Audi's traffic light dash display
 

I watched the video and this is awesome! If only there were a way to create one of these on my POS civic:o

https://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motora...0299.html?vp=1

What do you guys think of the system and what the difficulties would be to bring these into real world applications?

One of the "steps" toward BIG BROTHER controlling your car...for you...whether you want the "help" or not.

I just wish the idiot traffic light programmers here would time them so I don't have to stop. One car off the Interstate, light changes a second after they reach the line and 15cars have to slam on their brakes at 55 MPH.

Of course it's at the bottom of the #$%^&* hill so I loose about 2 MPG average in a 40 mile run, versus coasting down the hill and a third of the way back uphill.

regards
Mech

Be interesting if that feature alone sells cars. :eek:

Ever take the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and drive up 13 or 113? There are towns that have the lights timed so you hit on red, then the next one turns red right before you get to it.

It is so annoying, since I accelerate from 0-45, then stop. Then 0-45, then stop. 0-55, then stop. It really upsets me!

why not just paint a line on the pavement. Before this line if the light turns yellow you wont make it. After this line you are golden.

They are all speed traps. The jerks even put the speed limit signs behind a shrub or tree so you will miss them and get a ticket for 10 + over. I always make sure someone is passing me on 13 or I just go below the limit.

Last exit before the Bay Bridge Tunnel, turn right on Shore drive. The first street (with another traffic light) on the left is named after my grandfather (father"s side).

regards
Mech

I find a lot of lights like that in Richmond too and most are on major roads. It seems they purposely want to build up traffic vs have one continious stream.

It's a good idea, but the traffic law is written in a way that makes it unnecessary. Traffic law says that a driver must come to a stop when the light turns yellow if it is safe to do so. Drivers have just the opposite mentality, instead trying to accelerate as long as they can get their whole car into the intersection by the time the light changes to red. Who knows if the line would cause drivers to choose to stop more often, or to accelerate.

Beyond the safety aspect, the tech outlined in the article says that a driver would know at what speed to drive to time the lights all green. This would save fuel and wear and tear on the vehicle.

I'm looking forward to the tech of the future. It will be very nice to one day have cars that drive themselves. It will free up the time that would otherwise be mostly unproductive, and make transportation safer and more convenient.

I stop for yeller lights and I get a lot of fingers, F-Us and horn honking from behind me. :eek:

In the case with quick lights that trap you between them the best you can do is drive slower so by time you get to the next light its cycled red and back to green. In some cases Ive over done it and seen a light cycle from red to green and back by time I get to it. Yes, I can see lights a mile out. :eek:

I usually am going 0-5 over and people are always passing me. I know more than one person who has gotten a ticket for doing 68+ mph. And yes, there are police all over the place on 13 and 113.

I'll check out the street next time I am up that way.

Have you noticed, all of these new tech toys that make cars cost more money, are things we can already do without assistance from our cars???

Cbaber's Poor Mans Car Safety Tech:

1. Blind Spot Monitoring - Learn to adjust and use your mirrors. Maybe even look over your shoulder once and awhile.

2. Lane Keep Assist? Put down your phone, stop beating your kids, and pay attention to driving.

3. Mercedes-Benz: Attention Assist (<<< love that name lol) aka sleep detector - Don't drive tired, drink coffee, have a friend drive.

4. Ford Foot activated lift gate - Open your hatch BEFORE you go pick up stuff, use a grocery cart instead of 2 armfuls of groceries, have kids so they can carry crap for you

5. Automatic headlights/wipers - Pay attention to your driving conditions, flip a freakin switch

Of course, I agree with cbaber, but the fact remains that almost all accidents are avoidable, and yet people still crash.

While your points are all valid, I still look forward to the upcoming technology. Much of it should not cost a lot once it becomes standard. This is incremental technology on the inevitable path towards autonomous cars.

1. Wait that's what those mirrors are for? not for make-up?
2. But wait, I have to send this one last text.
3. I couldn't even fall asleep if I were to drive a Mercedes, I'd be so intrigued by all of the different buttons I can push.
4. This is technologically advanced... in the show room floor, then they forget about it 2 months later
5. just let's the computer have more control of the car.

The more crap you put on a car, the sooner than car goes to the crusher, in some cases for a single one of those "options" everyone has to have. With this scenario I have seen cars go to the crusher because one power window regulator failed. It was the drivers side and was required to function to pass inspection.

The more responsibility assumed by the vehicle for the safe arrival of the passengers, the less attention paid by many drivers. I guess the rationale is if you fall asleep at the wheel the car should just take you there.

regards
Mech

If Audi installs a system like this, traffic engineers are duty bound to actively work against it, I would think!

