IBM Patenting “Intelligent” Street Lights

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Big Blue has filed for a patent to control red, yellow and green.

The method may comprise establishing communications with participating vehicles; responding to a stop status indicated by the traffic signal, further comprising: receiving a position data from each participating vehicles; determining a queue of participating vehicles stopped at the traffic signal; determining a remaining duration of the stop status; sending a stop-engine notification to the list of participating vehicles stopped at the traffic signal when the remaining duration is greater than a threshold of time; responding to a proceed status indicated by the traffic signal, further comprising: sending a start-engine notification to a first vehicle in the queue; calculating an optimal time for an engine of a second vehicle in the queue to start; and sending the start-engine notification to the second vehicle at the optimal time.
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So lets see if I am understanding this correctly, when you pull up to a stop light, if red, it will shut off your engine until it is ready to turn green? Wow that will piss a lot of people off!
 
Cannon_Fodder said:
So lets see if I am understanding this correctly, when you pull up to a stop light, if red, it will shut off your engine until it is ready to turn green? Wow that will piss a lot of people off!
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Unless you have a hybrid :D

But yeah, if i had to manually crank my car after each red light, i would be aggervated
 
i can see this going with the futre of cars we see in movies, you tell your car where you want to go, and it takes you there, this would integrate it with traffic so it knows when to stop and go

i see no reason to kill the engine though, all that starting and stopping, electrice sure, but not todays beasts.
 
Oh one other thing, if your car shuts down at a red light, how the heck are you going to get out of the way for Police, EMP, fire trucks when they need you to?
 
Cannon_Fodder said:
So lets see if I am understanding this correctly, when you pull up to a stop light, if red, it will shut off your engine until it is ready to turn green? Wow that will piss a lot of people off!
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Read the last line of the quote smartass. It starts your car back up in time for you to go through the light.
 
novadude said:
Read the last line of the quote smartass. It starts your car back up in time for you to go through the light.
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I did read it, but depending on the car/truck/tank you are driving it takes more fuel to start the engine then to idle for 30+/- seconds that you might be sitting at that light. As others have said this would be no problem for electric cars.

And thanks for the complement, my wife tells me I have a cute ass, but I think you are the first person to say I have a smart one.
 
k1pp3r said:
Oh one other thing, if your car shuts down at a red light, how the heck are you going to get out of the way for Police, EMP, fire trucks when they need you to?
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Simple, those authorities have privileges to override the operations :)
 
k1pp3r said:
Oh one other thing, if your car shuts down at a red light, how the heck are you going to get out of the way for Police, EMP, fire trucks when they need you to?
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Your not supposed to move when your at a stop light anyways. They will move around you.
 
If your car gets shut down when it is bitterly cold it will cut your heat as well. If your battery is weak it may not start again. If it is extremely hot your A/C will stop. Your car may overheat due to the shutting down of the cooling system. If you are the first car in line does that leave everyone in line stranded until your car can be moved? They would probably get out and beat you for holding them up. Would everyone be forced to get a new car to comply?
 
pfft!
all electric car stuff, how 'bout making them smart enough to know there's nobody coming in the next 60seconds or 1/2 mile and give ya a GREEN for the LEFT FFS!
 
King Icewind said:
Your not supposed to move when your at a stop light anyways. They will move around you.
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Depending on the road you have no choice, Smaller divided highways sometimes all lanes are blocked by cars and they can not get around unless you move
 
Guys, relax. The patent talks about 'participating vehicles'. These would be vehicles designed to benefit from quick stop/start. You're not gonna have some guy from IBM break into your house to steal your car keys so they can fit a black box to your ignition system against your will.

Well, I assume thats the case, unless the world's gone mad while I wasn't looking. :D
 
Raxiel said:
Guys, relax. The patent talks about 'participating vehicles'. These would be vehicles designed to benefit from quick stop/start. You're not gonna have some guy from IBM break into your house to steal your car keys so they can fit a black box to your ignition system against your will.

