BreakPoint
How technology affects us...
@altenbach wrote:
Wow, you have some cheap gas. It is easily 1$ more here per gallon.
Here's some random gas station near where I live. Ouch! 😄
Well, if Yair weighs in I think he will have us beat on the price of petrol! The sticker shock when I visited his part of the world was tempered by trying to do the multiple math conversions of liters->gallons + NIS-> Dollars. I just know that the Hyundai I10's miniscule gas tank still was expensive to fill!
Just think how much fuel would be saved world wide by smart traffic lights! Sat a light for a minute and a half late last night, no cross street traffic, thinking of how much gas was being wasted idling. I know that there are manufacturers that now have the option to shut down the engine when at a light (it used to take more gas to restart than to idle for a bit), but this throws in a lag when the light changes that has been a hard (no) sell here in the states. Refering to Yair, I'm pretty sure, even with the price of gas as it is there that it wouldn't be a big sell in Israel, where the traffic lights are like drag strip starting lights, with a warning that the Red is about to go Green, so take your foot off the brake and put it on the accelerator. We had one of the first traffic light manufacturers in the world here in Syracuse, Crouse-Hinds, who were making uP controlled (well 8008) lights in the early 70's, but that business got sold and went away. I worked for them around then, so I always think of how the lights could work better with a bit of smarts above the level of the CLD exam Traffic Light Problem.
And smart traffic lights are a lot easier to install these days. Used to have to cut into the pavement to put sensors in, but now, take a look at this picture:
That white piece on top of the pole between the lights is a camera that feeds to the control system. All it has to do is recognize when a lane is not empty. It's simple vision work with a low res camera and a lot cheaper than putting in sensors. That's the best picture I could come up with that shows a camera. The local authorities say that these cameras are NOT connected to the network and too low res to be of much use, anyway.
I have done a bunch of machine vision applications and I think this is brilliant. You could build all sorts of smarts into the system if you needed to and felt like it.
Rob
As exciting as it was for me to drive in Tel Aviv, pretty much everyone drove using the same "rules", and once understood it was actually less stressful than here in a busy city. I will also add that Israel was the third safest nation to drive in, based on traffic deaths/1000.
I culd have used a few more mice under the hood of the Hyundai I10, it was definitely not over powered, got some annoyed at me going up a relatively steep grade!
@LV_Pro wrote:
... thinking of how much gas was being wasted idling.
Here in LA, a large percentage of cars are Prius, Volts, and Teslas that don't have that problem. 😄
I pay ~$10/month for unlimited rides in the Big Blue Bus (and the green sibling) and that's all I spend on transportation because I got rid of my car long ago. 🙂
(If commuting by car, I would spend $74/month for the parking permit alone! :()
Who cares if we have to wait at an intersection? I am using my smartphone to visit the forum, review some scientific papers, or read a book. Not a second is wasted time. :). Sure, the car trip would be twice as fast (if traffic allows), but that's 100% wasted time, so we lose overall if we do the math right.
