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Audi's Traffic Light Information System Tells You When The Lights Are Going To Turn Green (pcworld.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the texting-and-driving dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from PCWorld: Audi's Traffic light information system offers a first: the ability to tell you when the stoplight is going to change from red to green. This is a big thing for the impatient driver, but it's an even bigger thing for the automotive industry. The new feature, announced Monday, will be available on 2017 Q7, A4, and A4 allroad models built from June, 2016 onward. As your car nears a traffic light, it will receive real-time data about the signals at that location. Because the data can be complex, Audi says the car's computer will decide whether it has enough information to know when the traffic light you're sitting at will turn green. If so, it'll display a countdown clock on the instrument cluster. Audi's General Manager of Connectivity, Pom Malhotra, said Audi tested the service on 100 cars for over a year. The company's working closely with the agencies that manage the 300,000 or so traffic lights in the United States, and data provider Traffic Technology Solutions (TTS) of Portland, Oregon. TTS processes a constant stream of traffic signal status in real time and sends it to Audi's own servers, which then send it to the car. Malhotra said, "A few things have been implemented that we think of as safeguards." For example, the countdown timer will disappear several seconds before the red light changes to green, forcing you to put down your phone or stop whatever you may be doing in the meantime and look at the light yourself. The feature will be available in the three models mentioned via Audi's Connect Prime infotainment package, which costs $199 for 6 months or $750 for 30 months.

129 of 203 comments (clear)

  1. Christmas tree in August by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    just like the NHRA

  2. More important... by OS2toMAC · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How about the RT info telling the computer that the light is about to go red, and have it break automatically?

    1. Re:More important... by zlives · · Score: 4, Funny

      or to speed up automatically

    2. Re:More important... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It's an audi; the auto-break function activates at 3 years to get you to buy a new audi.

      What I want the damn thing to have is an automatic turn signal, as audi drivers are clearly incapable of activating turn signals.

    3. Re:More important... by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      Then it also has to know precisely where the stop line is.

      Right. Because all human drivers stop at exactly the correct spot, so automating the process would be a huge step backwards.

    4. Re:More important... by lazlo · · Score: 1

      I was about to say the same thing. This would be freaking *huge* if it could do that.

      For a long time, what I've really wanted is for municipalities to place "yellow light" posts. Take the length of a yellow light, multiply it by the speed limit, and put up a post that distance before the far side of an intersection. That way, assuming you're going the speed limit, if the light turns yellow after you've passed the post, you know that you can maintain speed and clear the intersection before the light changes. But it might not work well, it'd be a change, and it'd cut down on the red-light-ticket revenue of the municipalities that would need to fund it, so it wouldn't ever happen.

      But this could be *so much better!* Your car knows the speed you're driving at, your gps knows your approximate location (and in my experience, it's pretty accurate, though maybe not accurate enough for this application), and if this sort of feed could tell you about an upcoming yellow light change, that has *got* to be useful.

      Of course, I know self-driving cars can see light changes, but I'm not sure how much of the self-driving hardware/software would be needed to implement this one feature. But I've got to think that it would be a general win for both safety *and* ticket-avoidance.

      --
      Pound! Bang! Bin! Bash! is this a shell script or a Batman comic?
    5. Re: More important... by OS2toMAC · · Score: 1

      No flame. I just spelled it incorrectly. I have little things that bug me too.... like "irregardless".

    6. Re:More important... by OS2toMAC · · Score: 1

      Well, here in Texas, it doesn't matter what make of car you drive. 90% of the time turn signals (or courtesy lights) don't get used. And if you do use them to change lanes, the person in the other lane speeds up to block you.

    7. Re:More important... by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      Not all junctions have the lights next to the stop line. Some aren't even close.

      There are about 3 million traffic lights in America. If you store 10 bytes of data on each, that will add $0.001 to the cost of the car. The data already exists, because human driven Teslas transmit position and speed data. So the computer driven car stops about a meter back from the mean position that humans used.

  3. $400 an year for traffic data? better have top XM by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    $400 an year for traffic data? better have top XM package

  4. This seems rather pointless.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I have a better idea. They can add a sensor to detect how full your bladder is, and figure out where the nearest restroom is once the level of discomfort reaches a threshold that the driver can select.

    1. Re: This seems rather pointless.. by hey! · · Score: 1

      Years ago I had an idea for a car that would detect rising your stress levels, and gradually reduce the power available to you if the fight or flight reaction persisted. If however you manage to calm yourself a pleasant little chime would go off announcing that you'd been rewarded with more power.

      This would retrain angry, aggressive drivers by operant conditioning to be calm and relaxed.

      No driver can be in control of his car until he's in control of himself.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    2. Re: This seems rather pointless.. by sexconker · · Score: 1

      What seems to be your boggle, driver?
      Enhance your calm.
      You are fined one credit for a violation of the Verbal Morality Statute.

    3. Re: This seems rather pointless.. by WheezyJoe · · Score: 1

      This would retrain angry, aggressive drivers by operant conditioning to be calm and relaxed.

      Or induce them into primal gorilla rage, pounding on the dash, screaming and tearing at the wheel until the airbag goes off. Some drivers are resistant to such conditioning. Tech needs to advance until the car can self-drive somewhere safe, pump vaporous Prozac through the A/C vents, and call a close friend to come pick you up.

      --
      Take it easy, Charlie, I've got an Angle...
  5. smooth move exlax by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    a brilliant idea - really

    in todays society - where there are far too many stupid people who solely depend on a technology device to solve problems that the rest of us have actually learned the "Manual" way of doing things...

    lets put a device in the cars for impatient drivers - so that over time they will depend on the device
    now we are not going to say what will happen the first time said idiot driver guns it paying attention to the car - and NOT the actual light....
    Hilarity ensues.
    Lawsuits abound

    IQ's continue to drop

  6. Re:$400 an year for traffic data? better have top by msauve · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'll just watch for the cross-traffic light to turn yellow, thanks.

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  7. why not just look at the opposing lights by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    and when it goes red you have about 3 seconds before yours turns green...

  8. This can't possibly go wrong... by Derekloffin · · Score: 1

    Not like anyone won't try to accelerate just that extra bit sooner... of course, I suppose they already do that currently... right, carry on.

