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Traffic Light F-PACE 1

The End of Traffic Lights

 

Imagine a future where your autonomous car smoothly drives you, without stopping at all, directly to your destination and parks immediately. Journeys will be more efficient, faster and stress-free. This is a future that's becoming reality thanks to Jaguar Land Rover innovation.

Traffic Jams

Future cities will be free from traffic jams as cars flow freely. That dream is becoming a reality as Jaguar Land Rover pioneers connected technology called V2X (Vehicle-to-Infrastructure).

Connected technology will link the vehicle to everything around it, allowing seamless, free flowing traffic that will pave the way for self-driving vehicles.

A Jaguar F-PACE has already been connected to traffic lights using a V2X system called Green Light Optimal Speed Advisory (GLOSA). This tells the driver what speed needs to be maintained to avoid stopping at a red light. By offering this information, a journey can be steadier with fewer stops and starts. This will mean more fuel-efficient driving, less brake and tyre wear, plus a smoother ride overall.

Another step in this process has been to connect cars via the internet so they can talk to each other. This allows a car approaching a junction to know where an out-of-sight car on the intersecting road is positioned. This system, called Intersection Collision Warning (ICW) alerts drivers if it's unsafe to proceed. That means the two cars should be able to find the perfect speed to pass each other without needing to stop, making junction passing faster and safer.

This is part of the Advanced Driver Assistance (ADAS) features which will allow future cars to know their surroundings far better, beyond line of sight. That could mean alerts for other situations like ice on the road, bumps or even when it’s safe to overtake a slow-moving vehicle.

A dedicated system, called Emergency Vehicle Warning, has also been developed to alert drivers when a fire engine, police car or ambulance is approaching. This should not only help to make the roads safer for drivers but could help free the flow of traffic to aid emergency services in transit too.

 

THIS CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY WILL RADICALLY REDUCE THE TIME WE WASTE AT TRAFFIC LIGHTS.

Oriol Quintana-Morales
Jaguar Land Rover Connected Technology Research Engineer

Ending Traffic Accidents

Jaguar Land Rover has also been working on how to end these near-perfect journeys more efficiently. This is done by saving time when parking by providing real-time information on available spaces. The result should be an ability to drive directly to a spot, without stopping, so you can pull right in and step straight out.

Oriol Quintana-Morales, Jaguar Land Rover connected technology research engineer, said: "This cutting-edge technology will radically reduce the time we waste at traffic lights. It has the potential to revolutionise driving by creating safe, free-flowing cities that take the stress out of commuting.

“Our research is motivated by the chance to make future journeys as comfortable and stress-free as possible for all our customers." These systems are in the trial stage as part of a £20 million government-funded project, UK Autodrive, which has helped accelerate the development of Jaguar Land Rover’s future self-driving and connected technology.

Britain’s biggest car maker is working on connected technology as part of its pledge to deliver zero accidents, zero congestion and zero emissions, paving the way for self-driving vehicles.

 

Read more about our Autonomous Future HERE