Researchers propose new 'white light' for self-driving cars at intersections

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With the possibility of more self-driving cars sharing the roads with non-automated vehicles, researchers are proposing a unique solution to improve traffic flow—- a white traffic light.

Academics at North Carolina State University published a study earlier this monththat presents the traffic co-ordination strategy and its benefits.

When there are many autonomous cars on the road, a white traffic light will be activated and the self-driving cars will negotiate their own right-of-way, while the cars driven by humans will simply follow the cars in front of them.

“The idea here is that in the near future, we’re going to have more autonomous vehicles on the roadways, we’re going to share our roadways with them, we wanted to tap into their capabilities so we can make traffic operations more efficient,” said Ali Hajbabaie, an associate professor of civil engineering at the university and one of the study co-authors.

He told CTV’s Your Morning Thursday that the addition of the white light could create shorter traffic times and fewer accidents on the road.

“We have a safer environment and also less fuel consumption,” he said.

Autonomous vehicles will be able to communicate with each other and the computer that controls the intersection, he explained. The cars will negotiate a safe right of way for human-driven vehicles, and navigate them through the intersection.

The white light communicates the “new regime” of going through the intersection with human-driven vehicles, he said.

“What you need to do is follow the vehicle in front of you, if they go, you go. If they stop, they stop,” he said.

When the researchers didtheir computer simulation of the white light, they saw a “significant improvement in traffic operations,” said Hajbabaie.

The models created by the researchers also account for human errors in following the autonomous vehicles, he added. If a human driver gets distracted, the white light is “terminated” and the intersection goes back to the traditional red, yellow and green colours.

“For example, if you’re following a car in front of you, you don’t have to precisely follow that car. You can have a longer or shorter headway,” he said

For more information on the white light simulation, watch the interview with Ali Hajbabaie above.