    1. Re:This can't possibly go wrong... by Tx · · Score: 1

      I don't think this will be of any interest or make any difference to impatient drivers, who already use the obvious ways of knowing when the light is about to go green.

      On the other hand, all the slow-witted people who seem to fall asleep when the light turns red, and then take forever to start moving when it goes green, might well benefit from this. It would benefit further from a loud alarm at the 5 second mark, and maybe a flashing red display on the dash saying "FOCUS!", but maybe that's asking too much.

      --
      Oh no... it's the future.
  9. Tracking by SumDog · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So instead of trying to emit/pull data from the surroundings, it has to go up to the cloud for a database of stoplight info? WTF?!

    Not only is it useless; it give Audi even more tracking data about you. Who the fuck through this was a good idea?

    1. Re:Tracking by TheCarp · · Score: 1

      Well how else would you implement it when nobody is transmitting the data you need in most places, and, I would bet, is even resistent to doing it. As far as I can tell, most towns take steps to make this very prediction harder than it needs to be.

      The article is wrong about this being "for impatient drivers", its for distracted drivers, to help them stop being total douchebags who sit at the green light.

      People are already ignoring the light cycle. People are already deciding the red light is time to mess with their phone, fuck with the radio, eat a sandwich, etc. None of this is so bad, and many people even have no issue still paying attention.

      However, some people, enough of the time, just fucking sit there. I don't care if this encourages people to pay less attention at the moment they rightly identified doesn't require much. I just want them to wake up on time and start moving.

      If this demonstrates that this is a good thing and not a bad one, then maybe the data sources needed to do it more widely will open up. (dare to dream)

      --
      "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
    2. Re: Tracking by by+(1706743) · · Score: 1

      Something tells me that if you already have a car with built-in nav and OTA update ability, it already has the means to track you.

      Besides, if you travel with your cell phone then you can easily be tracked by the cell network (albeit with perhaps less accuracy than GPS). And I'm sure there are various apps -- in particular map apps -- which track you (I believe Google's traffic data comes in part from this?).

      If you want to be un-tracked, I suspect the only decent way of doing it would be to turn off your phone and drive a car with zero networking abilities. And even this can be defeated with a camera, OCR, and a license-plate registration database...

    3. Re:Tracking by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      The bigger WTF is that they think that they can use some kind of warning / direction system to tell the driver that an existing warning / direction system in the street is operating.

      Talk about a solution in search of a problem.

    4. Re:Tracking by TheCarp · · Score: 1

      Then we will just get more and more fines more aimed at boosting police department funding than anything related to safety. Which, is already what we have with the fine structure we have now.

      --
      "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
  10. In Germany, lights work that way by jfdavis668 · · Score: 4, Informative

    In Germany, you will be sitting at a red light, and the yellow will also come on. It is the warning that it is about to turn green. Very much like a christmas tree. You better start moving when the light goes green, or everyone else will run you over. I can see why they are adding this to their cars.

    1. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Well, I'm in the US where 13.6% of drivers completely suck and screw up driving for the rest of us. That includes people who somehow seem surprised that the light turned green, and sit there completely unprepared for what to do next. Meanwhile, 4 cars that could have followed through are stuck waiting on the next.

      So I welcome our green-light warning overlords.

    2. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      In Germany, you will be sitting at a red light, and the yellow will also come on. It is the warning that it is about to turn green.

      I have seen that in several countries, in both Europe and Asia. I have also seen large countdown timers that tell you how long until the light changes. That way people can make an earlier decision to brake or "go for it" when the light is turning red, and traffic flows smoother when the light turns green, since they are ready to accelerate. I have no idea why the "yellow before green" or the countdown timers are not more common, or why neither is used in America.

    3. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by manoweb · · Score: 1

      My observation is that the yellow before the green in Germany comes too late, it lasts a too short amount of time to be effective. It should instead come a good five seconds before the green.

    4. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Uk does that too, and its the dumbest thing, because the red/yellow is the new green.

      Yup. This would be the outcome. And The Simpsons took this to its logical end years ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    5. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 1, Funny

      Except for the fact that Audi drivers are uniformly the worst, the biggest, most self-entitled, self-absorbed assholes on the road. So, when that light turns green, three Audi drivers on the cross-street will still be out in the middle of the intersection, waiting to turn left after THEIR light changes to red.

      Pay attention -- the next time some asshole throws himself under your wheels, expecting you to brake hard so he can save a tenth of a second -- even though YOU have the right-of-way -- it'll be an Audi driver.

    6. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by NormalVisual · · Score: 1

      I have no idea why the "yellow before green" or the countdown timers are not more common, or why neither is used in America.

      Because you never should let the enemy know what you're about to do! Seriously though, a lot of the crosswalk signs in the U.S. do have a countdown timer, and if you can see them you can have at least some idea when the traffic lights are about to change.

      --
      Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
    7. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by pslytely+psycho · · Score: 1

      Many of the crosswalks here in Spokane, Washington have countdown timers that count down to red, or rather to yellow, as it's green, yellow, red here in the states.

      They are easily visible as you drive, without looking at your phone, which here will get you a ticket if the fuzz see you.

      The only real difficulty is that percentage of drivers that use it to 'beat the light' rather than prepare to stop. But bad drivers are a universal problem.

      And if you must watch your phone to be prepared to go at the green light, you're doing it wrong to begin with. You aren't paying attention to what is going on around you. Unless it's three a.m., you are quite unlikely to acquire everything that has changed since you took your eyes off the road in the few seconds the timer quits displaying before the actual change.

      And before someone yell's "I can!" I call bullshit.
      I have never once seen someone able to do it in the decade I taught commercial semi (articulated lorries?) truck drivers though I heard claims of this type and many more that were even more amazing.
      Every. single one of those 'amazing multitaskers' failed, because every one with that mistaken belief in their heads have one thing in common. They practice what they preach and show everyone just how poorly this works.
      And since it takes an exceptionally clean driving record to even get to be trained by me, I was training the top of the class compared to the driving public as a whole. And many of them still sucked.
      The salvageable ones learned the Smith System and by and large became good, responsible drivers. There are always exceptions, but they don't generally last long once they are on their own.

      Multitasking drivers equal good business for funeral homes.

