The average American worker spends almost half an hour commuting each day, but virtual traffic lights could cut that almost in half.

If traditional traffic lights were replaced with virtual ones, the results could include not only a reduction of up to 40 percent in urban workers' commute times, but also lower carbon emissions, less congestion and fewer accidents, a study from Carnegie Mellon University suggests.

"These systems could be made even smarter and more efficient, tweaking things like how many cars you let go by in the main direction during rush hour before letting the side street traffic in," Roger Kay, founder and president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, told TechNewsWorld.

"There's a whole lot of work that could be done in this area, essentially sociological programming," added Kay, who has been enthusiastic about the concept for several years.

Based on vehicle-to-vehicle technology mandates expected within the United States, virtual traffic lights will appear not on the street, but on drivers' windshields as they approach an intersection.

"When the driver is looking through the windshield, they'll see that going straight is a green light, and turning right is a red light," explained Ozan Tonguz, a Carnegie Mellon professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering who helped develop the technology. "It's a seamless process -- the driver does not get involved in this decision making."

Once the driver proceeds through the intersection, the virtual traffic light will disappear.

CMU startup Virtual Traffic Lights is working on commercializing the patented technology.

"I think this technology can hit the market in most large cities around the world within one to two years," Tonguz told TechNewsWorld. "We are currently looking for partners and investments to implement this technology on a large scale."

Virtual Traffic Light tech can be used "as a standalone technology for traffic management," he said. "In addition, it could be used in conjunction with autonomous cars -- pursued by Google and several car manufacturers -- and congestion pricing, which is used by IBM and several other companies in different countries to mitigate congestion during rush hours."

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Virtual Traffic Lights Could Revolutionize City Driving