Jaguar Land Rover tech to help drivers avoid red lights

Jaguar Land Rover is trialling new technology which is intended to help drivers avoid getting stuck at red lights, improving congestion and reducing emissions.

The Green Light Optimal Speed Advisory (GLOSA) technology tells the driver the required speed to avoid getting stuck at traffic lights and works using vehicle-to-infrastructure tech that connects cars to traffic lights.

It is currently being trialled on an F-Pace, as part of a larger autonomous and connected driving project, Autodrive, that Jaguar Land Rover is a part of alongside other car makers such as Ford.  

JLR told Autocar UK that the technology should be on production cars within the next three to five years. A spokesman said: “From a technical point of view, we’re ready but the infrastructure required is not.”

He added that the West Midlands is likely to see this technology in the near future as it is home to one of the major connected and autonomous testbeds in the UK (along with Milton Keynes) as well as various 5G trials, which are vital for this technology to work.

JLR is not the first to publicise that it is using this technology. Ford, as part of the same Autodrive project, announced it was trialling GLOSA on a Mondeo hybrid in 2016. Meanwhile, Volvo has previously announced it is also developing the technology, but there has been no word of trials on public roads.

The traffic light detection system is intended, said JLR, to slash the time commuters spend in traffic. It is one of a number of technologies currently being tested by the car maker to achieve this goal. For example, Intersection Collision Warning alerts drivers when it is unsafe to move forward at junctions.

Oriol Quintana-Morales, JLR connected technology engineer, said: “This cutting-edge technology will radically reduce the time we waste at traffic lights.  It has the potential to revolutionise driving by creating safe, free-flowing cities that take the stress out of commuting.” 

Also read: Ford’s connected vehicle technology could make traffic signals obsolete