Who would have thought that a smartphone could help save the world especially where increasing the level of fuel efficiency in vehicles? Well, that seems to be the case as the Association for Computing Machinery’s MobiSys conference that happened in July saw researchers from MIT and Princeton University take home the best-paper award after they came up with a system that relies on a network of smartphones which have been mounted on car dashboards so that information about traffic signals can be collected, informing drivers just when to slow down at crucial points so that they need not worry about stopping at a red light. This will in turn reduce the need to be idle as well as burn more fuel when accelerating from a standstill.

Tests have already been conducted in Cambridge, Mass., where results have been fairly positive, showing that it managed to help drivers reduce fuel consumption by a whopping 20%. Of course, saving fuel also depends on many other factors apart from stopping at red lights, including how much your love for flooring the accelerator is in addition to the type of engine you’re running on.

If you really want to go green, just get a hybrid or electric car – and if you are able to do so, how about cycling around? Heck, a world-record breaking electric motorcycle doesn’t sound that bad, either.

Filed in Cellphones >Green >Transportation. Read more about .

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