      --
      Donald Trump, on a crusade to make Nixon look respectable
    8. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by NotAPK · · Score: 2

      I agree with you that Aldi drivers are arseholes.

      However: "So, when that light turns green, three Audi drivers on the cross-street will still be out in the middle of the intersection, waiting to turn left after THEIR light changes to red."

      Dude, that's how you are supposed to drive! It's fine to queue in the middle of the intersection and once the lights go red you can then make the turn and clear the intersection. If you get a green light and there are still cars in the intersection: guess what Sunshine? You just have to wait. Tough titties. That's just how how it works.

    9. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by John+Meacham · · Score: 5, Informative

      No. If you are in the intersection box when the light turns red, you have just committed a moving violation and can (and should be) ticketed for it. Despite popular belief, you are not supposed to enter the intersection unless you can proceed through it before the light turns red. DMV driving testers will fail drivers that drive that way.

      No, you are definitely supposed to enter the intersection when making a left then turn on yellow or red. You will get dinged on your driving test if you do not do so. At least in California, maybe it varies by state. But that is how you are supposed to do it here.

      To quote a CHP officer

      "If a person is driving straight through an intersection (NOT TURNING) law requires a motorist to enter the intersection, only when there is enough room to completely traverse the intersection. For drivers making a left turn, this rule does not apply! If a driver faces a green light, they are authorized to enter the intersection and wait for clearance to complete their turn. HOWEVER, the driver is not allowed to enter the intersection for a left turn if they are facing a yellow light."

      --
      http://notanumber.net/
    10. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 2

      No, you are definitely supposed to enter the intersection when making a left then turn on yellow or red. You will get dinged on your driving test if you do not do so. At least in California, maybe it varies by state.

      It varies by state.

      Decades ago when I took the drivers exam here in Washington state, we were taught to do exactly what you said. However the law has now changed, as I found out when my daughter started driving and then correcting me (I thought she was wrong, but when I looked it up - it turns out the cop who taught her was correct).

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    11. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately, drivers here do not understand that this allowance to wait your turn in the intersection does not entitle you to enter the intersection and block traffic when there is no room on the other side to complete your turn. Wait for a break in cross traffic before completing turn? Yes, OK. Form an arc of queued up cars from the outlet street through the intersection and back to the left turn lane? Hell no.

    12. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by Jack_the_Tripper · · Score: 1

      I have never once seen someone able to do it in the decade I taught commercial semi (articulated lorries?) truck drivers though I heard claims of this type and many more that were even more amazing. Every. single one of those 'amazing multitaskers' failed, because every one with that mistaken belief in their heads have one thing in common. They practice what they preach and show everyone just how poorly this works. And since it takes an exceptionally clean driving record to even get to be trained by me, I was training the top of the class compared to the driving public as a whole. And many of them still sucked. The salvageable ones learned the Smith System and by and large became good, responsible drivers. There are always exceptions, but they don't generally last long once they are on their own.

      Yeah, I'm gonna have to call bullshit.

      You can't really take a sub-section of the driving population (people learning to drive trucks who aren't really familiar with the vehicles to begin with) and extrapolate that to the entire driving population.

      Spend a day with someone who's driven professionally for almost two decades and did a couple tours driving around Iraq then decide how long it takes to get enough situational awareness to safely pilot a vehicle through an intersection. Hell, man, I city-drive distracted most of the day and still have 'an exceptionally clean driving record' with a big target on me since people want to get a huge payday by getting hit by a company vehicle.

      So, yeah, 'amazing multitaskers' do exist in the real world...

    13. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by demonlapin · · Score: 1

      No kidding. I've driven enough on high-truck-traffic routes to understand just how hard it is to be a safe truck driver. It's WORK.

      Sadly, the politeness of even professional drivers seems to be going downhill. Twenty years ago, I could always count on the light flash "Come on"/"Okey-dokey" (was how I learned it) for changing lanes. Maybe it's because I'm driving a Lexus (now) instead of a beat-up Pontiac (then), but I always let them know when they're clear to move over, and I almost never get the thanks in return the way I used to. Not all of us in four-wheelers are ignorant, and not everyone in a luxury car is an entitled ass.

    14. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by pslytely+psycho · · Score: 1

      "Sadly, the politeness of even professional drivers seems to be going downhill. "

      And here we have one of the motivations that caused me to leave the industry.
      Most drivers (all classes) are mediocre, but at least try to flow, but it seems that the minority of assholes grows larger every year and becomes more aggressive.

      "Not all of us in four-wheelers are ignorant, and not everyone in a luxury car is an entitled ass."

      I'm in that same class, I drive very close to the speed limits, am courteous, and always give thanks. And every asshole driver thinks I want to race them at stoplights. I drive a 95 Corvette. It is fun though, to see someone take off like dynamite from the light while I pull casually away and half a block later they get the flashing blueberries!

      Drive safe and don't forget your KEYS!

              -Aim high in steering.
              -Get the big picture.
              -Keep your eyes moving.
              -Leave yourself an out.
              -Make sure they can see you.

      --
      Donald Trump, on a crusade to make Nixon look respectable
    15. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by pslytely+psycho · · Score: 1

      "I city-drive distracted most of the day and still have 'an exceptionally clean driving record' with a big target on me since people want to get a huge payday by getting hit by a company vehicle."

      You are a very lucky person.
      Luck may not last forever.
      Distracted driving is dangerous always.

      I respectively disagree and you would never of passed with me as an instructor. Luck means nothing.

      --
      Donald Trump, on a crusade to make Nixon look respectable
    16. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by demonlapin · · Score: 1

      Hehe, when I see people flying by I figure they're just bear bait. Clean 'em out for me! I do about seven over and never get any heat.

    17. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      a lot of the crosswalk signs in the U.S. do have a countdown timer

      Those are tiny, and only visible within about 50 meters of the intersection. Many countries have much bigger timers located above the lane next to the traffic light. They are visible from about 300 meters, so you can know when to brake, and when not to. You end up with fewer t-bone accidents, fewer rear-endings, and smoother traffic flow.

    18. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by Solandri · · Score: 1

      The yellow before green is more important in countries with a large proportion of manual transmissions. You need a little more time to get a manual car ready to go from a stop, especially on an uphill grade.

