Ford Shows A Terrifying Future Without Traffic Lights

No one likes being stuck waiting at a red light, especially when there’s no traffic coming in the other direction.

Noting that people spend an average of two days waiting at traffic lights every year, Ford is exploring ways to eliminate them altogether. This is a pretty scary idea and the video released by the company shows it would put cars in close proximity to each other while traveling through intersections.

Dubbed Intersection Priority Management (IMP), the system uses vehicle-to-vehicle communications technology to coordinate with other vehicles in the vicinity. If two vehicles are approaching the same intersection, the system will display the ideal speed to pass though the intersection so they don’t hit each other.

This effectively means neither car has to stop. Besides saving time, Ford says the technology could save fuel as drivers would no longer be stuck idling at red lights. The technology also promises to improve safety as nearly 60 percent of accidents occur at intersections.

While the system sounds pretty radical, Ford says they got the idea from how people negotiate their way through busy crowds. As the company explained, people slow down or speed up to avoid bumping into one another but don’t stop moving forward. Of course, when people do collide it’s a lot less serious then when two vehicles hit one another.

The system envisions people driving the cars, but Ford says the same technology could be applied to autonomous vehicles. That would likely be the safer option as the technology currently relies on people reading the dashboard and then following the car’s instructions.

The IMP system was demonstrated this week in Milton Keynes as part of the UK’s Autodrive program which focuses on “taking self-driving and connected car technologies from the test track to the streets.”