Researchers Want To Add A Fourth Color To Traffic Lights
Researchers from North Carolina State University want to add a fourth color to traffic lights because of self-driving vehicles. Scientists say adding a white light will help control traffic flow when self-driving vehicles become more popular. The white light would alert real human drivers to simply follow the car in front of them and could decrease traffic delays. I am a little confused about that because I always thought green alerts us to go and follow the car in front of us, no?
Either way, researchers seem to be gearing up for the way they think our travel will be like in the near future. Basically an AV is a big computer on wheels. Autonomous vehicles cars can work with both the traffic light and other nearby self-driving cars to help ease traffic delays and increase fuel efficiency. I personally want others to test these AVs on the road for a while before I trust them completely to get myself behind the wheel of one of them. Reality is, driving an AV will be a reality for all of us before we know it!
Scientist Ali Hajbabaie says, “This concept we’re proposing for traffic intersections, which we call a ‘white phase,’ taps into the computing power of autonomous vehicles themselves. The white phase concept also incorporates a new traffic signal, so that human drivers know what they are supposed to do. Red lights will still mean stop. Green lights will still mean go. And white lights will tell human drivers to simply follow the car in front of them.”
Maryann Morgan
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