Australia doesn't yet have the same overwhelming congestion that plagues some major cities such as London, which has had to introduce drastic measures in order to combat the problem. Nevertheless, Australian roads and traffic management are far from operating at peak efficiency, resulting in frustration, money lost as workers and business vehicles wait in traffic, and in more than a few cases, road rage and even crashes. Audi's Travolution traffic management system takes a new approach to solving the evolving problem, while Victoria's Suna Traffic Channel does something about the problem now.

While most car makers are focusing their efforts solely on reducing the tailpipe emissions of their vehicle lineups through conventional methods such as more efficient engines, advanced catalysts and lighter cars, these measures don't address the issue of unnecessary pollutants being emitted during mismanaged traffic situations, nor the cost of the fuel burned sitting still. Attacking vehicle emissions from a different angle, Audi is adding a new traffic management system it has developed with several partners to its arsenal. Called Travolution, the system promises to improve traffic flow and thereby reduce time spent idling uselessly, improving emissions.

High-tech system networks traffic lights to minimise wait time
According to Dr. Fritz Busch, Professorial Chair for Traffic Technology at the Technical University of Munich, "The new approaches to modelling and optimization in the network-wide control of traffic lights, together with communication between traffic lights and intelligent cars, exploits a potential for improving traffic flows that has previously gone untapped."

The project so far has been developed primarily in Ingolstadt, the carmaker's home city, where it has already been employed across a network of 46 traffic lights. The Travolution system takes information on traffic flow and light cycles and integrates the data into a unified picture, then optimizes the operation of all the lights as a whole. This beats the piecemeal approach of standalone traffic lights, though Audi hasn't revealed how much emissions and fuel consumption are reduced.

Signal-to-car communications system enhances the project’s efficiency
In conjunction with the traffic light operation, several intersections have been fitted with communications modules that can interact with two test vehicles Audi has made available, an A5 and an A6 Avant. These cars combine with the information transmitted from the intersections to compose what Audi calls 'The informed driver.' The data transmitted to the cars recommends the optimum speed for travelling between intersections without having to stop, thus minimizing unnecessary acceleration and deceleration - manoeuvres which expend fuel.

Audi has plans to expand the project by 20 cars and another 50 traffic light installations. It will also provide up-to-the-minute traffic information across the city to keep drivers aware of snarls to be avoided. So far the project has taken two years of development and involved a total investment of about $1.96 million, and is fully supported by the Bavarian Ministry.

Victoria developing alternate GPS-based traffic management solution
Currently, Victoria is implementing a traffic management system which is expected to spread to the rest of Australia eventually. Designed by Intelematics Australia, the system allows users to check a 'Suna Traffic Channel' through GPS systems, gaining real-time traffic information on major thoroughfares and urban streets 24-hours a day.

By using data collected from Australia's traffic light control systems and other sources, Suna Traffic Channel is able to determine areas of congestion and provide alternative routes. This takes one element of the Audi system - the signal-to-car communications system - and employs it on a much wider, more distributed scale. The concept behind both is the same, however - to enable drivers to be better informed about the traffic situation in their immediate vicinity.

Adding the enhanced traffic flow of the Audi traffic light system makes the most of the two in conjunction, but ultimately the goal of both the Audi and the Suna systems is the same - to get people to their destinations in less time and with fewer emissions. 

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