    19. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by Dare+nMc · · Score: 1

      > And if you must watch your phone to be prepared to go at the green light, you're doing it wrong to begin with.

      This would be awesome for approaching a red light with few/no cars stopped at it. I don't really want to come to a stop if I don't have to. But I also don't want to slow to half the speed limit a 1/4 mile from a light that I didn't need to slow down for at all.

    20. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by Barsteward · · Score: 1

      it would be better if they did the opposite, i.e. gave you warning when the lights were going to turn red to hopefully reduce those that run red lights

      --
      "The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
    21. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by jandersen · · Score: 1

      The Germans do a lot of very sensible things, I find. In UK they really prefer to spring the green light on you as a surprise, with no warning, which means that there now are two kinds of dirvers: the ones who seem to be sitting for a few seconds, staring at the green light, trying to think what that means, before they start driving - very slowly - forward; and the ones who crane their necks to see what the light is doing in the crossing direction, so they can slam the pedal down and race forward, rearing on their back wheels (which looks particularly impressive when it's a lorry). These are often the same people who feel that they are entitled to skip the red light that just came on when they 50 yards away; I'm always expecting to see them meet in a happy and intimate union in front of me.

    22. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      I remember joy riding as a kid with my grandpa at work once when I was very young. Exactly this happened. The light turned green and we were suddenly rear-ended.

      The guy behind us got out of his car and was shouting expletives at us right up until he noticed that
      a) there was a 5 year old kid in the car.
      b) my grandpa was wearing his police officers uniform.

    23. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by Drethon · · Score: 1

      Well, I'm in the US where 13.6% of drivers completely suck and screw up driving for the rest of us. That includes people who somehow seem surprised that the light turned green, and sit there completely unprepared for what to do next. Meanwhile, 4 cars that could have followed through are stuck waiting on the next.

      So I welcome our green-light warning overlords.

      Most of the time it is just someone who got distracted, which isn't particularly dangerous when sitting at a light. I don't think a countdown will help with a lot of cases, not to mention most people only hesitate for a second or less before people are honking at them.

      I never leave the second the light turns green as I see at least one car a month blow the red so late I would have been nailed if I started moving the second the light went green. I'd rather be a half a second late through the light, rather than have a totalled car.

    24. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by houghi · · Score: 1

      I just leqve it in 1st and hold down the clutch pedal and the break. Green? I move y foor from the break to the gas adn slowly release the clutch (or fast if I want to buy new tires).
      No, I never had an issue with my clutch. I am not playing with it, I hold it pressed in.

      On an uphill, I do the same and someti,es I play with it. Relase the brake and play with gas and clutch just enough to not move.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    25. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by houghi · · Score: 1

      That would be WAY too long. 1 second is all that you need to do to get your car in gear if you have a manual and not have it in gear already. What would you do with the 4 other seconds?
      Remember that you are not allowed to drive when it is yellow. It is also not a dragstar countdown.
      Just a gentle reminder.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    26. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by buck-yar · · Score: 1

      Canada has the signal change timers, I find it incredibly helpful.

      Here, we have to peek at the other directions lights, or use the crosswalk timer. Or if you like surprises, you can just stare at the light until it changes.

    27. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 1

      I proceed as quickly as possible when light turns green, but always look to make sure there are no red light runners if I am the first. Its not hard to do, it obviously depends on field of view of the particular intersection, and often the cars are already stopped in the crossing street. But I'm not talking about just the first car, as more often than not its a person back a few cars that even has more time to react yet sits there oblivious. Yes they are distracted, but that is not excuse. Pay attention, and be considerate of those behind you.

    28. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by Quirkz · · Score: 1

      It's fine to queue in the middle of the intersection and once the lights go red you can then make the turn and clear the intersection.

      I've gotten wary of this recently. Last year in my town they redid all the traffic lights to add in blinking left yellow arrows at all the intersections, instead of just the implied yield when there's a green circle. In the process they made some of the intersections asynchronous, so that the blinking yellow left would go to hard red left while there was still oncoming traffic. I'm pretty sure this was a mistake, and given a year I think they've cleaned most of them up now, but I got trapped once and saw it happen to others a couple of times, to the point that now I'd rather be cautious than efficient.

      --
      The Quirkz Handbook of Self-Improvement for People Who Are Already Pretty Okay
    29. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by Hylandr · · Score: 1

      Let's add :

      - Stopping in Merges and Yields
      - Stopping 2 or 3 car lengths from the car in front of you.
      - Avoiding the sensors in the road ( see above ) and making the light longer.
      - Stopping at Yellow lights. ( This is maddening in heavy traffic )
      - Doing 10 or 15 under the speed limit on long two lane highways
      - Not paying attention.

      On the last note, you don't need equipment to tell you when the light will be green. Use your eyes and watch the other signals.

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    30. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      I'm glad that someone else sees this - the assholes that got BMW drivers a bad reputation all moved to Audi.

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
    31. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      Oh! They're giving you a signal for when to activate launch control and put both pedals to the floor!

      That's convenient!

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
    32. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 1

      and you forgot the ultimate sin....left lane laggards.

    33. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by Enigma2175 · · Score: 1

      By "someone who got distracted" do you mean "someone who is using their cell phone"? Every light now gets fewer cars through it per cycle because half of the people waiting for it are typing on their phones and don't notice when the car in front of them leaves. Put the fucking phone down -- nobody cares that you are getting off the highway, you don't need to post it to Facebook.

      --

      Enigma

    34. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by Drethon · · Score: 1

      Usually seems to be someone sight seeing off to the side because the lights take so long to cycle. Happens to me once in a while when I've got a problem stuck in my head on the way home from work. When there is traffic to watch I can stop thinking about work but harder to do sitting at a light.

    35. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by Drethon · · Score: 1

      Too many intersections in my town where you can't do that. Either buildings tight to the road or roads meet at a weird angle. The most common I see is when someone is watching traffic to turn right on red and the light changes green, they don't notice because the cross traffic doesn't slow until the last moment.

    36. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by Hylandr · · Score: 1

      Absolutely!

      In Oregon and most other states I know you're not supposed to be in that lane unless you're passing someone.

