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This article comes from the official account of Wechat: SF Chinese (ID:kexuejiaodian), author: SF

Once this extra signal light is on, it shows that self-driving cars have gained the upper hand in the traffic flow at busy intersections.

/ tr. by Jason Goodyear (Jason Goodyer)

Editor | Liu Jiayu

According to simulations by scientists at North Carolina State University, adding an additional signal to the traffic light to show when self-driving cars dominate traffic will help ease traffic jams.

How does the four-light system work? This four-light system operates in the same way as the current three-light system-red indicates stop, yellow indicates transition, and green indicates departure. However, if the system detects that the self-driving car near the intersection exceeds the threshold, it will trigger a white light, covering the original traffic light system.

Once the white light is on, human drivers will understand that the current self-driving cars have exceeded the threshold at this intersection. At this point, any car that is not self-driving only needs to follow the car in front. If the car in front stops, they stop; if the car in front passes the intersection, they follow. Self-driving cars do not need to "look" at white lights, because white lights also communicate wirelessly with self-driving cars.

When the white light goes out, the traffic light system takes over the responsibility of traffic management.

Is it necessary to set a white light? "We came up with the concept of a 'white light phase' for traffic junctions, which takes advantage of the computing power of self-driving cars," said Ali Hajbabaie, a scientist at North Carolina State University and a member of the research team. We believe that it is very important to use white traffic lights at intersections because it can tell human drivers what is going on so that they know what to do when they approach the intersection. Moreover, it needs to be clear that the 'white light' is not necessarily white, the important thing is that the driver can clearly identify the signal. "

Through computer simulations, scientists have found that traffic congestion improves slightly when only 10% of vehicles at intersections are self-driving cars. As the proportion of self-driving cars increases, congestion will further improve.

"when the intersection is in the white light stage, even if only 10% of the vehicles are self-driving cars, traffic delays will still be reduced." For example, when 10% of vehicles are self-driving cars, delays are reduced by 3%; when 30% of vehicles are self-driving cars, delays are reduced by 10.7%. "

Although the era of self-driving has not yet come, the implementation of this traffic management method is not difficult, and only minor adjustments are needed to the traffic management system and the related software of self-driving cars. (translated by Ding Yi)

References:

Https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/fourth-white-traffic-light-congestion/

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