We accelerate away from traffic lights, only to brake hard for the next one 500 metres down the road. Or how traffic lights that insist you wait a long time even when the roads are empty in the middle of the night? These scenarios are common in the Klang Valley, and burn away a lot of fuel and time. Audi’s travolution project counters this and aims for a smooth drive by making cars communicate with traffic lights!
This pre-emptive traffic light knowledge allows the driver to save fuel by not having to stop and start at traffic lights. Test runs in 2006 saw fuel consumption reduced by 17%. Then, Audi’s hometown of Ingolstadt saw its traffic lights controlled by a new, adaptive computing algorithm that Audi developed in cooperation with colleges of advanced engineering.
Today, travolution allows for integrated communication between car and the traffic light system, using wireless LAN and UMTS links. 15 test vehicles and 25 sets of traffic lights are being tested in actual traffic conditions. Data transmitted in the form of graphics tell the driver what speed to adopt so that the next traffic light changes to green before the car reaches it, for instance. This speed, which keeps traffic flowing as smoothly as possible, can also be locked in using adaptive cruise control (ACC).
If the car stops at red, drivers would be told the length of time they would be waiting. Or if the lights are about to turn yellow or red, an approaching driver will be warned by a visual or acoustic signal and even a brief interruption to the power flow of the engine.
The implications of such technology is incredible, as according to the the test, drivers can cut fuel consumption of 0.02 litres for every traffic light they stop at. If used throughout Germany, it could lower CO2 emissions by about two million tonnes annually! Besides “chatting” with traffic lights, travolution can even help you to pay online when refueling or parking the car, before you reach the station or car park. Selection and confirmation is done via MMI.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
useless thing ,waste resources,just make human lazy…………
useless for u but useful to me
Useful for me too :)
Useful for meb 2. If u want to be hardworking, u arent saving the planet . think b4u talk donkey…
I was told if the light gonna turns Red in 10 seconds the Adaptive Cruise Control will suddenly accelerate the car til 240km/hr to catch up.
LOL :D
LOL!! Certainly made locally!
wow, that must be F1 car :)
Nice technology in theory but need a lot more refinement if it were to be implemented in here (Klang Valley for example). Traffic light may turned red & green a few times but you still can’t move due to massive jam. At some junctions, even when traffic turn green you still can’t go anywhere because there are lot of idiots entering the “petak kuning” even when traffic not moving ahead.
I remember when I was in the U.S, they have city blocks where roads crossing each and every city blocks and traffic lights at every junction. However, when you travel on the main roads, you’d be able to get through at least 10 green traffic lights before stopping at a red. No fancy electronics but rather simple timing calculation for average traffic speed to reach the next junction. Over here, it all depends on luck.
tidak apa attitude produces rubbish result.
Yup, traffic lights system in NYC is very practical and it’s all about timing. And in some cities, it’s the ambulances and firetrucks that control the traffic lights as they zoom by. :-)
Does this system work better than start-stop technology? And how effective is it in a traffic crawl?
This is stupid. Why not just use sensors and timing adjustments to make existing traffic lights more effective? Over the past decade they’ve introduced this throughout Sydney whereby sensors integrated into the lanes help traffic lights give priority to signals/directions as necessary. e.g. if there are no cars crossing the intersection through a main road and one approaches from the side street facing a red light, the traffic lights automatically send the main road to red and allow the car to come through. It’s so simple yet so effective.
It’s already working with timing and sensor for traffic light in m’sia for a long long time ago…
these active timing is implemented properly in AU and UK. over here, the timing on sensored lights are passive and even so its not implemented nationwide. desicion for using these systems lies with the districts/council management. always want to save their money for other things…. both these timing systems not directly communicate with cars so can still run through red lights. i guess with audi system this wont be allowed….