A New Color Could Be Added to Utah Traffic Lights

Improving Traffic with Smart Cars 

Improving traffic flows is always important for city planners. People are hired to figure out how to get commuters where they are going safely without a lot of backups. With self-driving and automated vehicles becoming a reality, this opens up new possibilities for moving traffic. 

One proposal looks at computers at intersections that could communicate with the computers running automated vehicles. This would give real-time information to make traffic flow at its best. 

Adding Another Light to Traffic Lights 

As we head into a future with smart cars sharing the road with the current drivers, some think there will be a need to add another color to the traffic lights. There would still be red, green and yellow along with a new white color. What would white mean? 

The traditional colors would act the same for people driving with red meaning stop, green meaning go, and yellow meaning floor it. However, the white would turn on when there were automated vehicles in the intersections. 

White Communicates with Smart Vehicles 

The white would signal a computer at the intersection to send information to the automated cars to optimize the flow of vehicles. If you are driving and see the white signal turn on, it would mean you should follow the automated vehicle in front of you through the intersection. 

Read More: The Truth About Barefoot Driving Laws in Utah

This may seem confusing, but basically you would be trusting the information being relayed to get your car through in the quickest way possible. This is still in the proposal stage but with how fast technology grows, it could happen sooner than we think.