Cars – the Next Frontier for Connected Technology
NBCNews recently reported on a new partnership between German automaker BMW and Oregon tech startup Connected Signals, aiming to save commuters time, gas and frustration in traffic. Historically, traffic lights have been largely unpredictable, and a hindrance to anyone making their commute in a motor vehicle. As stated in the article, a number of cities have recently tried to solve this problem by connecting their traffic light system to a regional network. Connected Signals then taps into the network and creates a centralized hub for real-time traffic light data, accessible via their mobile app, EnLighten. The app, which tracks the user’s GPS location, can notify a driver when an upcoming traffic light will change color, warn the driver if they are about to run a red light, and even tell the driver at what speed they should drive to hit as few red lights as possible. BMW is taking this a step further, by integrating the app into their vehicles, supplying it with useful vehicle data like speed and turn signal status, and displaying information in the vehicle dashboard.
In the past few years, people have been talking about a new paradigm in tech termed the “internet of things”, where everyday objects in our lives will become “smart” and connected. The EnLighten app is a perfect example of this manifesting itself in the field of transportation and transportation infrastructure. While this particular technology has the potential to make a decent impact in smoothing traffic flow, it is only a tiny step towards the future of the truly connected car. Currently under development, according to the article, are “so-called Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) systems [that] will allow cars to communicate digitally with one and another and with a highway monitoring system”. V2I networks will allow not only interaction between vehicles and traffic lights, but also with digital “road beacons” and systems that monitor the traffic flow to reduce congestion (like today’s traffic crowdsourcing app Waze). V2V networks, which could either be ad-hoc (decentralized), or centralized around network hubs (e.g cell towers), have the potential for an even greater impact on the way we drive. Cars with wireless communication capability could warn each other of obstacles on the road. If one car brakes, it instantly notifies the cars behind it to avoid rear-end collisions. Wireless communication could potentially even replace traffic lights altogether, if cars learn to negotiate crossing an intersection without ever having to stop. Once the world’s cars and traffic infrastructure are connected together in one massive wireless network, each individual driver (node) could harness the immense amounts of data that is generated to create a much safer, faster, and more pleasant commute.
Sources:
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/autos/your-next-bmw-may-help-you-time-traffic-lights-n407316
https://connectedsignals.com/enlighten.php