MIT researchers have devised a way to eliminate traffic lights, improving traffic flow to the point where twice as many cars could be on the road.
Paolo Santi and Carlo Ratti, researchers working in MIT's Senseable City Lab, are proposing a slot-based traffic system to replace traffic lights.
Here's how it works: instead of approaching a traffic light, drivers would approach an intersection with several slots, like a row of toll booths. But drivers wouldn't have to stop and wait at the slot — they can just drive straight through without any hesitation.
It sounds too good to be true, but it works because a driver's car would communicate with a computer that manages the intersection. That computer would record the car's speed, GPS position in relation to the intersection, and desired location.
It would then assign drivers to specific slots that would allow them to drive in whatever direction they need to go in. It's almost like a perfectly coordinated ballet — all of the cars are moving in different directions without any bumping into each other.
"The key to this improved efficiency is that we manage traffic at a single vehicle instead of as the flow of vehicles as is done with traffic lights," Santi told Tech Insider.
The only issue is that for the system to work, drivers must always insert their intended location into their navigation system. That's a bit problematic considering people don't always want to drive with their GPS activated and old cars aren't equipped with navigation consoles like newer models are.
Santi said the system could work with human drivers, but should really be used in conjunction with driverless cars, especially when factoring in human error. If someone were to go to the incorrect slot, havoc could occur.
"Thats why it's probably not advisable in practice to implement such a system with human drivers," Santi said.
It seems like the slot-based system would work better with driverless cars than traditional traffic lights. For driverless cars to successfully navigate traffic lights, they need to be given the ability to see. Strides have been made in that area with LIDAR technology.
But assigning a driverless car a slot number would be fairly easy for a the car's computer to process.
Still, it seems like it would be difficult to handle pedestrians with a system where traffic is constantly flowing.
Santi said they've accounted for that issue and that pedestrians could use the GPS function on their smartphones to get slot assignments and cross safely.
But it's hard to imagine parents feeling comfortable with kids crossing intersections where traffic literally never stops. That, and, it requires everyone have their smartphone on them at all times.
But the system, published in the journal PLOS One, highlights how roads are bound to change as driverless technology advances.
