Audi of America has equipped more than 600 intersections in the District of Columbia with its vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) technology to support the ‘time-to-green’ feature in the auto maker’s in-car Traffic Light Information (TLI) system.
The deployment of the smart city technology in Washington DC connects the US capital’s traffic signal network to the in-car TLI, allowing select Audi models to communicate directly with traffic signals, with the ‘time-to-green’ feature showing the driver how many seconds until a red light turns green.
Audi, in collaboration with Traffic Technology Services (TTS), originally launched the TLI system in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2016, and the partners have now brought the service to six other cities, including areas of Dallas and Houston (Texas), Palo Alto and Arcadia (California), Portland (Oregon), and Denver (Colorado). With the addition of Washington, more than 1,600 intersections across the USA currently support the TLI service.
TLI, an Audi connect PRIME feature available on select 2017 and 2018 models, enables the car to communicate with the infrastructure in certain cities and metropolitan areas across the USA. When one of these Audi models approaches a connected traffic light, it receives real-time signal information from the traffic management system that monitors traffic lights via the onboard 4G LTE data connection.
When the light is red, the TLI feature will display the time remaining until the signal changes to green in the instrument cluster in front of the driver or in the head-up display (if equipped). The ‘time-to-green’ information is intended to help reduce stress by letting the driver know approximately how much time remains before the light changes.
The TLI can also help to reduce emissions by encouraging the driver to switch off the engine while waiting for lights to change. Future iterations of V2I technology could include integration within the vehicle’s start/stop function, Green Light Optimized Speed Advisory (GLOSA), optimized navigation routing, and other predictive services. All of these services are designed to help reduce congestion and enhance mobility on crowded roadways.
“We continue to be an industry leader in connectivity and mobility solutions,” said Scott Keogh, president, Audi of America. “Not only do V2I technologies like TLI help to reduce driver stress, they are also essential infrastructure developments as we continue toward an automated future.”
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser commented, “This initiative represents the kind of innovation that is critical for us to advance the traffic safety goals of Vision Zero. We look forward to building on this, and similar partnerships, as we continue to build a smarter DC.”
