Most drivers lose their rag after 3 secs if others don’t move off when lights go green

The tech has already been tested on a road with eight consecutive traffic lights in Aachen, Germany

Ford has been trialling connected traffic light technology that could automatically go green to offer clearer routes for ambulances, fire engines and police vehicles. 

It says the system could be used to reduce congestion at busy junctions by optimising a car’s speed so as many vehicles as possible can get through a green light.

The tech was tested on a road with eight consecutive traffic lights in Aachen, Germany, and two stretches with three consecutive traffic lights just outside the city, all set up by the project’s partners.

a car equipped with on-board units (for communicating with the infrastructure) and rapid control prototyping hardware (for running the prototype software in the vehicle), acted as an ambulance and passenger vehicle for the different scenarios.

The tech trialled would allow an ambulance to signal to traffic lights when they're approaching so they turn green. Once they pass through the junction, the traffic lights then return to standard operation

The tech trialled would allow an ambulance to signal to traffic lights when they’re approaching so they turn green. Once they pass through the junction, the traffic lights then return to standard operation

For testing an emergency response situation, the test vehicle signalled to the traffic lights to turn the light green. Once the vehicle passed through the junction, the traffic lights returned to standard operation.

For testing daily driving situations, the test vehicle received the timing information for when the traffic lights turned from red to green and green to red. Ford’s Adaptive Cruise Control technology then adapted the vehicle’s speed to help ensure a higher proportion of traffic encountered a green light. 

When the traffic light was red, the vehicle’s speed was reduced well ahead of the junction to time the vehicle’s approach to arrive at the light the moment it turned green, for example from 30 mph to 20 mph.

For vehicles encountering a red light, the technology could still help to minimise harsh braking and the time spent at a standstill. The vehicle received the traffic light information well ahead of the junction and slowed down earlier, helping to reduce congestion.

The communication between vehicles and traffic lights is enabled by C-V2X (Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything) technology, a unified platform that connects vehicles to roadside infrastructure, other vehicles and other road users.

‘Whether it’s a fire engine attending a blaze or an ambulance that is en route to an accident, the last thing anyone wants is for these drivers to be caught up among other vehicles waiting for the lights to change,’ said Martin Sommer, a research engineer from Ford Europe’s automated driving division.