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    37. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by orgelspieler · · Score: 1

      Just checked the driver's handbook. It doesn't really say one way or another. It just says that if the light is red you must stop before you enter the crosswalk or intersection, and that if it's yellow you must stop if you can do so safely (which is not how most people understand it). It doesn't even have the rule about not entering an intersection on green if you can't get through. And I'm positive that's what I was taught decades ago. So some things must have changed.

    38. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by cwsumner · · Score: 1

      Yes, "Blocking Traffic" is usually illegal in most states.

      The way the left turns usually work is that the person can turn and get clear before the other light turns green. But that assumes the lights were set up right and there is no traffic jam.

      Even if they are not set up correctly, most intersections allow the turning car to get clear before the other cars get to them. The turning car has to go at least one car length, but the approaching cars would have two car lengths before collision. So it is not so bad, assuming everyone is paying attention. (Of course that is a big assumption...)

    39. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by cwsumner · · Score: 1

      Beware of starting off instantly when the light turns green. In some places, like Puerto Rico, there is a law (or at least a custom), that when the light turns red up to three more cars can go through. Meet one of those drivers and you could be dead. I have seen both kinds of drivers in the north-east U.S.

      But don't lag too much either, the number of people that you are pissing off behind you, could be almost as much as your facebook friends list! 8-P

    40. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by poofmeisterp · · Score: 1

      ...I don't think a countdown will help with a lot of cases...

      Except for profit. Use Human impatience to your advantage to make money? Sounds fairly simple. ;)

    41. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by peawormsworth · · Score: 1

      If you are turning left and someone else is facing you also turning left, then there is no room to see if the way is clear for you to turn. Each of you will block the other line of sight. That is why you proceed into the intersection and scoot over a bit and the other driver does the same. I think waiting outside the intersection to turn left is dangerous.

    42. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by Froggels · · Score: 1

      There is a fundamental difference between intersections with traffic lights in Europe vs North-America, which I think is leading to confusion in this conversation. In North-America traffic lights are positioned on the far-side of intersections and point into the intersection. In America all traffic light activity is typically visible to all traffic participants (including pedestrians) at an intersection at all times, so "don't block the box" laws make sense.

      In Europe traffic lights are typically** positioned on the near side of intersections and point away from the intersection in their respective directions.

      This is an important difference.

      If a driver in Europe (right hand drive such as here in Germany) is waiting to turn left at a red light s/he will wait until the light turns green then (slowly) pull into the intersection and wait until oncoming traffic has cleared (or until it is safe) before turning left. It is important to understand that at the point a driver *enters* an intersection that *no* traffic light activity any longer visible to the driver, so s/he WILL eventually have the opportunity (and obligation so as not to block cross-traffic) to turn left, at the latest once the oncoming traffic is presented with a red light. Cars behind that driver are already presented with a red light and may not pass through it in order to enter the intersection.

      This differences can be quite interesting, as well as dangerous to the uninformed. For example European tourists visiting the United States are highly likely to make the dangerous mistake of driving right up to a traffic light only to then realize that they are sitting in the middle the intersection. Another mistake that Europeans might make when first driving in America is to come to a screeching halt in the middle an intersection while turning left because they are not used being "presented" with a red light without having to stop.

      Americans drivers first visiting Europe may have a tenancy to stop much further back from an intersection at a red light than is necessary, and American pedestrians are sometimes confused at first by the lack of visible traffic lights for cars, which I think might be one reason why Europeans (a least here in Germany) pay such close attention to crosswalk signals. As a pedestrian in Europe only crosswalk signal activity is visible whereas in America pedestrians have a tendency to pay more attention to what the car traffic lights are doing so as to know when it is safe to cross.

      **Americans driving in right-handed Europe (not Ireland/UK) should also take care when turning right (This happened to me, but I was lucky enough to get out of a ticket.) that they are not turning into a cross-walk where a red light may be positioned pointing to the left *into* the the intersection. Yep, turning to the right into a traffic light clearly intended for the cross-traffic is considered driving through a red light!

      To put it simply, in Europe knowledge of traffic light activity at an intersection is on a need-to-know basis only, whereas in America it's public knowledge.

    43. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by stoatwblr · · Score: 1

      In some countries there's a countdown timer showing how much longer the light will stay green (or red)

      In Yangon it starts flashing amber when there's less than 10 seconds green left.

      It's interesting because it really does seem to calm people down if they know long they have to wait - and slow them down instead of attempting to race to a green light they might or might not make before it changes.

      Unfortunately the rest of the time, the driving can best be described as "scrummage" descending to "rucking"

    44. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by bobmajdakjr · · Score: 1

      my observation in dallas has been the audi drivers moved on to teslas. i've yet to see a single tesla not driving like a total assnugget. there was one time actually, and then the moment i had the thought "huh, hes driving normally" he floored it to what i assume is 80 since that seems to be their only speed option, in the middle of downtown.

    45. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by Dayze!Confused · · Score: 1

      In Taiwan standard practice is to queue in the intersection, but how they queue is one person queues, then the next person drives past them and queues parallel to them, and maybe even a third or fourth if room and time permits. What I mean by time permits is that usually the first or second queued car has already started edging into the lanes of oncoming traffic blocking them and forcing themselves through, and as soon as one left turner gets in there another five might shoot past before oncoming traffic can continue to proceed.

      --
      "All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." [Thomas Jefferson]
    46. Re:In Germany, lights work that way by Agripa · · Score: 1

      It varies by state. When I moved from California to Missouri, I had to unlearn entering the intersection for left hand turns.

  11. I'm clutchin' in first gear by AndyKron · · Score: 1

    I look at the green light, and when it turns yellow I'm clutchin' in first gear. Also, we have countdown timers on the walk sign already. Thanks anyway.

  12. I am a very impatient driver, but ... by lsllll · · Score: 1

    ... am pretty skeptic about this working properly or at all in some of the convoluted intersections around. Plus, what's wrong with using the old noodle to determine when my light's gonna turn green? What? So that I can be texting on my phone until the last second?

    --
    Is that a roll of dimes in your pocket or are you happy to see me?
  13. Re:$400 an year for traffic data? better have top by danceswithtrees · · Score: 1

    I agree $400 per year is quite high considering the alternative, i.e. pay attention. At least this keeps the Audi engineers doing something other than cheating on emissions.

