Smarter traffic lights

Here's an idea: traffic lights that intelligently adapt their timing to reflect actual traffic conditions.

According to Nature:

The catch (there had to be a catch) is that this control wouldn't be handed over to individual drivers. Instead they would exercise it collectively. If a large enough convoy of cars approached a red light, this would force the light to turn green, while the other lights at the junction turned red.

Carlos Gershenson at the Free University of Brussels, Belgium, outlines his theory in a preprint published on Arxiv. He says his system of traffic lights would be able to adapt to changing traffic conditions, allowing it to find a better switching sequence than one imposed rigidly on all situations.

(Via Slashdot.)