German truck and bus giant trialling technology to anticipate green lights.
With dense city traffic becoming more complex all the time, MAN is researching ways of using technology to minimise fuel use and maximise safety.
One of its projects involves what MAN calls the Green Wave Assistant.
The aim is to optimise the use of the green traffic light phases on main inner-urban routes to save on fuel and time.
“Anticipatory driving saves on fuel,” the company points out.
“It takes a large amount of energy to get a 40-tonne vehicle from a standstill up to a speed of 50 km/h.
“Frequent stopping and starting in inner-city streets diminishes the high efficiency of modern commercial vehicles.
“You can save a lot of fuel by getting the vehicle to move at exactly the right speed so as to make it unnecessary to keep stopping and pulling away.”
With the Green Wave Assistant technology, the traffic lights system wirelessly transmits its switching intervals to the vehicle via a server.
The vehicle then takes this data and automatically chooses its own most appropriate speed to anticipate a green light.
The technology is to be trialled in Düsseldorf and Kassel as part of a European traffic management initiative involving more than 30 companies, universities, research institutes and cities.