DETROIT – In a hypothetical future where autonomous cars trundle up and down our busy roads, traffic lights might have a fourth color installed, one added for the benefit of those self-driving vehicles.
Researchers at North Carolina State University are proposing an additional white traffic light that would signal to drivers autonomous vehicles (AVs) are managing the upcoming intersection of traffic flow intelligently. The thinking is that both traffic congestion levels and overall fuel consumption could be reduced.
The cars and trucks that are driving themselves won’t need to ‘look’ at the white traffic light, because they’ll be communicating with it wirelessly. However, it will act as a sign to human drivers and passengers that they should follow the lead of the self-driving vehicles moving through the intersection.
“Red lights will still mean stop. Green lights will still mean go. And white lights will tell human drivers to simply follow the car in front of them,” says civil engineer Ali Hajbabaie.
“This concept we’re proposing for traffic intersections, which we call a “white phase”, taps into the computing power of autonomous vehicles.”
Here’s how it would work: autonomous vehicles would be in communication with each other and with the traffic lights at intersections, within a certain range. That would enable them to coordinate traffic flow more efficiently and intelligently – giving priority to the converging roads with more vehicles on them, for example, and advising on optimal speeds.
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