On the theory that a driver who knows when a red light will turn green is more relaxed and aware, vehicle manufacturer Audi is unveiling this week in Las Vegas a technology that enables vehicles to read traffic signals ahead and tell the motorist how long the wait will be.
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It’s a simple display for the driver — a dashboard traffic signal icon and a timer next to the digital vehicle speed and area speed limit displays already common in newer cars.
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The technology behind it is more complex. It uses 4G LTE cellular communication between the vehicle and a centralized traffic management control network — dubbed vehicle-to-infrastructure or V2I. Audi offers it through a subscription service not unlike commercial satellite radio. The company calls it traffic light information.
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Company executive Pom Malhotra terms it time to green.
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You don’t have to constantly stare at the traffic light. You have that information right in front of you, Malhotra told reporters who test-drove the system Tuesday in vehicles on and around Las Vegas Strip.
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Can’t see the light because there’s a tour bus ahead? No problem. The icon says you have 37 seconds.
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A lot of behavior in the car changes, Malhotra said. You have time to relax your hands and shoulders … time to hand a milk bottle to your child in the back seat … while knowing you’re not taking attention away from the road.
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Audi and Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada officials said Tuesday that Las Vegas was picked for the first-in-the-nation debut because it has a single centralized traffic management center covering all jurisdictions in Clark County, a region nearly the size of New Jersey.
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Malhotra said Audi hopes to expand the system soon to other big U.S. cities, including places like Los Angeles, which have patchwork traffic management systems run by varying jurisdictions…