The first traffic light in the world was placed at the corner of Euclid Boulevard and East 105th Streetth in Cleveland on August 5, 1914. Scientists around the world, as well as chip and software manufacturers are trying to develop smart traffic lights that will allow traffic to flow more smoothly at intersections, with the help of communication between vehicles and other vehicles as well as with the infrastructure
The first traffic light in the world was placed 101 years ago today at the corner of Euclid Boulevard and East 105th Street on August 5, 1914.
אתר "Today is in history" he explains Because in the early days of the automobile industry, navigating America's highways was a chaotic experience, with pedestrians, bicycles, horses, and streetcars competing with cars for the right of way.
The situation was somewhat eased with the gradual disappearance of horse-drawn carriages, but even before the First World War it was clear that a set of rules had to be established to allow the flow of traffic and reduce the number of road accidents.
In the book "Highways to Heaven The AUTO Biography of America" by Christopher Finch, he notes that the first traffic island was established in San Francisco in 1907, driving on the left became standard in American cars in 1908, the first dividing line between The tracks appeared in 1911 in Michigan, and the first "No Left Turn" sign was posted in Buffalo, New York in 1916.
"Finch points out that there is a dispute as to who is responsible for developing the first traffic light. A device placed in London in 1868 contained two signal arms stretched across to indicate stop, and at an angle of 45% to indicate "caution". In 1912, a policeman from Salt Lake City placed a handmade wooden box containing red and green lights on top of a pole, with the wires that carried electric current to the lights connected to the box above the fixture and from there to the electrical grid. However, apparently, the credit for the invention of the traffic light goes to Garrett Morgan who invented a signaling system to direct traffic in the form of the letter T, he registered this invention as a patent in 1923, and later sold the patent to the General Electric Company.
Despite the greater exposure to Morgan's invention, the system installed in Cleveland on August 5, 1914 is considered the first traffic light. The traffic light was built on the basis of the invention of James Hoge (Hoge) who in 1918 registered the patent No. 1,251,666 "urban traffic control system". It contained four pairs of red and green lights that were used as "go" or stop markers, each of which was placed on one street corner. The system was activated manually using a switch set up in a control structure, and the system was designed so that it would be impossible to cause conflicting signals to exist."
In an article Hogg published in the Cleveland Automobile Club's "The Motorist" magazine in August 1914, he writes: "This system may revolutionize the way traffic is handled on congested city streets if there is widespread adoption of the technology."
Smart traffic lights and smart infrastructure
However, the days of this important invention may be numbered, in the future it will be possible to control traffic at intersections by way of communication between the cars - when the cars will be autonomous and maybe even before, and the infrastructure - the road, the parking spaces and the traffic lights.
Communication between the cars can detect a potential collision between vehicles even before the drivers notice it, when it is sometimes too late. Communication between the cars and the infrastructure - including the traffic lights, could allow, for example, to adjust the speed of the cars so that they pass through a green light.
This future was recently described by Nir Sasson, CEO of AutoTalks At the meeting of the Israeli chip club who dealt with the smart car.
"Half a second of warning can save 80% of accidents" says Sasson. All that is needed is simply for the cars to talk to each other and to the infrastructure, even before the autonomous car phase, and it can even be added to existing vehicles."
"If the vehicles exchange information with each other even before the drivers actually see the other car, it can help because the problem today is that when we recognize at the last fraction of a second that a collision is about to occur, the information was already available a few seconds before. All you have to do is pick it up. It is possible to communicate mutually between vehicles and other vehicles, between vehicles and the environment (for example traffic lights), between vehicles and motorcycles and bicycles and even to identify pedestrians. Chain accidents can also be prevented - because when we know that someone in the line of cars in front of us has stopped, we can brake safely."
"Contact with the traffic light will be able to give us an opinion on how fast to drive to reach the next green traffic light. It is possible, for example, to open the traffic axis for emergency vehicles that are notified of their presence through the communication system.
According to Sasson, "there is no car manufacturer today that is not working on developing a system that will involve the vehicles and the infrastructure, and starting in 2019 or 2020 almost every new car will use this technology, but what about the existing cars and motorcycles not to mention the pedestrians".
AutoTalks started in European highway networks with systems that are able to communicate with cars moving at a speed of 200 km/h and provide the information about the vehicle's location. For this purpose, WIFI technology has been upgraded so that it can operate with high mobility.
Virtual traffic lights
But that's not all, in the future, when all cars will be autonomous, there will be no need for traffic lights at all.
Sustainable America website It is reported that Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh established the initiative Traffic21 . It is a multidisciplinary research initiative whose "goal is to design, test, deploy infrastructure and evaluate information and communication technology-based solutions to address the problems of the Pittsburgh area's transportation system.
As part of the Traffic21 project, Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute has developed smart traffic lights that use cameras to sense the volume of traffic at an intersection, and technology to adjust signal timing to encourage smooth flow of traffic at intersections. The result is less time waiting at traffic lights, less fuel wastage and of course less carbon emissions.
The developers conducted a pilot test along Penn Boulevard in Pittsburgh, and they report a 40% reduction in wait times at traffic lights, a 26% reduction in travel time and a 21% reduction in vehicle emissions.
However, Carnegie Mellon people did not stop at the physical traffic lights. Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University have designed a system they call "virtual traffic lights" that can make physical traffic lights redundant.
The basic idea of the virtual traffic lights works like this: when a car approaches an intersection it transmits data, such as location and speed, to other nearby cars. The virtual system processes the information flowing from all the cars in the area. With the help of a shift leading car, she determines the personal signal of each driver. "Instead of seeing a red or green light at a traffic light hanging at an intersection, the driver will be able to see the signal on his dashboard and stop or drive as soon as possible."
In the same topic on the science website:
3 תגובות
The most important thing is saving lives.
There will still be traffic lights for pedestrians
And I wonder what will happen with cyclists. Maybe they will finally be forbidden to be on the road.
Another question is motorcycles, I have a hard time imagining an autonomous motorcycle
It would be wise to take the male symbol off the traffic lights first. There is nothing wrong with color alone.