Self-controlling traffic lights to prevent jams

摘要

Self-controlling traffic lights may revolutionise traffic control, saving fuel and reducing travel times and emissions without limiting drivers' mobility, according to Dr Stefan Lammer at the Institute of Transport & Economics of TU Dresden and Professor Dirk Helbing of ETH Zurich.rnThe researchers found it is possible to reduce traffic congestion markedly by rethinking the way traffic flow is controlled. Current thinking is that traffic lights should cycle on and off in a regular and predictable way, but this idea, according to Dr Lammer, is unnecessarily restrictive. Dr Lammer and Professor Helbing gave traffic-light controls simple traffic-responsive operating rules and left them to organise their own on-off schedules.