Vehicle to infrastructure communications are said to revolutionize self-driving cars, but they will also be an excellent aid for human drivers. Jaguar Land Rover participated in a $25 million research, the “Green Light Optimal Speed Advisory” system, known as GLOSA. This system is being designed to help drivers get a green light wherever they go. This system is in trial phases and is being used on a specially kitted F-Pace.
The car uses a simple internet connection to communicate with the city infrastructure services and figures out the timing of the next signal. The car then uses the GPS and speed of the vehicle to figure out what rate would be optimal to get the green light and shows a green zone in the speedometer. It cannot monitor any traffic up ahead and obviously cannot save you from every red signal unless you are willing to drive at a walking pace.
This system may save a little bit of fuel and frustration but it is more practical and useful for a world of fully autonomous cars. Some other projects working alongside GLOSA are real-time parking spot tracking, emergency vehicle alerts, and an intersection management system that informs the driver of an oncoming vehicle in an intersection and tells the drivers which order to proceed in to avoid collision and jams.
It would be a real wonder to see how the traffic lights would change in a world of autonomous cars where, hypothetically, all cars will be able to go through intersections without colliding at full speeds while communicating with each other to avoid collisions. It can be considered that traffic lights would be for pedestrians and bicycles. And in the meantime systems like GLOSA can aid drivers in getting a green signal on their every turn.