Well, I assume thats the case, unless the world's gone mad while I wasn't looking. :D
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The thing that worries me is the first city/state that makes this mandatory *looks to California*
 
um yeah... there is no way in hell i am buying a vehical with that technology

Manual trasmission ftw
 
Seems unnecessary to do this.

What-if a hacker finds a way to access this and turns off engine mid way of an intersection while the other light turns green to hit someone.

The method we have now is fine and has been working for years.
 
Scary, scary stuff. The poster above is right, I see California going out of their way to implement a scheme like this in the future.

As a traffic signal related aside, municipalities across the country have been changing the lights in the traffic signal to LED to save energy/money. But it turns out that they don't get warm enough to melt snow/ice off them like the old light bulbs did. So what do they do? Do they put the old school light bulbs back in? No, of course not, that would make sense. Instead, they have hired crews to go out and clean the lights off! Well, THAT'S efficient! :rolleyes:
 
Cannon_Fodder said:
So lets see if I am understanding this correctly, when you pull up to a stop light, if red, it will shut off your engine until it is ready to turn green? Wow that will piss a lot of people off!
Click to expand...

Safety concern, too. What happens when it shuts an 18-wheeler down a bit too late and it dies right in the middle of the intersection? Or really, any vehicle for that matter.
It'd have to involved two way communication and only shut off engines of vehicles already stopped- in which case the question becomes: What's the point?

You'd waste more gas and produce more tranny problems (have to start the car back in "D"?????) than stopping and starting at each light than you'd ever save.
 
How about do more research on building cheaper overpasses. That will save the trees and the polar bears even more. Also save the world from road rage. City kids won't have to spend 3-4 hours a day on some vehicle.
 
weebling1 said:
pfft!
all electric car stuff, how 'bout making them smart enough to know there's nobody coming in the next 60seconds or 1/2 mile and give ya a GREEN for the LEFT FFS!
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Of course if you live in Washington state and are turning left onto a one way street, it's LEGAL to turn against the red after coming to a stop.... And an on ramp that's a one way street is covered by this too.... I LOVE freaking people out by turning onto on ramps against the light after coming to a stop. Why wait if I can complete the turn safely?
 
Bohica69 said:
Of course if you live in Washington state and are turning left onto a one way street, it's LEGAL to turn against the red after coming to a stop.... And an on ramp that's a one way street is covered by this too.... I LOVE freaking people out by turning onto on ramps against the light after coming to a stop. Why wait if I can complete the turn safely?
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Dang that'd be great... Good idea IMO.

Unless it's on high-speed streets you can't see the traffic coming, I'd also say it should be legal to go straight on red, too. Stupid having a light change for no reason with no cars in any direction and having to sit there until it changes back.
IE: The purpose of the red light basically becomes that of a stop sign. With green lights meaning no stopping needed.
 
TexUs said:
Dang that'd be great... Good idea IMO.

Unless it's on high-speed streets you can't see the traffic coming, I'd also say it should be legal to go straight on red, too. Stupid having a light change for no reason with no cars in any direction and having to sit there until it changes back.
IE: The purpose of the red light basically becomes that of a stop sign. With green lights meaning no stopping needed.
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Yeah, blame it on the dumb people. People who crash there car up, but don't take responsibility for anything. That's why our system is excessively careful. Even excess can't save the dumbest.
 
TexUs said:
Dang that'd be great... Good idea IMO.

Unless it's on high-speed streets you can't see the traffic coming, I'd also say it should be legal to go straight on red, too. Stupid having a light change for no reason with no cars in any direction and having to sit there until it changes back.
IE: The purpose of the red light basically becomes that of a stop sign. With green lights meaning no stopping needed.
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But that would make TOO much sense. LOL
Check the laws of your state. As I understand it many allow a left against a red from a one way street to a one way street. Wiki has more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_turn_on_red#Left_turn_on_red
 
Bohica69 said:
But that would make TOO much sense. LOL
Check the laws of your state. As I understand it many allow a left against a red from a one way street to a one way street. Wiki has more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_turn_on_red#Left_turn_on_red
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It would make sense... Really it would. What'd be the downside of it?
Red lights still force people to stop. If it's clear, then they can go on through. If it's busy, then the purpose of the light really doesn't change.

