to discover without it being rather obvious to the user that someone was looking for you. And not all traffic lights operate this way though most of the busier ones in the USA do as only a few companies supply traffic light control equipment.

It's all in knowing how things work then using that to your advantage when you can Anarchy is more fun when you know how to do it well

Phil

 

[DT MI]

Yep, I've experienced those pressure sensors in the past as well. The intersections near me have all recently had the cameras installed (Google street view image).



Here's a link to the Missouri DOT explanation of the technology and how it compares cost wise to the in-pavement sensors: http://www.modot.org/stlouis/links/signalcameras.htm

 

[Mozzie]

These cameras may cause more unreliability. They are a visual sensor and will become unworkable at some point where the dirt/smog/rain collect on the lens. This does not impact the current proximity sensor loops placed in the roadway.

And the Audi communications system is one step closer for governments to control and monitor our vehicles.

 

[Module 79L]

Most traffic signals have a wire sensor in the road which lets the timing equipment know someone is there. Sometimes if the roads are not busy, it will change immediately and sometimes it will wait till a certain number of cars trigger it before initiating a change.

That system exists in all my county's traffic lights for more than a decade, even in the ones that are also controlled by speed.

 

[WinWiz]

This is starting to be addressed. There are a couple of intersections near me that have camera controlled lights (at least during some time periods) when traffic is analyzed and lights managed appropriately. It's a bit frustrating at times because I generally come to these on the lesser traveled road and, if traffic is heavy on the intersecting street, can sit for a few minutes if there are only 1 or 2 vehicles waiting on red.

In Denmark traffic lights are controlled by capacity sensors in the tarmac. Have been so for many years. But if you drive something like a plastic scooter this sometimes causes frustrations.
Usually one sensors is placed right behind the stop line while another is placed further away, so the controller will favor lanes where both sensors are triggered by congestion. But if you know where the congestion sensor is placed it only takes 2 cars to trick the controller into favoring your lane.

 

[Outbacknomad]

Decades ago in Europe they have red lights turn to orange, to green to wake up drivers!

In Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, sensors are imbedded in the road that count down the second you have parked your car.

Do not return a nanosecond too late or the parking police will be there writing a parking ticket at the second your parking has expired.

 

[kamkar]

In the old days you could set your clock by the meter maids, meaning they did the same route day in and day out.
Did take me a good handful of parking tickets before i learned not to park there,,,,,,,, between 15:30 and 16:30

In the old days in intersections here, you could judge if it was about to change to yellow / red by looking at the pedestrian signal that changed a few seconds early, but now there are buttons to press and sensors and what not and often the pedestrian light are completely off if no one have pushed the damn button.
I have also noticed traffic lights in other countries that actually count down,,,,,,,, i think i would like that for a week and then it would just drive me insane.

I am sure some politician here which have a cousin with a sensor company made a killing by ruining Danish intersections with sensors and buttons,,,,,,,, even if i a quite like the damn sensors changing the light faster so i dont have to sit there in the middle of the night looking like a jack ass, even if i also do get infuriated when cars and pedestrians than just go o well and then "run" the red light, CUZ that did not happen before Danish culture was enriched by people from warmer climates, they do stuff like that in a heartbeat, i know cuz i almost been creamed by such a guy 2 times, and it is always in a intersection near one of the ghetto branded areas.

 

[SawMaster]

Some older lights here are still on a timer- nothing to do but wait on the darn thing. And on my usual routes are lights which seem to hate me, turning red when I come up to them almost without fail It's always a good day when I get those green

Phil