So long, red lights?

In the not-too-distant future, when all the cars on the roads drive themselves, traffic and traffic lights won’t be necessary. Americans, who currently spend 7 billion hours and 3 billion gallons of extra fuel a year sitting in traffic, will have to find new excuses for being late. “Our cities are very congested and a lot of that congestion happens at traffic lights,” said Ardalan Vahidi, an associate professor of mechanical engineering in the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Science at Clemson University. “If we can reduce that congestion and harmonize the flow of traffic through traffic lights, we can contribute to more efficient, cleaner cities where driving will also be more comfortable.”Ali Reza Fayazi, who recently graduated from Clemson University with a doctoral degree in mechanical engineering, has created a way to facilitate that harmony and he’s tested it on a closed track where real cars interacted with simulated cars. Autonomous cars of the future promise smoother traffic flows by communicating with each other, but cars talking amongst themselves won’t eliminate traffic problems. For that, cars and intersections also have to talk with each other, said Vahidi.

A new report from the motor club AAA reveals that the majority of U.S. drivers seek autonomous technologies in their next vehicle, but they continue to fear the fully self-driving car. Despite the prospect that autonomous vehicles will be safer, more efficient and more convenient than their human-driven counterparts, three-quarters of U.S. drivers report feeling afraid to ride in a self-driving car, and only 10 percent report that they’d actually feel safer sharing the roads with driverless vehicles. As automakers press forward in the development of autonomous vehicles, AAA urges the gradual, safe introduction of these technologies to ensure that American drivers are informed, prepared and comfortable with this shift in mobility.