  14. don't know if $199/6 months is enough by Khashishi · · Score: 1

    to cover the cost of lawsuits when this thing starts causing accidents

  15. Just what we need by Snotnose · · Score: 1

    More assholes who jackrabbit off a green light like they were Funny Car dragster driving.

    1. Re:Just what we need by tomhath · · Score: 1

      Not while it's blocked by police cleaning up the carnage.

    2. Re:Just what we need by lgw · · Score: 1

      Green means go. It's not complicated.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    3. Re:Just what we need by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      Green means go. It's not complicated.

      It is more complicated than you think, given that some drivers also think yellow and red means "accelerate so you don't have to sit here for and additional 60 seconds".

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    4. Re:Just what we need by lgw · · Score: 1

      Sure, but it's pretty clear that the guy who has the light is the one who's not the asshole.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    5. Re:Just what we need by cwsumner · · Score: 1

      Sure, but it's pretty clear that the guy who has the light is the one who's not the asshole.

      That's true.

      Of course, the other one is dead, too...

    6. Re:Just what we need by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      I assure you that injuries sustained when somebody else is in the wrong hurt also. I'd much prefer to not have an accident than to have one that's somebody else's fault.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  16. Would rather know when it's about to go red... by Black.Shuck · · Score: 2

    ...on approach, and if there's enough time to accelerate ahead of the yellow light.

    Perhaps in the next version.

    1. Re:Would rather know when it's about to go red... by MassEnergySpaceTime · · Score: 2

      Are you referring to something like these countdown timers in China? The first time I saw them, I thought it was a great idea. It takes the guesswork out of when the light changes. I wish we had them here in the US.

      --
      Respect the laws of physics, for the laws of physics have no respect for you.
    2. Re:Would rather know when it's about to go red... by radarskiy · · Score: 1

      You do not need to know the time in this case, you need to know the distance.

      If there is sufficient distance to stop before the intersection when the light is yellow, you stop. Otherwise, you proceed.

    3. Re:Would rather know when it's about to go red... by PPH · · Score: 1

      in China

      You didn't have to tell us. We could tell by all the pedestrians crossing against the lights.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  17. When your car is a spy by markdavis · · Score: 1

    Sounds neat and could be useful.... but like so many advances...

    Next up, car records state of all the lights and records what you are doing near every one of them (or uploads it to Audi or whatnot) and reports you to police or makes data available to police. Combine that with GPS data about where you went, how you were driving, where you were going/coming, how fast you were going, how many people were in the car, if you were touching the radio, etc, etc. Don't laugh... it is coming. And sooner than you think. And it is not tin-foil hat territory.

  18. Re:$400 an year for traffic data? better have top by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Exactly. Or, pay attention to the light as you are nearing it. I save a lot of gas by taking my foot off the gas and coasting towards the light when I can tell it will turn shortly. Not coming to a stop saves not only gas, but also saves your brakes. I am completely unsuccessful at getting my wife to use my strategy though. She actively speeds up towards red lights and slams on the brakes to stop. Annoying as all hell, especially since she goes through brake pads and rotors like they are going out of style. It just takes a bit of paying attention to very seldom have to actually completely stop at lights. (Turn lanes being the obvious exception - they won't turn green unless someone is stopped at them).

  19. Turning Green is the least of your worries by OzPeter · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What is more important is verifying that no-one is running the red light when you enter the intersection.

    Which in the US is an all too common occurrence.

    And I really wish that some cities hadn't screwed people over by treating red light cameras as revenue sources rather than safety devices. The huge backlash against red light cameras because of shortened yellow light times has not helped road safety and probably made drivers untrusting about any future attempts to fix safety issues. Terrorism can't even come close to touching the number deaths per year cause by car crashes yet who gets all the funding?

    --
    I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
    1. Re:Turning Green is the least of your worries by twotacocombo · · Score: 1

      What is more important is verifying that no-one is running the red light when you enter the intersection.

      This. I almost got killed last year when some idiot blew through a red that had been red long enough for two other stopped cars to clear the intersection after mine turned green, plus about 2 seconds. People just can't be bothered to obey traffic lights anymore, and the last thing we need is more people darting out the instant they see green. There's already that special breed of driver who inches half way out into the intersection when they think it's about to turn.. where's the fire son?

    2. Re:Turning Green is the least of your worries by WheezyJoe · · Score: 1

      Yes. For this reason, I think the tech is a BAD idea. Already there are smartasses who "time" the lights by eyeballing the crosswalk tickers, never thinking that some asshole on the cross-street might be gunning the gas to beat his yellow light... and misses.

      The worst accident I ever eye-witnessed was on the West Side Highway in Manhattan, some kid had just rolled his newly jacked-up sports car out from a west-side pro-shop. You couldn't miss him... revving the engine before the red light on the cross-street, shining red paint, itching for its first run. He waits for his light like a drag-racer, guns it the instant his light turned green to cross the 8-lane Highway.

      And on the Highway, some suit in a European sports sedan, speeding up to beat the yellow but too-late-it-turned-red... oh-fuck-it-too-late-to-stop-now, T-boned him. The sound of the crash was the stuff of nightmares... a crazy explosive POP on the impact, followed by a million pieces of broken glass clattering down on the pavement like marbles.

      The suit got out, walked away. Took the jaws of life more than an hour to get the kid out the crumpled ruin of what was very briefly his proudest possession; I don't know if he lived.

      That'll learn ya, seriously. Even when I have the light, I look real hard at the fucker on the cross to be sure he's stayin' put. Red-light cameras? BRING 'EM. Every day I see people running red lights like who-the-fuck-cares, and every night there's another story at 11 of some kid or grandma or girl-on-a-bike squashed at an intersection from some fucker trying to beat the red.

      --
      Take it easy, Charlie, I've got an Angle...
    3. Re:Turning Green is the least of your worries by sabbede · · Score: 1
      Fuck 'em. They're running the light, it's their fault if you hit them.

      How else will they learn?

    4. Re:Turning Green is the least of your worries by sabbede · · Score: 1

      And that's why you never, ever run or even risk running a red in NYC. The cabbies are experts at timing the lights, and they will enter the intersection the instant it turns green. And they can hit you without taking any real damage. Plus, if you don't enter the instant the light turns, everyone behind you will lean on their horn. Something I miss since I moved to Georgia, where everyone is a Nascar fan, yet wait several seconds before hitting the gas.

