Ford has been maximizing its technologies so its vehicles can provide assistance in emergency situations, including the introduction of the F-150 Lightning's Intelligent Backup Power. Now, the Blue Oval company wants to create a continuous traffic flow for emergency vehicles with its Smart Traffic Lights technology.
Ford's Smart Traffic Lights
Under the New Mobility Aachen-Düsseldorf (ACCorD) project, Ford is developing the Smart Traffic Lights technology on emergency vehicles so that traffic lights will turn green as they approach. This way, emergency vehicles can easily respond without encountering travel delays.
The technology is being tested in Aachen, Germany, on a road with eight consecutive traffic lights and two stretches with three consecutive traffic lights just outside the city. After the emergency vehicle has passed through a junction, the traffic lights go back to standard operation.
“Whether it’s a fire engine attending a blaze or an ambulance that is en route to an accident, the last thing anyone wants is for these drivers to be caught among other vehicles waiting for the lights to change,” said Ford Europe Automated Driving Research Engineer Martin Sommer.
Moreover, Ford is looking to integrate the Smart Traffic Lights into its passenger vehicles through its Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC). The Ford Kuga is used as the test vehicle in developing this technology.
Ford Kuga
The aim is to assist Ford vehicles in smoothly approaching a traffic light. When a traffic light is red, vehicles will smartly slow down to time their acceleration once the light goes green. All of these are made possible via the C-V2X (Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything) technology, a unified platform that connects vehicles to roadside infrastructure and other road users.
“Exchanging data between cars, emergency vehicles, and traffic lights in real-time using the latest mobile technology makes road traffic safer and more efficient,” said Vodafone Germany Consumers Services and Innovation Director Michael Reinartz.
“Intelligent traffic light control helps save lives when every second counts and also reduces unnecessary waiting times and cuts CO2 emissions,” he added.
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