NEWCASTLE: Newcastle University is testing a scheme in which traffic lights can communicate with cars long before they reach them, telling them to slow down or speed up in order to miss red lights.
The same device also allows emergency vehicles to make a request to turn the lights from red to green. The pioneering technology is being tested ahead of trials of driverless vehicles, which would be linked to traffic lights so that fully-automated convoys could pass quickly through urban areas.
The new gadget, which attaches to the windscreen like a Sat Nav, detects traffic lights from around 100 metres away and requests priority so that they switch to green as soon as the car arrives. It also tells drivers of the speed they should be driving to make sure they always hit a green light in the event of traffic.
Currently the ground-breaking system is being trialled by the North East Ambulance patient transport service, who are hoping it will improve safety, create a smoother ride for patients and cut fuel bills.
Although it is only being tested in a small area of Newcastle City Centre, developers from Newcastle University are planning to role it out across the city in coming years, and are hoping to fit goods lorries and taxis with the gadget to ease congestion and cut pollution.
Ambulance driver Tim Mortlock operating the new system in Newcastle (Mike Urwin)
And the Highways Agency is considering a scheme to allow driverless freight vehicles to travel the six miles between Nissan in Sunderland and Port of Tyne at night, using the new technology to pass quickly through a series of green lights.
For the first wave of the pilot, 20 traffic lights have been fitted with the Compass4D technology at key junctions in Newcastle City Centre and fourteen vehicles have been equipped with the priority technology.
Phil Blythe, Professor of Transport at Newcastle University said: “This is the first step towards driverless cars. If we can manage the traffic better and get cars talking to traffic lights and each other on the road, then that is a big step towards automation.
“One of the key things we are going to see over the next few years is platooning, particularly of freight, and when a platoon hits the traffic lights, it will go straight through, to avoid being split up.
“I am pretty certain that we will see driverless cars on the roads within the next decade. We have already got cars which have lane sensors to stop drifting, cruise control, assisted braking and cornering. So the car does a lot of the driving already.”
Ray King, manager of Urban Traffic Management Control centre based at Newcastle University, has been monitoring the new system from a series of CCTV cameras since it launched at the beginning of March.
“We’re trying to make sure that it is not making the traffic worse for other users. There would be no point doing this if it mean the roads were a nightmare for the cars that weren’t fitted with it. But so far it doesn’t seem to be causing any problems.
