Virtual traffic lights ‘can reduce commute times’

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in the US claim to have found a solution to delays caused by traffic signals. They estimate that replacing physical traffic signals with virtual traffic signals could reduce urban commute times by 40 per cent. Electrical and Computer Engineering professor Ozan Tonguz’s research on virtual traffic lights uses connected vehicle technology, enabling vehicles to manage traffic control without infrastructure based traffic lights. Using the technology, virtua
January 16, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in the US claim to have found a solution to delays caused by traffic signals. They estimate that replacing physical traffic signals with virtual traffic signals could reduce urban commute times by 40 per cent.

Electrical and Computer Engineering professor Ozan Tonguz’s research on virtual traffic lights uses connected vehicle technology, enabling vehicles to  manage traffic control without infrastructure based traffic lights.

Using the technology, virtual traffic lights will appear on the driver’s windshield as they approach an intersection. “When the driver is looking through the windshield, they’ll see that going straight is a green light, and turning right is a red light,” Tonguz explains. “It’s a seamless process, the driver does not get involved in this decision making.”  The virtual traffic light will turn off once the driver proceeds through the intersection.

Tonguz claims that virtual traffic lights will do more than lower commuter’s stress levels. He says they’ll mitigate traffic congestion, reduce commute times, decrease the carbon footprint of vehicles, and lead to a greener environment.

Urban Traffic Control

Related Content

  • Hard shoulder running aids uniform traffic flow and safer driving
    January 23, 2012
    David Crawford detects a market for European experience. Well-established now in at least three European countries, Hard Shoulder Running (HSR) on motorways is exciting growing interest in the US. A November 2010 Report to Congress by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), on the Efficient Use of Highway Capacity, notes the role of HSR in the European-style Active Traffic Management (ATM) strategies now being recommended for implementation in the US where, until recently, they were virtually unknown.
    Read More
  • Enforcement a key part of the road safety solution
    January 31, 2012
    The Partnership for Advancing Road Safety is a new organisation set up in the US to push the national debate on speed and intersection safety, something which hitherto has been absent. Here, executive director David Kelly explains the organisation's work. With moves to address drink/drug driving and the wearing of seatbelts starting to prove successful in the US, the use of inappropriate speed and poor driving at intersections have become responsible for a proportionately greater number of the deaths and in
    Read More
  • Oxford University develops self-driving car
    February 18, 2013
    Oxford University scientists have developed a self-driving car system that can be installed in existing cars and can cope with snow, rain and other weather conditions. Developed by a team led by Professor Paul Newman at Oxford University, the new system has been installed in a Nissan Leaf electric car and tested on private roads around the university. The car will halt for pedestrians, and could take over the tedious parts of driving such as negotiating traffic jams or regular commutes. The car alerts the
    Read More
  • Data crunching ‘can prevent cars crashing’
    March 25, 2013
    Having already cut traffic collisions resulting in injuries and deaths by nearly forty per cent in five years by analysing patterns from data it has collected, the city of Edmonton, Canada, is using predictive technologies to increase road safety even more. The city’s Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) has installed as many as 200 digital signs as just one element of an innovative traffic safety program that has dramatically reduced vehicle collisions in the Edmonton region since OTS launched in late 2006. Unde
    Read More

Highlighted Content