This site may earn chapter commissions from the links on this page. Terms of use.

Audi'due south new Traffic Calorie-free Information gives drivers a inaugural until the light turns green. It lets you maximize the 15 to 120 seconds while you're stopped. The car gets an accurate signal via its telematics module and displays the time-to-green in the instrument console and caput-up brandish. Audi says this is the start commercial application of V2I, or vehicle-to-infrastructure, communications.

Audi suggests the time tin can be used for checking out the car (gauges all in the green? seat belt snug?), checking a child in a second row kid or baby seat, or even (wink, wink) checking your email or text letters — though in most states information technology's not legal to practice that, even when you lot're stopped in traffic for an extended period. For those all the same engaged in the youthful pastime of driver and passengers hopping out and exchanging places (the so-chosen Chinese fire drill), at present everyone knows how much time they accept left, though the commuter all the same has to recollect to put the transmission in park.

Traffic-light-info-2016-audi-news-tlio-3

How it works

The US has 300,000 traffic signals — some endemic by the authorities, some past private companies contracted to run and service the signals. Most are now net-connected past virtue of being centrally controlled to aid traffic flow. Tapping into the information from multiple information sources with different access protocols and making the information bachelor in useful ways has been a claiming that'southward now on its way to beingness solved.

AudiTrafficIPcounterAudi says its technology partner, Traffic Technology Services, does the true cat-herding task of accumulation and normalizing the real-time information on the status of each traffic light and how long until each goes light-green. Over the Audi Connect Prime telematics service, the car reports where it is via the on-board GPS receiver and its direction of travel, and gets back info on the calorie-free's status. The information appears in both the instrument console and, if the Audi is so equipped, in the head-upwardly brandish.

To keep drivers from trying to get a jump on the light turning green and perchance getting T-boned by a scarlet light runner, the countdown timer (right, showing 8 seconds to dark-green), doesn't display the last 3 seconds.

What the driver tin do: More than the law allows

Audi unveiled Traffic Light Information at a Bay Area briefing last week. Audi was conspicuously struggling for legal applications (bank check on the well-being of the babe-in-back, check fuel level, yada yada). The unspoken idea was: What a groovy time to check my texts. Never mind that 43 of 50 states take broadly written anti-texting laws that don't allow for things like this, that let the commuter know how long until the light turns back to green.

Pom Malhotra, GM of connected vehicles at Audi, told Business Insider that Traffic Light Information "allows your mind to relax and basically, say, 'All right. I accept some time here. I tin be doing other things instead of readying myself to spring on the accelerator.'" As for checking texts, eastward-mails, or the recent callers list, he added, "Past no means practice we encourage utilise of smartphones behind the wheel, but if at that place'southward a time to do it, it's when you lot're stopped."

This sounds similar the laws in many states that say there can be no video brandish operating in the forepart seat when the machine is being driven. That puts in legal limbo the Mercedes-Benz Split View display, which is polarized and so the driver and passenger see alternating pixels, meaning the driver view is say navigation, while but the rider sees any video display.

news-2017-audi-a4-allroad-quattro-4

Fuel-saving red light information in the future

Traffic Low-cal Data for now provides the ruby light inaugural and besides a countdown until the right goes ruby-red, then the driver knows to coast into the traffic light and salvage fuel. In the future with semi-apart driven cars, if the automobile knows it can't make the next light while information technology'due south still green, it could gradually slow downwards to conserve fuel. Some other possibility is the motorcar could tell the driver to become a little faster to actually brand the light; it would exist interesting to see if the automobile suggests going 45 in a 40 zone will get you through on greenish, or if information technology fails to practice calculations for other than the posted limit.

Audi says Traffic Low-cal Information will exist on three 2017 models for starters: the Q7 full-size SUV, the A4 compact sedan, and the A4 AllRoad (crossover) with compatibility dating dorsum to June ane, 2016 production. Audi says information technology will cover 7 US cities past the stop of 2016, and volition have half of its vehicles equipped with TLI by the terminate of 2017.