I saw the idea some time ago of timed traffic signals that display a countdown to the next change. That would work for everyone.

Yeah, but, then, already distracted drivers would have to "think" about a descending count-down sequence, which would be beyond the already "taxed" mental capacities of most of them (wink,wink)!

traffic light
 

*For every dollar not spent on traffic light synchronization the US loses $62 ,in 1988 dollars.
*For every dollar spent on traffic light synchronization the US saves $62,in 1988 dollars.
*Audi would save $9.3.
*Traffic engineers could save $62.
*With traffic engineers,200-million automobiles @ 16.8 mpg.
*With 7-yr-olds designing traffic infrastructure,200-million automobiles @ 28 mpg.

I have a coworker with a mercedes suv with the blind spot monitoring. We were parallel parked and in a tight spot. It took quite a few tries to get out. Once we thought we were clear it kept beeping.Turned out there was a guy parallel to the passenger door on the drivers side. :eek: We were soo concerned about the car that parked in front of us we didnt think about some fool just driving around us.:thumbup:

You have a point, but in my experience, I've had many manual window cranks break on older cars, but not a single power window motor.

If a component is built properly, it shouldn't be an issue.

Very interesting. Do you have a source for further information? I've always intuitively known that traffic management is where the real savings are, but it doesn't seem to get the intelligent thought it deserves.

I think the takeaway from this is that it does not matter how good the green light predictive system is if the traffic system is not properly timed/engineered/designed it won't help much. Yet with a decently integrated traffic design everyone benefits whether or not they have an added distraction cuing them into how fast they should drive to hit the next green.

Just timing the lights to roll along with the speed limit does quite a bit even the roads are nearing full capacity.

I too would like your source (not doubting it just sounds like it may be an interesting read/study)

I used to complain about light timing and people told me that the Don't Walk sign and yellow lights gave me all of the information that I needed.

I can only imagine that these people drive ten over until they are one block from a red light.

For a long time, I have actually wanted something that would tell me if I could make the next light or if I needed to start slowing down.

I keep waiting to have a conversation about holding up traffic. "Uh, no, that is the purpose of the red light."

They have been gradually replacing Don't Walk signs with ones that count down. The Army tells me that I have 20/15 corrected vision, but I cannot read those numbers. A friend insisted that she could, but was not able to read street signs when I asked.

1. When I did on-line dating, I saw many pictures that girls took using their car mirrors. Seriously? You can actually see yourself in your phone, but you insist on using a mirror barely larger than your phone, and then make a duck-face, longbowman's salute, put the phone in front of your face so we can hardly tell that you do not understand smiling, and then save a screen capture instead of actually saving the picture, because everybody wants to see your signal and battery strength, etc.
2. Wait, I just received two more, and then I need to tweet my crossroads, I haven't done that for half a minute!

Aerohead, for all of the political rhetoric about making cars more efficient, I always wondered why they didn't approach that one simple idea. I just do not have any idea how to simply describe it. I guess that "red light timing" should do, but I do not have much confidence in people. If people actually could drive the speed limit and never hit a red light unless they turned, they would still speed and brake one block away.

Exactly, I haven't seen many areas that have decent sychronization in the first place. How about you guy's, is this true for you as well?

For example, Arlington County Virginia screams of how green concious they are, but their traffic lights seem to have little engineering designed to move traffic efficiently. When traffic sensors malfunction, it takes forever to address the issue, if ever.

OTOH Washington DC actually does a pretty good job with light syncing. They want to make sure drivers gain more speed between the lights, so they can feed those hungry speed cameras.

I remember being able to ride my bike down the hill on 13th St. If you hit the first light right and pedaled as hard as you could, you could hit green lights until you lost your speed boost.

Climbing up thirteenth street, though, my goodness. I do not know how many times I looked up the street, saw the hill, and went around.

This feature will not be desirable to me until the data link that tells me how soon the light will change is also a link that allows me to order the light to change. Then, I'll want one.

Basically, the story is that Audi catching up with Eugene, OR.

Green Driver

I told my son about this years ago. In five minutes he had already downloaded it to his iPhone and decided it was superior to the turn-by-turn in his SRT-8. An hour later he was already grumpy when we rolled into Springfield and it stopped working.

It isn't predictive of the lights, it's peered to the traffic-light servers that control the lights. When you can can see all the lights in town all the time, bad synching of the light will cause citizen advocacy. David Brin would call it sousveillance.

We shall see how Audi does with the various municipalities.