parking sensors measure distance to the car in front of you as you stand in the traffic light. as the car in front of you starts moving, the parking sensor causes your car to start moving immediately, keeping 2-second's worth of distance for safety.
if all cars had this, the whole row would start moving at the same time, and 50% more cars will be able to pass through.
the sensors on your car are good for ~6.5m which translate to 12.5 kmh maximum speed with 2-sec safety distance.-- supershnitzel, Apr 14 2009 Cruise Control http://en.wikipedia...tive_cruise_controlYou can get this on your new S-Class. [DIYMatt, Apr 14 2009] People would still be held up if the driver at the front hesitates ...-- Aristotle, Apr 14 2009 If there was a 2 second delay between each one, they wouldn't all start moving at the same time, it would take forever. Also when does this system cut off? At a certain speed?
And finally, BAKED. Adaptive cruise control. See link.-- DIYMatt, Apr 14 2009 ok, lets have a little talk about our friend whiplash. Lets say you're sitting at a light. Your foot is firmly on the brake pedal, right? Because if it isn't you are risking a nasty one/two punch to your neck if somebody rear ends you, even slowly, and you smack into the car in front of you. It's really bad. So (-) for taking the brakes away from a driver (ever) and (-) for taking the drivers foot off the brakes (if that was how it was going to work). In fact (-) for encouraging passive driving over active driving.-- WcW, Apr 15 2009 I'm sorry you don't have someone to make out with, [21Quest].-- normzone, Apr 17 2009 Glad to hear it, [21Quest]. I have refined my making out at stoplights technique to include periodic one-eyed glances at the light, and being cursed with superhero-level hearing I can tell what's going on around us, so I won't hold you up, but I fully endorse stop light lovin'.-- normzone, Apr 17 2009 whoa there, whoa.-- WcW, Apr 17 2009 random, halfbakery