If I ask you about the colors of a traffic light, the normal thing is that you answer without thinking “red, yellow and green”. The usual ones, right? Red to stop, yellow to slow down a bit (not to accelerate as much as possible) and green to go. Well, they have proposed a fourth color from North Carolina State University, and it is white. Strange, right?
Well, with this white color they intend to make roads much safer and to make everything flow better (especially now that autonomous cars are starting to arrive on our roads). The idea is to make their job easier… and make our lives easier when we cross paths with them…
White traffic lights?
Yes, imagine you are driving and a white light appears above or below the other three… what would it mean? That there is an intersection with autonomous vehicles.
Unlike us, autonomous cars can talk to each other in real time. They exchange data on speed, positions, intentions… everything that helps them organize traffic with precision. In that they are better than any human, why fool ourselves.
When there are enough autonomous cars near a crossing, this new white light will turn on. And at that moment, human drivers would not have to make decisions, it would be enough to follow the car in front. If that car is autonomous, it will know exactly when to advance or when to brake.
Of course, the usual colors will still be there working as always, you will not be confused at all, it will only work when traffic can coordinate “by itself”.
How does it work?
The system is based on what they call “distributed computing”, which is simply an elegant way of saying that the cars and the traffic lights will communicate with each other instantly.
Imagine this situation:
- A group of autonomous cars approaches the crossing.
- They start exchanging data among themselves and with the traffic light.
- The traffic light detects that there are enough intelligent vehicles to let them manage the traffic.
- The white light turns on.
- Humans follow the pace set by the group of autonomous cars.
Almost like when a group of cyclists appears and you cannot overtake them? Well, when the autonomous cars move away and are no longer the majority, the white light will disappear and everything will work as usual. It is actually quite easy to understand.
But what is it for?
According to the researchers, they believe adding this extra light could reduce traffic jams, and yes they have done tests, even now that only 10 percent of cars are autonomous… And delays have dropped by 3 percent! And if you think that in the future almost all vehicles will be autonomous… there might never be traffic jams, it is like a dream.
Fewer traffic jams means less fuel burned, less pollution and above all less stress! Do you not think it is a good idea?
Where will we see it first?
Before putting a white traffic light in the middle of the city, obviously it has to be tested, the initial studies will be done in controlled areas where autonomous cars already operate normally.
One of the first candidates is ports, because they are places with a lot of movement, few pedestrians and very repetitive operations. It is the perfect scenario to see if the system works.
So, this may be the first sign that autonomous cars are getting closer (because literally, they are already here), and in some way they have to be regulated to avoid any possible accident (right, Tesla?). The future is getting closer, and it is very exciting!