    5. Re:Turning Green is the least of your worries by chrysrobyn · · Score: 1

      What is more important is verifying that no-one is running the red light when you enter the intersection. Which in the US is an all too common occurrence.

      Where snow is common, the first one or two seconds of a green don't count anyway. You've slid through a just-turned-red intersection once or twice yourself, you know somebody else can too. So you learn to pause just a moment. This habit doesn't completely clear during the summer, but it comes back come winter time again.

    6. Re:Turning Green is the least of your worries by WheezyJoe · · Score: 1

      Something I miss since I moved to Georgia, where everyone is a Nascar fan, yet wait several seconds before hitting the gas.

      LOL, seriously. Do you shake your first and shout in your best Brooklyn "WHILE WE'RE YOUNG, YA IMMIGRANT!" No, in the Deep South, best probably to keep that to yourself.

      --
      Take it easy, Charlie, I've got an Angle...
    7. Re:Turning Green is the least of your worries by Enigma2175 · · Score: 1

      There's already that special breed of driver who inches half way out into the intersection when they think it's about to turn

      You must have better drivers around your parts then they have here. Around here, drivers creep forward when the light is red but by the time it turns green they have already lost interest and are looking at their phones or woolgathering.

      --

      Enigma

    8. Re:Turning Green is the least of your worries by WillgasM · · Score: 1

      I think this varies by location. In the city in which I reside, it's common to see 1-2 people sneak through every red light. When your light turns green, you can just about guarantee there's one more person entering the intersection against the red. I think it's gotten to the point that it's expected, just don't try going two towns over and pull that shit.

    9. Re:Turning Green is the least of your worries by sabbede · · Score: 1

      Actually, it's more like, "BAFANGOOL! FUCKING MOVE IT ALREADY!", despite not being Italian and living about 40 miles outside the city. Or, "JESUS FUCK! FUCKING MOVE!" I might actually swear more than anyone else in the State of Georgia.

    10. Re:Turning Green is the least of your worries by WheezyJoe · · Score: 1

      Do keep it up. Those Southerners need to learn how to better express themselves verbally (but learn to duck... some be packin' down there). Maybe someday, I'll hear a guy in a dusty dive with a cowboy hat and a whiskey in his hand croak out "It was fuckin' obvious that that cunt was gonnae fuck some cunt." Sweet music.

      --
      Take it easy, Charlie, I've got an Angle...
  20. Green means GO! by DudeFromMars · · Score: 1

    Green means GO!
    But Yellow means GO LIKE HELL!
    We have all seen yellow light drivers blow through an intersection in front of us and our green light.

    I met a nice young lady - a yellow light driver - right after she ran a barely-red light and t-boned my car.
    I had a new green light, and I was too busy talking on the phone to notice her mistake.
    Too many people are going to look up from their phones and just GO - this thing is going to kill people.

    1. Re:Green means GO! by HornWumpus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Green means quick look left, right then go. Saved me from being t-boned at least twice. I'm still leaving before most snoozers and pass the ones that start ahead of me before we cross the intersection.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    2. Re:Green means GO! by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      This. I grew up in a city where it's illegal to U-turn at an intersection. The reason this rule exists is the priority of traffic lights. On controlled T junctions or split intersections doing a U-turn puts you in the path of some else who has a green light.

      For me I don't trust any approaching car / pedestrian at an intersection, regardless if there are lights, give way signs, or anything else. Cautious driving has saved me (or others) more times than I can remember.

    3. Re:Green means GO! by houghi · · Score: 1

      That is not what it means. A crossing, regardless of the traffic lights; will mean you need to look left and right to be sure it is safe to pass. In Europe most of these intersections are converted or are already converted to roundabouts. They are safer and on most (not all) places they are faster with heavy traffic, but slower with little traffic.
      Why safer? Because you only need to pay attention to one road. The one to the left (or right if you drive on the wrong side) or the one on the right when you are on it. People will also need to slow down, so you everybody has more time to react.
      All this with or without lights.

      Obviously depends on the space available. e.g. not really an option in innercity, but there traffic will be slower anyway. From what I have seen in New England, not an issue there. In NYC, Boston or Providence city, yeah, not going to happen, just like in Amsterdam, Brussels or Paris, except for some exceptions.

      In Belgium it is financed as follows: the money for tickets has to be used for traffic safety, so the police already does not get it. They will then look at the most dangerous crossings and start with those, working their way down. At a certain point, there is no use and they will look on what other way there is to make things safer. Often in the city that means building roads in such a way people will start driving slower at the crossing.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  21. How innovative by mattyj · · Score: 1

    I guess this is for people with Taco Neck that can't turn their head 45 degrees to see the cross-traffic lights?

    They'd make a lot more money if, instead of charging for the service as an optional package, they enabled it by default and charged you a monthly fee to turn it off.

  22. Re:$400 an year for traffic data? better have top by sconeu · · Score: 1

    I figured that this was only going to work when on a dynamometer. And they'd just have a defeat device to fake it for real-word driving.

    --
    General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
  23. Try this on palatine road by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    And just wait see for it to mess up big time.

  24. Re:Get a bike by mallyn · · Score: 1

    +2 Approved

    --
    Most Respectfully Yours Mark Allyn Bellingham, Washington
  25. Re:Get a bike by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

    Should be 'off topic' or 'troll'. Not redundant though.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  26. Traffic Lights Online? by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

    The article I read about this mentioned that these 300,000 traffic lights are on the Internet and that's how Audi's going to receive the data. I'm hoping that the article had it wrong and these lights are just on some city intranet that Audi is going to gain access to. It would be very scary to have traffic lights online. How long would it take for someone to hack the traffic system and change all of the lights at random intervals. (Especially bad if those traffic lights happen to be hooked up to red light cameras that automatically issue fines.)

    --
    My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    1. Re:Traffic Lights Online? by krray · · Score: 1

      > How long would it take for someone to hack the traffic system

      Already on it.

  27. How about one that makes the lights turn green? by no1nose · · Score: 1

    I think we'd have a winner with that one.

  28. Re:$400 an year for traffic data? better have top by chihowa · · Score: 1

    Which comes with the added bonus of actually paying attention to driving instead of fucking around with your phone until somebody honks (or your car beeps) to tell you that the light changed. Everybody else thanks you, too. At least everyone who isn't fucking around with their phone instead of driving.

