Driver safety enhancement using intelligent traffic signals and GPS
A safety system determines a correspondence between a vehicle and an upcoming traffic signal, and predicts a state of the traffic signal when the vehicle is expected to reach the signal's location. Based on proximity to the signal and speed of the vehicle, the system provides a warning if it determines that the vehicle is likely to proceed contrary to the signal (e.g., a driver is likely to run a red light). The warning is issued to the vehicle about to illegally enter the intersection, to other nearby vehicles and pedestrians, and to the traffic signal itself.
1. A safety system, comprising: a vehicle route subsystem configured to receive, via the Internet from a device within the vehicle, position data associated with the vehicle, and determine, based on the position data, a predicted time of arrival of a vehicle at a traffic control; a database geographically separated from both the vehicle and the traffic control and configured to store traffic control data; a traffic control interaction subsystem in operative communication with the database and the vehicle route subsystem, the traffic control interaction subsystem configured to predict a state of the traffic control at the time of arrival responsive to the traffic control data; and a user device interaction subsystem configured to generate a prediction that the vehicle is about to violate the traffic control based on a current dynamic of the vehicle, a current distance from the vehicle to the traffic control, and the predicted state of the traffic control at the time of arrival, the user device interaction subsystem further configured to provide a warning, via the Internet, at a device proximate the traffic control that the vehicle is about to violate the traffic control; wherein providing the warning is responsive to a driver-specific parameter that is based on historical data describing the driver's driving behavior.
2. A computer-implemented method for providing a warning that a vehicle is predicted to violate a traffic control, the computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, via the Internet from a user device within the vehicle, position data associated with the vehicle; determining, based on the position data, a predicted time of arrival of the vehicle at a traffic control; predicting a state of the traffic control at the predicted time of arrival responsive to traffic control data stored in a database that is geographically separated from both the vehicle and the traffic control; predicting that the vehicle is about to violate the traffic control based on a current dynamic of the vehicle, a current distance from the vehicle to the traffic control, and the state of the traffic control at the predicted time of arrival; and providing, via the Internet, a warning by a device proximate the traffic control that the vehicle is about to violate the traffic control, a level of the warning varying over time responsive to a certainty of the prediction that the vehicle is about to violate the traffic control; wherein providing the warning is responsive to a driver-specific parameter that is based on historical data describing the driver's driving behavior.