I do expect you might have more red-light "runners" though... People not paying attention and pulling out in front of someone. Of course.......... (see next bit)

Parmenides said:
Yeah, blame it on the dumb people. People who crash there car up, but don't take responsibility for anything. That's why our system is excessively careful. Even excess can't save the dumbest.
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Of course... dumb people are going to be dumb regardless. Pulling out in front of someone on a red light, or a stop sign, really won't make a difference!

Most all safety issues truly don't apply to the safety-aware anyway.
IE, gun safety. Safety-aware people know better than to not put their finger on the trigger, and always point it somewhere else. That's tons better than an actual safety is. Because they're already thinking safe!
Idiots (like Dick Cheny), you can put a safety on their gun and they'll still manage to f*ck it up.
 
TexUs said:
Let me guess... Glock Owner?

I don't disagree that safety starts and ends with the guy behind the trigger, but personally I prefer having an extra safety on my sidearms, hence the reason I got the XD .45 with the optional safety (in addition to the other safety's). Why? Because I want to make absolutely certain the gun only goes off when *I* want it to. A double action sidearm with a two stage trigger can still be made to go off if something gets inside the trigger guard.

Having said that, I'm considering looking into a smaller .XD to carry, which won't have the additional safety, but with the two stage trigger AND the grip safety, I still feel better about it than the Glock. Just my preference.

Back on topic, yea, I'd like to be able to pull up to a red at night, look and go. Fortunately, the lights around here are pretty sensitive and late at night they switch pretty fast, so you never really have to stop, just slow down, coast to the light and go when it turns.
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Bohica69 said:
Because I want to make absolutely certain the gun only goes off when *I* want it to. A double action sidearm with a two stage trigger can still be made to go off if something gets inside the trigger guard.
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Glocks are three stages, so you might double-check your "facts".

And I've never heard of an instance of a Glock going off because something other than a person pulled the trigger... Chances of that happening are so remote anyway it's ridiculous. Only a direct pull will set it off, sideways force won't do it.

Your XD also lacks some additional drop safety features as well, like the safety ramp. So, you're INCREASING chances of screwing up your shot or missing your chance (manual safety off, as well as the hand safety- which unless you've trained yourself well to make sure your hand firmly presses it down... can be a point of failure when you need to drop a killer), while you're also INCREASING chances of injury or death in the true accidents (gun drops). Not a good combination for self defense or safety IMO.

In all reality, a Glock will not go off unless you pull the trigger.

Whereas Glocks have two drop-prevention measures, your XD only has one. So if a snake desides to curl up around my trigger and squeeze it (lol), that'd be the downside to Glock. Whereas simply dropping an XD has much higher chance of setting it off.
Sorry, but dropping a weapon during transport or something is an entirely common scenario that could happen.

So forgive me when I choose the weapon that actually safeguards reality, versus situations that have never happened (I've never heard of one, please provide a link otherwise).

If you can't trust yourself to keep your finger off the trigger unless you're ready to shoot- then you need to be re-evaluating gun ownership. First thing they teach you in any gun glass: unless you're willing and ready to kill the thing you've got it pointed at, don't put your finger on the trigger.

And while a more complex pistol, Glocks are also stupidly easy to clean, 3 peices. I can take it apart in literally 5 seconds. It's the preferred weapon here in the state with the highest Trooper accuracy rate.
 
Sometimes at train lights I turn my engine off or at least "Park" my car. (Usually for those extra long goods trains)
 
This isn't for current vehicles. Hell most hybrids already do this. If designed correctly they can start from the electric motor as they accelerate. This is a patent on that. The end. Also starting your car when it is already warmed up on a modern fuel injected car takes <10 seconds of idling worth of fuel.
 
