AutoGuide.com

In-car internet has advantages that go well beyond checking Facebook, with Audi preparing to launch a new technology that will allow cars to interact with traffic lights, saving both time and fuel.

Audi presents its ‘Audi Online’ traffic light information system as a next-gen technology, connecting the car to the traffic light network. When approaching an intersection the Driver Information System (DIS) located in the instrument cluster will inform the driver of the ideal speed in order to reach the intersection during a green light.

If a red light is unavoidable, the system will visually count down the time until the next green light, while interacting with the onboard start-stop system to ensure the engine comes on five seconds before the light turns green.

According to Audi, this new technology could reduce emissions by up to 15 percent and if used in Germany could cut fuel consumption by 900 million liters.

SEE ALSO: Honda Targets Zero Collisions Through New Safety Tech

Showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this year in an A6 model, Audi says the technology is both fully functional and production ready and, “could be fitted to every Audi model in the range subject to the necessary government legislation.”

Practical and legal obstacles have to be overcome first, however, though Audi has said a, “market launch is currently the subject of intense analysis in the United States.”

In addition to the reduction of fuel and emissions, similar car-to-x technologies are viewed as a way to help reduce urban congestion by smoothing out the flow of traffic.

Far from being the lone pioneer in this field, Toyota has already performed tests of an in-car traffic signal alert system while Honda’s ‘Green Wave’ system performs similarly and is part of a larger plan of car communication that is designed to help reduce traffic accidents as well.

GALLERY: Audi Online Traffic Light Information System

Discuss this story at our Audi forum.