Traffic Lights on Your Windshield Could Get You Home Faster

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January 14th, 2015

Being stuck in traffic is one of the most infuriating experiences for a driver, but researchers at Carnegie Mellon University may have found a solution. They claim they can reduce the commute times of urban workers by 40% by replacing physical traffic lights with virtual traffic lights.

“With this technology, traffic lights will be created on demand when [two cars] are trying to cross this intersection, and they will be turned down as soon as we don’t need it,” explains Ozan Tonguz, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, who helped develop the technology.

Virtual traffic lights appear on the driver’s dashboard and explain with green and red arrows which direction they can safely travel in, just like with normal traffic lights. But they disappear once the junction has been crossed.