MIT-created algorithm predicts likelihood of running red lights, places blame where appropriate
The bad news: Math will always judge you. The good news: It'll still be there to judge everyone else. In a recent article published in the IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, MIT's Professor Jonathan How and three colleagues announced they've created an algorithm that can predict whether an oncoming car is about to run a red light one or two seconds before a possible collision. The algorithm can compute the likelihood of a vehicle running a red light based on its rate of deceleration as it is approaching the intersection with a level of precision down to mere milliseconds. The team, which applied the algorithm to more than 15,000 vehicles during the study, used instruments that monitored vehicle speeds and locations as well as when the lights turned red. When the results were tallied, they found that they were able to correctly predict who would run a red light 85 percent of the time. In other news, MIT is working on a much simpler algorithm capable of predicting when your significant other will break up with you, the formula factoring in at least four behavioral elements from the last season of "Jersey Shore."
