To optimize traffic flow, many autonomous vehicles communicate with each other and with municipal traffic control systems. Scientists now suggest that adding white light to controlled intersections could help incorporate human drivers into the mixture.
First of all, as long as self-driving cars (AVs) are a rarity, the old-fashioned green/yellow/red traffic light system is probably the most effective, and you don’t need the extra colors. Associate Professor Ali Hajbabaie and colleagues at North Carolina State University, however, believe that things could change as AVs become more common.
That’s where “White Phase” comes in.
The idea is that as a group of AVs approach an intersection, they communicate with each other and with the computer running the lights at that intersection. All these AVs coordinate their movements to get you through the intersection as quickly and efficiently as possible. A certain number of cars going in one direction will wait and a certain number of cars going in the other direction will pass.
At this stage of traffic flow, traffic lights turn white.This allows the driver to non– Self-driving cars know that right-of-way is determined by AV traffic. they All you have to do is keep up with the car in front. If a car stops, it will stop, and the same is true when passing through an intersection.
At the same intersection, the majority of oncoming vehicles no For AV, the lights revert to the standard green/yellow/red routine. The white light simply doesn’t turn on.
Scientists say computer simulations based on real-world traffic flow show that the idea does have merit. For example, in some cases, white phase can reduce traffic latency by more than 90% of his.
“Simulation teaches us a few things,” says Hajbabaie. “First, AVs improve traffic flow regardless of the presence of white phases. Secondly, when AVs are present, white phases further improve traffic flow. Therefore, fuel consumption is also reduced.” Thirdly, the higher the proportion of traffic on the white phase intersection that is composed of AVs, the faster the traffic will pass through the intersection and the better the fuel consumption. ”
That said, he adds that even in a scenario with only 10% autonomous vehicles at the intersection, the white phase reduced traffic delays by 3%. A traffic light does not necessarily have to be white. for the fourth color.
A paper on this study was recently published in the journal IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems.
Source: North Carolina State University
