New Audi cars can tell you when traffic lights will turn green

A video showcasing the new Audi traffic light tech.

Starting this autumn, when you're stopped at some traffic lights, new Audi Q7 and A4 cars will show a real-time time-to-green-light countdown on the driver's information cluster. Now you'll know exactly when to start revving like a hooligan.

The tech, which Audi has imaginatively dubbed the Traffic Light Information System, receives traffic light timing data via the car's cellular modem. In this case, rather than getting the data directly from nearby traffic lights, the data is being broadcast by some kind of city-wide traffic management system.

As you have probably surmised, there are not yet many of these city-wide systems. Audi says that the green light timer will work in select cities in the US this autumn, but declined to say which cities those might be. UK, European, and Asian cities will surely follow, though no timeline has been given. If you have a 2017 Audi A4, A4 allroad, or Q7 built after June 1, with a cellular connectivity package, you will be able to use the feature (in cities where it's enabled)

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