Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends describes new research rinto a self-organized control system for traffic lights that is said to 'improve vehicular traffic flow by up to 95 percent':

As traffic flows account for about one-third of global energy consumption, better control systems for traffic lights could reduce harmful CO2 emissions. Now, German researchers have developed a self-organized control system for traffic lights that could improve vehicular traffic flow by up to 95 percent. They even patented their combination of two strategies leading to this better control system for traffic lights...

...The main reason to develop such a system is that "heavy investments in traffic light systems were made in the 1960s and 70s rendering most systems today, due to use, age and technological advancement, antiquated." Even today, most of the control systems are "programmed offline, regardless of the realities of the road."

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