Are you going to make that green light? A new, Kitchener

Are you going to make that green light? A new, Kitchener-made traffic light technology has the answer

New traffic light technology is a stepping stone to autonomous driving, according to Miovision

If you've ever found yourself second guessing whether you should speed up to make a green light, a new traffic light technology in Kitchener may help.

Kitchener-based company Miovision, a global intelligence transportation system vendor, launched vehicle to everything (V2X) in the city a few months ago.

It's a technology that connects traffic light information to cars, and lets drivers know when a light is going to be red or green by displaying a traffic light icon on the vehicle’s dashboard.

“Knowing what the signal is doing reduces your stress level dramatically … I know I don't need to rush because it's not going to do me any good,” said Thomas Bauer, the vice president of V2X at Miovision.

The traffic icon provides a countdown to green, the speed a driver must stay at to make a green light and a warning about when the light will turn red. Bauer says if a driver is going over the speed limit, the display will disappear.

The countdown to a green light will disappear four seconds before the light changes, “just to make sure that you are now looking out the window,” said Bauer.

He says the technology is meant as a driving assist for now, although it's a stepping stone toward autonomous driving.

Bauer says the technology offers both safety and environmental benefits. He says it’s especially valuable for heavy vehicles.

“They have a much longer braking distance. For them to know in advance if they're going to make a signal or not, this can be life or death.”

Bauer says knowing when to stop allows vehicles to save on fuel consumption, because they have more information on when to slow down for a traffic light.

Miovision started out by counting cars to help with transportation planning, and expanded to emergency vehicle pre-emption, which modifies the traffic signal to allow emergency vehicle or public transit through an intersection.

Now the company has launched V2X in Kitchener, which allows data from traffic lights to flow into vehicles over a cellular network.

“Kitchener is one of these cities in Canada where we have most of our equipment deployed. It's now available, I would say about 90 per cent of the intersections here,” said Bauer.

According to the Region of Waterloo, Miovision technology has been connected to traffic lights across the region since 2020.

In an emailed statement to CBC News, the region says the system uses cameras and other detection devices that are connected to the traffic signal controller.

Data is retrieved about cyclists, pedestrians and vehicles to "optimize the operation of the traffic signals,” said the statement, in part.

Kitchener-made tech connects cars to traffic light grid

With the new V2X technology, Bauer says instead of just collecting data about cars and intersections, the cars will be able to also receive data from the traffic lights.

"This is basically the reverse data flow. Instead of into the signal, it's from the signal back to the driver to influence the vehicle," said Bauer.

V2X currently covers more than 70,000 intersections across eight countries.

It’s available in VW Group cars, such as Audi, Bently and Porsche. Bauer says drivers can also download an app to connect the technology to their car, if they don't have a car brand from VW Group.

Lauren Kuivenhoven is a reporter at CBC K-W. She loves hearing from the community and is open to stories at lauren.kuivenhoven@cbc.ca.