    --
    If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
  29. Countdown traffic lights by enriquevagu · · Score: 2

    Rather than implementing a complex technology in every single car, there exist countries that have started to implement countdown traffic lights. I have found them while driving and understood it immediately without any explanation. Much simpler, really easy and intuitive, much cheaper globally. I do not understand the approach from Audi.

    1. Re:Countdown traffic lights by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Or people could just obey the lights and have the patients to pay attention even when the light is red without being diverted to throw a pokeball or text a friend every time they get a 2 second break behind the wheel.

    2. Re:Countdown traffic lights by cmseagle · · Score: 1

      Audi isn't trying to solve the problem globally. They're trying to add a feature to their cars that their competitor's don't have.

    3. Re:Countdown traffic lights by bzipitidoo · · Score: 1

      Yes! Improve the traffic lights.

      Traffic lights are stupidly brainless. Nearly every trip I take, I end up getting stuck at a red light for nothing. There were no cars on the cross street, but the light turned red anyway.

      Often, there are also underhanded politics at work. Such as, the lights on the free "service road" (a parallel road to the main, limited access highway), are purposefully neglected because the main road is toll, and badly timed traffic lights on the service road are a way to harass people for trying to avoid the tolls. Of course, private operators of red light cameras have been caught numerous times screwing up the traffic lights. And then there's things like Bridgegate. I've noticed that traffic lights for access roads to major shopping malls push it, holding up as much through traffic as they can get away with without a public outcry. Merchants think that the longer people are stuck in front of their stores, the more business they get.

      --
      Intellectual Property is a monopolistic, selfish, and defective concept. It is "tyranny over the mind of man"
  30. One benefit by codeButcher · · Score: 1

    If this could be used for a larger system so that the car could go at a constant speed (even if lower than the speed limit) and catch all the lights green, I guess this might save a considerable amount of fuel and pollutants by avoiding the braking and acceleration. It will also feed into my OCD and make for a more pleasant (gratifying) trip - I hate waiting at red lights. Lights would need to be synchronized though. And I guess cars without such a system will still race from intersection to intersection, which might foul things up.

    --
    Free, as in your money being freed from the confines of your account.
    1. Re:One benefit by cwsumner · · Score: 1

      If this could be used for a larger system so that the car could go at a constant speed (even if lower than the speed limit) and catch all the lights green, I guess this might save a considerable amount of fuel and pollutants by avoiding the braking and acceleration. ...

      I worked on a team installing just this kind of system, no wifi needed just sensors. ... in 1968 !
      And yes, it did save lives and gas and even noise levels.

      I have seen lights in other cities that seemed to have it, but not many. And, some cities seem to intentionally cross-time the lights so all traffic has to stop at every light. (Stupid politicians!)

  31. Did they run this by psychologists? No by Sqreater · · Score: 1

    Hit the gas, display countdown, then, one Mississippi, two Mississippi, ...... CRASH! at intersection as the bozo plays the new car game called "Beat the Light Clock!"

    --
    E Proelio Veritas.
  32. Re:$400 an year for traffic data? better have top by thegarbz · · Score: 1

    I'll just watch

    Sounds like if you're watching that this technology isn't targeted at you anyway.

  33. Or just watch the other light and count. by sabbede · · Score: 1
    The other direction turns red, count to three and go. Or one, or two, whatever it is for that street. Cab drivers are experts at it.

    There might be someone running the light, but fuck it, hit them. It's their fault and you need a new car.

  34. Re:$400 an year for traffic data? better have top by mjwx · · Score: 1

    What I want is a system that beeps loudly before a traffic light goes green so that idiots will drop their phone before I have to beep them.

    Then again, this is for an Audi, so it will be used to ensure that they can drive right up my chuff from the moment the light goes green.

    --
    Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  35. Distracting by HalAtWork · · Score: 1

    So instead of watching the road in front of them, some drivers will be watching a clock on their dashboard and waiting for it to hit 0 then blindly flooring it. I mean, these people are probably the target market for this car. I can already think of a few people I already know that will probably instantly want one.

    --
    Twinstiq, game news
  36. Just let me hit Send, then I'll look up by mileshigh · · Score: 1

    "the countdown timer will disappear several seconds before the red light changes to green"
    Better make that interval random, folks. Otherwise people will just learn to complete the countdown in their heads, then step on the gas without quite yet looking up.

  37. Re:$400 an year for traffic data? better have top by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

    Unfortunately, it enables Audi drivers to do other things besides paying attention to driving.

    Wait, most Audi drivers are already doing that. Carry on.

    --
    Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
  38. not good by DriveDog · · Score: 1

    This is a bad idea. I hope I'm not the one hit by an Audi that timed it to hit the intersection just as the light changed to green at 45mph while I'm making a left turn, waiting on the other Audi coming towards me that tried to squeeze the lemon and failed. A much better idea would be to indicate, long before reaching the intersection, what speed will allow the car to reach it after it turns green instead of zooming up to it and sitting at the red. Still better would be traffic lights aware of how many cars approach from each direction and attempt to change to allow as many cars through from any direction per unit time as possible. Which would make Audi's "feature" useless, because the light would change each time according to immediate conditions and not be predictable enough to indicate imminent change to the driver.

    While they're at it, the lights should only change in favor of cars using turn signals when planning to turn. Most Audi drivers would be stuck forever.

  39. Use a semaphore with a countdown by Espectr0 · · Score: 1

    As used in Venezuela and some other latin american countries (don't know if somewhere else), there are semaphores with countdown timers, so you can see exactly in how much seconds the color will change.

    They must be more expensive to operate, but they are really useful

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  40. Needs an enhancement. by ebvwfbw · · Score: 1

    If the light is green for more than 2 seconds, send a 100,000 volt shock to the seat. They're obviously STILL looking at the cell phone.

    Used to love a Mercedes Diesel I owned. The horns were right in back of the grill. If I hit the horn, the people in front of me used to jump. It was fun for the whole family.

  41. meanwhile by bobmajdakjr · · Score: 1

    meanwhile cities all across the u.s. are replacing their traffic lamps with new focused lamps so only the person at the very front of the pack can tell what it is.