Audi introduces Light Information system to Washington, DC
A few years ago, Audi announced a new system called “Traffic Light Information” based on V21 technology, which allows cars to ‘connect’ with the city.
Something amazing if you ask me. Audi vehicles receive real-time information about the infrastructures of some cities trough 4G LTE connections. It enables the user to know the moment when traffic lights will change in order to reduce car accidents.
Traffic Light Information, an Audi connect PRIME feature available on select Audi models, enables the car to communicate with the infrastructure in certain cities and metropolitan areas across the U.S. See how this technology works to tell a driver how many seconds until a red light will turn green. In the future, Traffic Light Information services could also help reduce congestion and enhance mobility on crowded roadways.
Source: Audi USA
In the future, as Audi works to bring TLI to more metropolitan areas, the system could work in harmony with car’s stop/start system and so reduce emissions. What is more, it could help control speed as the driver approaches a red light and suggest navigation routes based on traffic signals.
There are already other six cities in the United States taking advantage of the “Traffic Light Information” System that establishes communication between the traffic lights and the vehicle.
In 2016 the company premiered the system in Las Vegas and since then, they have been expanding it to other cities such as Dallas, Denver, Houston and Palo Alto. Now it has finally arrived to Washington, DC, the US capital (via TheVerge).
More than 1,600 intersections in the United States already support this kind of technologies. I hope in a near future we can expand it to make our cities even safer.
Just imagine your car not only knows when the traffic lights will change, but also which streets are safer to go or extrapolate the data of applications like WAZE for safer drives.
We have the first step to accomplish a “connected city”. Just hope we don’t have a WatchDogs future were hackers can control our entire city.
TLI System could be used by manufacturers to plan better routes or even to bring a better acceleration rhythm that leads to greater efficiency in fuel consumption. And for those outside of the areas in which this technology operates, Audi has not forgotten us.
In the near future, Audi vehicles will be able to pay tolls on the fly.
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