No one likes to to get behind a traffic light, and the guys over at Audi seems to share those sentiments. The company has unveiled a new system called Traffic Light Information (TLI), which is aimed at reducing stress by letting the driver know the time the light will take to turn green. This features is currently only offered in Las Vegas and on select 20117 Audi A4, Q7 and allroad modes. Audi claims that this is the first Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) in the US.
Vehicles equipped with this system use the onboard 4G LTE data connection receive real-time signal information from the advanced traffic management system that monitors traffic lights. When the car approaches a connected traffic light, the TLI displays the time remaining until the light changes to green on the driver instrument cluster and the head-up-display if the vehicles has it.
Audi of America President, Scott Keogh stated, “V2I applications and services like Traffic Light Information are essential components as we continue to move toward an autonomous future. We applaud the innovative approach of Las Vegas in working with us on V2I as well as on our various piloted driving demonstrations over the past years.”
The company is working with municipalities to prepare their infrastructure for V2I connectivity and bring the service to other cities in the US. Audi says that in the future, it may be possible to integrate this information into the vehicle’s start/stop features and navigation systems. It may also be able to suggest a speed that would help maximise the number of green lights the driver can make in a sequence.