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Avoiding Red Lights By Booking Ahead

Posted by Soulskill on from the might-get-bumped-if-they-overbook dept.

RedEaredSlider writes "Peter Stone, associate professor of computer science at the University of Texas at Austin, has presented an idea at the AAAS meeting today for managing intersections: a computer in a car calls ahead to the nearest intersection it is headed towards, and says it will arrive at a given time. The intersection checks to see if anyone else is arriving then, and if the slot is open, it tells the car to proceed. If it isn't, it tells the car that the car remains responsible for slowing down or stopping. He says that even with only a few connected cars, the system still works, even if the benefits are still only to those who have the connected vehicles."

4 of 299 comments (clear)

  1. What happens when people change their minds.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...before arriving at the light? How far ahead are they "booking" a slot? How long until the slot becomes available if the car with the reservation isn't going to arrive. This really only sounds useful in more rural areas. I can't see a city with lights on every block being able to implement this technology with any kind of efficiency.

    1. Re:What happens when people change their minds.. by kermyt · · Score: 4, Interesting

      sure during peak hours this in not great for urban traffic but off peak times it would still be very feasible. It's about time Traffic and traffic control started communicating in a smart way. This sort of tech is all precursor to auto drive cars.

  2. Roundabouts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Or you could just go with the simple solution and use roundabouts.

  3. This already exists in civilized countries... by Terje+Mathisen · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...but only for public transport!

    My wife worked for 9 years optimizing public transport in Oslo, Norway.

    One of the key items behind a significant speedup for both buses and trams was a system where each vehicle would signal ahead a given distance before arriving at an intersection, again as it entered, and finally as it left. If you visit Oslo and sit up front in a bus or tram you can see the visual feedback the driver gets: A single white LED mounted near the top of the traffic signal will light up, either blinking or in a steady state.

    There is (of course) a web site and a mobile app which will give you real-time information about any given bus/tram/line/stop, as well as rolling displays at all major stops that show the same info.

    http://trafikanten.no/ and http://m.trafikanten.no/

    Terje

    --
    "almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"