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Audi's Traffic Light Information System Tells You When The Lights Are Going To Turn Green (pcworld.com)
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.
How about the RT info telling the computer that the light is about to go red, and have it break automatically?
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
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?
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.
...on approach, and if there's enough time to accelerate ahead of the yellow light.
Perhaps in the next version.
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?
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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'
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.