Oh my! Are NJ & PA Traffic Lights About to Get a 4th Color?

This is wild.

Researchers at North Carolina State University are suggesting a 4th light on a traffic signal, as part of a bigger traffic flow plan called the "mobile control paradigm." More on that in a second.

That would be so weird, wouldn't it? Traffic lights have only ever been 3 lights.

Obviously, you know the 3 universal colors...red signals you to stop, yellow to slow down, and green means go.

A 4th light, a white light, is being talked about in the technology world as a way to signal us (human drivers) that self-driving cars are around us and are about to take over and control traffic flow.

What? Oh boy. Are we ready for this? I'm not sure I am as a self-proclaimed control freak.

Self-driving cars, otherwise known as AVs (autonomous vehicles), would help ease traffic backups, and keep traffic flowing through intersections, as part of this proposed plan.

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How would the AVs do this? They would communicate wirelessly and be able to communicate its presence with the traffic light.

If there are enough AVs approaching an intersection, it would go into white signal mode.

So, what happens when the white light is illuminated?  We would just follow the car ahead of us, as it will know what to do. Yikes.

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The article states, "If the car in front of you stops, you stop. If the car in front of you goes through the intersection, you go through the intersection."

If there were a majority of human cars approaching an intersection, the traffic lights would be in red, yellow, and green mode.

Read more about this proposed traffic design by clicking here.