Researchers Working on a System for Displaying Traffic Signs on Cars' Dashboards

 Smart Cars  

Virginia Tech Transportation Institute recently unveiled a technology that displays traffic signs on a car's dashboard to let drivers know ahead of time whether they need to stop at an intersection or proceed when no cars are approaching.

I addition to driverless cars, one of the key tools for improving traffic safety in the future could well be connected-vehicle technology, which is being developed by many car makers and research institutes across the globe. This technology is based on vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications, aiming to reduce collisions by allowing vehicles to interact with each other and with different types of infrastructure, so that they can receive real-time information on road and weather conditions, and potential road hazards, which could help prevent injuries and improve traffic flow.

One really innovative idea that could further enhance connected-vehicle technology was recently unveiled by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. It's a technology that displays traffic signs on a car's dashboard, primarily stop and yield signs, in order to let drivers know ahead of time whether they need to stop at an intersection or proceed when no cars are approaching.

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Researchers at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute have created a system that includes a screen mounted inside a vehicle, alerting the driver of what to do when approaching an intersection – if there are no other cars at the intersection, the driver will be able to pass through the intersection and keep driving, and if there are other cars approaching, the driver will be alerted to stop and yield. "The idea is there would be no physical stop or yield signs on the side of the road, but they would be inside the vehicle," said Alexandria Noble of Newark, Delaware, a master's student with the Virginia Tech Charles E. Via Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, who is working with the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.

"While a relatively new area in the transportation realm, adaptive stop/yield signs have the potential to be a long-term solution for not only minimizing traffic problems experienced on increasingly congested roadways, they may also help mitigate negative environmental impacts."

With this type of system, drivers will be able to save a lot of money on gas, and time. They wouldn't have to bring their cars to a complete stop each time they approach an intersection, even if there are no other vehicles near them, which would help ease traffic congestion, in addition to decreased fuel consumption, resulting in reduced air pollution.

Thomas A. Dingus, the director of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and civil and environmental professor at Virginia Tech explained the benefits that an implementation of such a system in all vehicles could bring. "While a relatively new area in the transportation realm, adaptive stop/yield signs have the potential to be a long-term solution for not only minimizing traffic problems experienced on increasingly congested roadways, they may also help mitigate negative environmental impacts," he said.

The technology has been tested at the Virginia Smart Road, with several people between the ages of 18 and 25 and a few drivers over 50, driving cars equipped with small screens on their dashboards that alert the driver by displaying a flashing message saying “stop” or “yield”, or letting the driver know that they can proceed, but it has yet to be tested in real-world traffic situations.

This project is part of Virginia Tech's efforts for developing vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications technology, and it is funded by the United States Department of Transportation.

By Jordan Perch Author Bio - Jordan Perch is an automotive fanatic and “safe driving” specialist. He is a writer for DMV.com, which is a collaborative community designed to help ease the stress and annoyance of “dealing with the DMV”

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