Seriously people, this patent isn't for today. It's a small gamble of an investment, nothing more - 50 years from now, if it becomes apparent that this is the type of system that will evolve, IBM whips out the patent and rakes in millions. IT only costs $20-30,000 to get a patent, maybe $50,000 for this. The potential returns are huge.
 
http://www.slate.com/id/2192187

Wow, I can't believe how wrong some people are in this thread. If you do some quick googling you will see that turning off your car saves gas, and money. Some bring up other concerns, but for the most part turning of your car at a red light is the "smart" thing to do, concerning fuel savings, carbon savings, car maitenance, etc...
 
Awesomedude said:
http://www.slate.com/id/2192187

Wow, I can't believe how wrong some people are in this thread. If you do some quick googling you will see that turning off your car saves gas, and money. Some bring up other concerns, but for the most part turning of your car at a red light is the "smart" thing to do, concerning fuel savings, carbon savings, car maitenance, etc...
Click to expand...

I takes me one second to move my foot from brake to gas. With some of these crazy lights, seconds matter- you might only get 3 cars through.
If you had to start your vehicle every time then you'd cut that back even more.

I, for one, also don't want my music interrupted just because of some hippie BS light system. Or my navigation system.
 
TexUs said:
Glocks are three stages, so you might double-check your "facts".

And I've never heard of an instance of a Glock going off because something other than a person pulled the trigger... Chances of that happening are so remote anyway it's ridiculous. Only a direct pull will set it off, sideways force won't do it.

Your XD also lacks some additional drop safety features as well, like the safety ramp. So, you're INCREASING chances of screwing up your shot or missing your chance (manual safety off, as well as the hand safety- which unless you've trained yourself well to make sure your hand firmly presses it down... can be a point of failure when you need to drop a killer), while you're also INCREASING chances of injury or death in the true accidents (gun drops). Not a good combination for self defense or safety IMO.

In all reality, a Glock will not go off unless you pull the trigger.

Whereas Glocks have two drop-prevention measures, your XD only has one. So if a snake desides to curl up around my trigger and squeeze it (lol), that'd be the downside to Glock. Whereas simply dropping an XD has much higher chance of setting it off.
Sorry, but dropping a weapon during transport or something is an entirely common scenario that could happen.

So forgive me when I choose the weapon that actually safeguards reality, versus situations that have never happened (I've never heard of one, please provide a link otherwise).

If you can't trust yourself to keep your finger off the trigger unless you're ready to shoot- then you need to be re-evaluating gun ownership. First thing they teach you in any gun glass: unless you're willing and ready to kill the thing you've got it pointed at, don't put your finger on the trigger.

And while a more complex pistol, Glocks are also stupidly easy to clean, 3 peices. I can take it apart in literally 5 seconds. It's the preferred weapon here in the state with the highest Trooper accuracy rate.
Click to expand...

Ask and you shall receive:
http://www.thegunzone.com/mos/ad.html was it an AD or ND?

Your happy with your choice, great. I respectfully disagree however. As far as gun safety I was taught the FIRST rule of gun safety is: All guns are ALWAYS loaded. The THIRD rule is as you said, don't put your finger on the trigger until ready to fire.
 
Bohica69 said:
Ask and you shall receive:
http://www.thegunzone.com/mos/ad.html was it an AD or ND?

Your happy with your choice, great. I respectfully disagree however. As far as gun safety I was taught the FIRST rule of gun safety is: All guns are ALWAYS loaded. The THIRD rule is as you said, don't put your finger on the trigger until ready to fire.
Click to expand...

And I don't think you'd disagree that was a freak accident...
 
TexUs said:
And I don't think you'd disagree that was a freak accident...
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Here at the Carter Lake police station, a deputy shot a deputy. Wasn't at the range, either. Office area.

I don't think there ever was a full explanation of what occurred.
 
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