An app that tells you when the traffic light ahead is going to change
But it only works in nine cities.
How would you react to a countdown clock in your car, telling you exactly how much time you have before the light you’re approaching changes to yellow?
That’s one feature of a new smartphone app, adapted for BMWs, called EnLighten, which tells you when the traffic light you’re approaching or waiting at is about to change. The app collects municipal data and was built by a company called Connected Signals.
“A few seconds before the light changes, your phone sounds like a bell,’’ Matt Ginsberg, CEO of Connected Signals told Boston.com. “Whatever you were doing, fighting with your kids in backseat, it lets you know you need to stop because you have to drive. It aims to make you less distracted, not more.’’
Until recently, the app gave audio instructions out of safety concerns, Slate writes. But now, a handful of BMW drivers with certain car models can plug their iPhones into their cars’ consoles and use EnLighten to see traffic signal data on the vehicle’s display in real time.
Dave Buchko, corporate communications manager at BMW, told Boston.com that the automaker had been looking at connected car systems like EnLighten for several years, working to find ways to bring information into the car in a way that was meaningful to the driver.
“When we saw what Connected Signals was doing with traffic signal data, our engineers recognized the potential,’’ Buchko said. He stressed that BMW’s decision to use visual cues would not distract drivers, saying, “The visual cue on the screen offers minimal information that can be processed at a quick glance. What appears on the BMW iDrive screen is much pared down from what is seen on the smartphone app.’’
Buchko added that in the development of integrating third-party apps, BMW engineers spent a lot of time adapting, not simply replicating, the app so that it could be used safely in a BMW or MINI without drivers ever having to look at, or even touch, the phone.
The EnLighten app shows the current status of the traffic light in front of the car in real time, as well as a countdown to when the signal will change. Connected Signals was able to create EnLighten by partnering with cities to gather real-time traffic signal data, translating different manufacturers’ signal data to one common format.
As Slate points out, studies by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have shown “eliminating or minimizing stop-and-go driving could result in significant energy savings, even under less-than-optimal driving conditions,’’ with ideal driving behavior creating fuel savings of over 30 percent.
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But do drivers really need another disturbance, even if it could improve traffic flow?
Connected Signals said distracting drivers is the last thing they hope to do with their app: “We alert drivers to possible dangers without distracting them,’’ their website states. “For example, EnLighten tells drivers stopped at red lights whether they have time to catch their breath for a few seconds, change the radio station, or pick up the papers that fell on the floor.’’
But Ginsberg added that Connected Signals played no role in BMW’s decision to alert drivers with visual cues. “We are sort of agnostic there,’’ he said. “From our perspective, we are a data company and want to provide all customers and users with the best information we can. Some carmakers want it audio and some visually, and we support all of that. I’m way too much of a nerd to feel strongly about user interface issues.’’
Enlighten is also working on rolling out another service that would warn drivers when they (or other connected cars) are about to run a red light.
Currently, EnLighten only works in nine cities, including two in Oregon, three in Utah and Greater Las Vegas. Traffic coordination information isn’t publicly available, so Connected Signals has to make its case in municipalities to access it.
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