Audi Urban Traffic Management System - Web Exclusive

End To Traffic Jams



A
new traffic management system will enable communication between cars
and traffic lights to reduce `stop-start' journeys and the inefficiency
that causes.Audi is lending its support to the `Travolution'
project, aimed at streamlining urban traffic flow through the
interaction of cars and traffic lights to minimise fuel-sapping
`stop-start' traffic.Travolution software will alert Audi
drivers when a light is due to change to green, and calculate the speed
they should maintain in order to pass through in the green light.The
system will also reduce the duration of your stop at the lights by
improving the synchronization and traffic light phasing across the
network.

Frustrating,
fuel-sapping stops at red lights could soon be the exception rather
than the rule, thanks to an initiative being championed by Audi aimed
at streamlining urban traffic flow and reducing CO2 emissions.The
experimental `Travolution' system, developed with Audi support by
traffic management experts in their German home town of Ingolstadt,
will not only improve synchronization and phasing of traffic lights to
reduce stopping times, but could also dramatically reduce the number of
actual stops needed by creating a communications link between cars and
the traffic light network.Communications modules built into each
traffic light will be able to send messages to cars in the vicinity,
alerting them to the time remaining until their next green phase. The
car's onboard system is then able to calculate what speed the driver
should maintain in order to pass through the light during this green
phase, and displays this via the car's own Multi Media Interface
display.

A
network of 46 of the `intelligent' traffic lights has been installed in
the center of Ingolstadt. The software they are all linked to will
optimize the light phasing to bring stopping times down to a minimum,
reducing fuel consumption and pollution in the process.Of the 46
light gantries, three have been upgraded to enable communication with
the specially modified Audi A5 and A6 Avant models provided by Audi as
part of the 1.2-million Euro pilot project. A further 20 cars and 50
light installations are to be incorporated as the project evolves.