"Smart" Traffic Lights?

[VeeDub]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technol ... ation.html

[Maverick]

Back in the late 80s IBM noticed the Japanese were getting the most patents and was being threatened by overly broad patents. For reasons of prestige, freedom to build new stuff, and royalty revenue, IBM intensified the push for employee patents (which IBM almost always owns) with higher rewards, effect on promotions, etc. Almost no scrutiny of patent applications. Peer reviews were all but meaningless. Employees were encouraged to file anything. I reviewed a bunch of applications and maybe saw one I thought was worth filing. After a while I wasn't asked to review them anymore.

Results were immediate -- IBM became the world leader in annual patents and began collecting $1B annually in royalties. Obviously, they had a bunch of good ones. Also some very broad ones, e.g., this example.

Patents were supposed to protect inventions, not ideas. Maybe things have changed.

[TireSmoker]

I'm getting sick and tired of all this big-brotherish nonsense. I mean, it gets ridiculous when they say stuff like:

Fuel may be wasted when drivers keep their vehicles running while waiting for the traffic signal to turn "green" or waiting for a train to pass at a railway crossing. Most drivers may not switch off their engines in these situations. Drivers who do switch off their engines may do so inefficiently. For example, a driver may switch off the engine, only to start it up a short time later. In such cases, more fuel may be consumed in restarting the engine.

So which is it? Am I supposed to shut my engine off, or not? So now I'm supposed to think that IBM's smart traffic lights are now going to somehow stop/re-start my engine in a more efficient fashion? I get what they are saying, and have heard that the rule of thumb is that if the engine is going to be off for less than 60 seconds, it's more efficient to let it idle. But was that the case for carbs? efi? what about direct injection? But trying to put in place a large-scale system to try and optimize this is crazy. It will cause more problems than will be solved by any measurable fuel savings.

Want to solve the fuel and pollution issue? Figure out how to make fuel-cell technology main stream. There is a near limit-less supply of Hydrogen, the only output is water, we dont need to rely on crazy Arabs for oil, and you can create jobs in the economy building a hydrogen infrastructure.

Electric cars do not spell the end of high performance. Simply look at what Matt and his boy are doing by hopping up the normally 12v powered Jeep with 18v and 24v.

-Dave

[GMJohnny]

Ponder this: If you are trying to "gimp home" ( we've all done it ) with a car that has a bad battery, alternator or starter, etc. you have to find a route that has no stop lights, because your car may not start if you come to a red light. How much fuel will that waste with people waiting for me to push my car through the intersection? People are getting too intelligent for their own good.

GM

[MostMint]

How would the brakes work if the engine was shut off?

If there's too many cars then start cranking up the taxes on them to encourage more public transportation.

Or change the rules so companies encourage people to work off shift or telecommute. Look at city streets or highways at 9:00 PM. In many cities they are less traveled.

Hello.