Few experiences are more frustrating than inching along in traffic because of a poorly timed light. But new research from Carnegie Mellon University suggests a way to fix this source of urban gridlock: remove the traffic lights from the streets, and put them on your windshield.

The Carnegie researchers claim that replacing physical lights with virtual traffic lights could cut commute times by 40 percent for urban workers, according to CNN, as well as reduce carbon emissions and accidents.

“With this technology, traffic lights will be created on demand when [two cars] are trying to cross this intersection, and they will be turned down as soon as we don’t need it,” Carniegie professor Ozan Tonguz told CNN.

Currently, most traffic light patterns are pre-programmed according to expectations of junction use. In other words, they are set based on a prediction of future traffic. In reality, this method can cause congestion when a fewer than optimal number of cars proceed through a green light.

In the method studied by the Carnegie Mellon researchers, virtual lights would be projected onto a car’s windshield and would change color according to actual weather conditions, instead of preset patterns. Meanwhile, cars in this system would periodically announce their location, direction, speed, and other metrics to each other. This data, combined with some generalized traffic rules, would allow intersections to be dynamically managed in real-time. Such a system could increase city traffic flow rates by as much 60 percent, Slashgear reports.

These references to vehicle-to-vehicle communications may sound like science-fiction, but the technology will soon be mandated by federal regulators in all cars.

“Our solution leverages this capability,” said Tonguz. “Since cars can talk to each other, we can manage the traffic control at intersections without infrastructure-based traffic lights.”