A White Traffic Light Color; Inovation Or Really Stupid?

A proposal from North State Carolina University suggests adding a fourth traffic signal to traffic lights to help with congestion as the world transitions to self-driving cars. I would have rolled my eyes a month ago and thought it was stupid. After getting a car with AI-assisted driver features, I'm not sure the concept is so ridiculous. However, I'm still skeptical that it will help congestion if humans are behind the wheel.

Top Gear reports that North State Carolina University researchers are investigating ways to keep roads less congested as the transition from manual to fully autonomous traffic occurs.

While self-driving cars today follow the lead of existing manually-driven vehicles because their numbers are minuscule, researchers believe that as more self-driven cars hit the roads, that might not be the best way of choreographing these smart vehicles, especially at traffic lights.

They propose adding an extra signal to traffic lights; they used a white light, but it can be any color that isn't red, amber, or green that would indicate to the lead self-driving car that it's safe to begin a convoy and that this would get more self-driving vehicles through the intersection.

The light isn't designed to stop manually driven cars from moving. Researchers say they can join the convoy, provided they maintain a steady pace, follow the lead of autonomous vehicles, and don't try to overtake them.

If you're anything like me, you're probably thinking, what is all this nonsense? Forget about it. That was me until I got a new to me vehicle that came with some AI-assisted driving capabilities.

It's nothing close to a self-driving vehicle, yet on the highway with cruise control engaged, it's smart enough to slow the vehicle to a cruising speed that keeps me safely behind the car in front of me while making those minor steering adjustments to keep me centered in the lane. This is a four-year-old vehicle, and I've run into a couple of folks who have cars that are a couple of years older and have the same functionality.

This is in addition to the other safety features that have been around for a while, like collision avoidance, lights, and warning sounds if someone is in your blind spot, and the convenient backup camera that is now standard and lights that automatically switch between high and low beams.

So, yes, you could count me among those who think these lights could be a good innovation. However, I still have a healthy dose of skepticism about how the average driver of a manual vehicle will approach them. Can they be counted on to go with the flow, literally?

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Will the meathead with the coal rolling pickup back off the acceleration and not be the first guy to the light? Or the first guy to gun his truck when the light goes green? Will the lead foot be patient enough not to want to outrun the self-driving convoy? What about the blue-hair going 20 miles slower than he or she should be?

I've become a little more comfortable with the concept of self-driving cars. I'm less comfortable with the idea of humans letting AI drivers dictate how they drive. I just don't think every licensed driver has that level of maturity or patience.