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BMW And Audi Congestion Strategies Look To Smart Signals

By Bengt Halvorson
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Smart signals to solve traffic snarls

Smart signals to solve traffic snarls

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With vehicle miles traveled growing about 15 percent faster than the U.S. roadway network, and the trend likely to continue this year as fuel prices stabilize and more drivers take to the roadways, we need to look for more creative—and smarter—ways of easing congestion.

New projects from German automakers Audi and BMW promise to ease congestion simply by looking at traffic signals and driving style, in an effort to smooth the flow of traffic.

One likely start is by replacing our outdated traffic-signal system with one that's networked—or, better yet, one that can communicate with vehicles in real time.


Last fall we reported that BMW is working on such a system, through its Traffic Technology and Traffic Management group, of better synchronizing traffic signals with vehicle traffic and vice versa. Through a test course in Munich, vehicles were able to post phenomenal fuel-efficiency gains simply by adjusting the timing of traffic lights depending on traffic volume—to whatever speed provides a so-called 'green wave' of four or more synchronized signals.

Now, in the city of Ingolstadt, in Germany, Audi is showing the latest version of its 'travolution' concept, which also aims to preserve a smoother traffic flow through the city.

Audi claims to have reduced overall fuel consumption by 17 percent with the algorithm, which was developed through a partnership with local colleges.

Audi 'travolution' concept for traffic signals

Audi 'travolution' concept for traffic signals

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The Audi system—interfaced with Audi's Multi-Media Interface (MMI) screen—uses wireless LAN and UMTS links, enabling vehicles to communicate directly with traffic-light systems as they're approaching. The signal systems transmit data—displayed in graphic form—regarding when the light is going to change to green. Likewise, if the light is about to change to yellow, the system prompts the driver and momentarily cuts power.

In the test vehicles, the adaptive cruise control system can be used to maintain an ideal speed and conserve momentum for the best fuel efficiency.

Such a method sounds ripe for deployment on U.S.-style boulevards, where obsolete signals, each running on their own cycle, can bring light traffic to a congested snarl. As for car-to-car communication—or more complicated traffic patterns with pedestrians, bikes, and side streets—that's still a longer-range work-in-progress.

[Audi]


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Comments (11)

  1. Simon Dual Cowl Posted: 6/3/2010 3:03pm PDT

    For a moment I thought they meant smoke signals. So much for CO2!
     
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  2. Tech FTW Posted: 6/3/2010 3:27pm PDT

    This is great technology that could eventually help us all. No matter what cars are driven by (gas, diesel, electricity, etc), traffic will always be an issue. Solutions to that problem are always welcome.
     
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  3. Eric Berlin Posted: 6/3/2010 3:27pm PDT

    Viva la travolution !
     
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  4. Joe D. Posted: 6/3/2010 4:05pm PDT

    Hopefully they'll figure out something for the freeways and tell slower drivers to move to the right.a
     
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  5. fb_709357878 avatar David Harkness Posted: 6/3/2010 4:43pm PDT

    This will be a very exciting field as it matures. Certainly there will be a lag as new cars using the system replace older cars--and there will always be older cars that do not--and the technology moves into bikes and trains and other vehicles.
    As for better running freeways it will probably be more difficult. You can get a huge gain by having the cars negotiate speeds with each other, draft each other, perform seamless merges, etc. But any car that isn't hooked up to the [Matrix] system will break the link.
     
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  6. Damien Thomas Posted: 6/3/2010 4:52pm PDT

    My only fear is that most people are already distracted enough when driving - adding another feature to "concentrate" on will only make people more distracted.
     
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  7. sabling Posted: 6/3/2010 6:11pm PDT

    Bring it ALL on, I say. When you get teen drivers complaining that the need to drive "distracts from" their texting and Internet time, then it's a far, far better thing that cars DO drive themselves than some idiot using a few spare brain cycles to pilot a two-ton guided missile at 70-mph.
     
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  8. autowatch411 avatar Anthony Alaniz Posted: 6/3/2010 7:43pm PDT

    This sounds like great technology, though sadly not something we will see anytime soon in actual use. With integration of cars and internet already, this seems like the logical next step and cannot wait to see how it can help traffic flow in some major areas.
     
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  9. Alex T Posted: 6/5/2010 12:01pm PDT

    Agree with Sabling. If we're not going to crack down on those who are driving distracted, we need to ramp up the infrastructure and tech for city streets.
     
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  10. Jeff Jacobberger Posted: 6/7/2010 9:35pm PDT

    As a bicycle and pedestrian advocate, I am a little concerned about the implications of this automaker-driven project. Are we going to adjust traffic signals to "whatever speed provides a 'green wave,'" even if that is a relatively high speed that makes streets less safe for bicyclists and pedestrians? And any technology that causes drivers to focus on dashboard displays rather than the street in front of them cannot be good for cyclists and pedestrians.
     
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  11. Anonymous Coward Posted: 6/12/2010 9:02am PDT

    "One likely start is by replacing our outdated traffic-signal system with one that's networked—or, better yet, one that can communicate with vehicles in real time."
    I'm all for networked traffic signal systems. It would be great to combine the methods some places use for altering signal timing based on traffic (like cameras) and the approximate time it takes to reach one signal from the previous one (as places without the aforementioned systems do). However, I'm not comfortable having traffic signals communicate with my car. It's simply too ripe for abuse of privacy. With cars becoming more and more computer oriented and having a default of no trust in programmers when it comes to security (being one myself), I'd rather the programmers who work on such things have fewer things to worry about.
     
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