The car company has launched a system whereby vehicles can communicate with traffic control signals and calculate what speed a vehicle should drive in order to miss a red light or hopefully pass through a green light.

The idea is to make cars more fuel efficient (braking, changing gear puts subtle pressure on engines) by reducing fuel consumption.

The system also can assist with the overall cruise control in the vehicle by working out distances and frequency of light changes ahead on the road.

Another idea Audi has for the future is to use the same technology to communicate with payment systems at self-serve fuel stations.

The company reckons that if the technology was applied throughout Germany, exhaust emissions could be lowered by around two million tonnes of CO2 a year – that’s the equivalent to a reduction of approximately 15 percent in CO2 from motor vehicles in urban traffic.

If the technology becomes a regular feature of cars across the market, including car rental vehicles, perhaps tourism-related functionality could be included, such as flight information, check-in facilities and the like.

Here’s a demo of the Travolution car in action.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNaI7Mw8n6M

NB: Writer was editor of a UK-based travel B2B media brand also known as Travolution until August 2009.

Disclosure: Author was editor of Travolution from 2005 to 2009.