Can Honda Prevent Traffic Jams?

Honda is developing technology to predict and prevent roadway congestion so that traffic jams become a thing of the past.

The automaker partnered with the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Tokyo to develop a system based on acceleration and deceleration behaviors in drivers, and Honda hopes to use the results to detect patterns that lead to traffic jams. Intense acceleration and braking inputs are one of the root causes of traffic congestion, and they create a domino effect, according to Honda. The pattern of one vehicle influences the pattern of neighboring vehicles, which can then initiate traffic.

If the system detects that a driver's behavior may cause a traffic jam, it alerts the driver via a color-coded display screen. Activating an adaptive cruise control system that monitors and maintains distance between vehicles also helps.

"The test results demonstrated that the system helped increase the average speed by approximately 23 percent and improved fuel efficiency by approximately 8 percent of trailing vehicles," Honda said in a statement.

The next step is to try the system on public roads. The automaker plans to conduct real-world tests of the technology in Italy and Indonesia next month.

Comments

Spread the jobs and businesses out evenly in urban areas where the commute distance is no more than 10 miles from most residential areas and problem solved.

So, a 'color coded display' will change commuting forever? I'm obviously skeptical, as innatentive drivers, rubberneckers, and reckless lane changers will continue to further clog the overburdened interstates.

Interesting website on traffic congestion:

http://trafficwaves.org/

[I am NOT the author of the website. I ran across it a few years ago and found it interesting.]

"The test results demonstrated that the system helped increase the average speed by approximately 23 percent and improved fuel efficiency by approximately 8 percent of trailing vehicles," Honda said in a statement.
Take that, all you people who drive 20 miles under the speed limit to "save gas" and cause accidents.

If people would do these three things it would help immensely:
1. Accelerate briskly away from stop lights to get traffic moving.
2. Stay out of the left lane except to pass.
3. Don't tap your brakes for no reason.
We don't know fancy computers and software in our cars, we just need better drivers!

"need" not "know", DUH!

The jerks who cause the traffic won't listen to this system anyway. They're the idiotic 20-something guys who change lanes frequently, who don't use turn signals, who refuse to merge before the merge point and then force merges causing swerves/hostility...they're the assholes that are causing the traffic.