When Will The Signal Turn Green? Audi Is Here To Help!

Oh how we loathe traffic lights! The worst is when you are about to cross a traffic signal and it turns red just before you arrive at the zebra crossing. In India, most people just floor it when they anticipate a red signal. Others brake really hard to try and stop before the crossing. Either of the acts is problematic. In the former, there is a possibility that a policeman catches you breaking the law and hands you a hefty fine (which, by the way, has recently gone up multi-fold in our country). In the second scenario, there is a chance of getting rear-ended by the vehicle behind. The brakes on your car might be great, but behind you can be a 10-year-old wagon that lacks modern braking technology. To sum it up, one way or the other, the traffic signals account for both our safety and for the congestion on roads. What we need is a way to ease congestion on the roads and reduce travel time. Well, German carmaker Audi has a possible solution.

Audi of America has collaborated with Traffic Technology Services (TTS) to launch the first Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I) technology. Audi says that it will be available on select Q7, A4 and A4 allroad models with Audi connect. The technology will be implemented in some parts of America and gradually expand its reach.

Scott Keogh, president, Audi of America, said, “Continuous innovation in connected car services and advanced driver assistance systems that enrich and improve the customer experience is at the core of the Audi brand and our collective future.”

Audi claims that the system will work by connecting the car with the city's infrastructure via 4G and, in turn, the central management system that controls traffic lights. With inputs from the traffic lights, the car can calculate the ideal speed to travel at in order to encounter as many green lights as possible. This will not only help the passenger reach the destination quicker, but also help ease congestion, reduce air pollution and speed up traffic flow.

"This feature represents Audi’s first step in vehicle-to-infrastructure integration," said Pom Malhotra, general manager, Connected Vehicles. "In the future we could envision this technology integrated into vehicle navigation, start / stop functionality and can even be used to help improve traffic flow in municipalities. These improvements could lead to better overall efficiency and shorter commuting times."

Here is the video that Audi has put up on its US website to demonstrate how the system will work once it is implemented.

Video: Audi's V2I Technology

Source: Audi of America Website