The students at Virginia Tech are a pretty intelligent bunch. They’ve come up with a new system for automobile braking lights that will indicate whether you are stopping, or just slowing down, based on how quickly you put your foot down on the brake. The solution for a better brake, as it turns out is really pretty simple.

The concept uses an array of horizontal LED lights. When you start to slow down, the center lights will glow orange and after a pre-programmed time, the side lights will turn red. If you slam on the emergency brake, then all the lights turn red instantly. If we could just get it to flash the finger for those people who stay way too close behind you, I’d be happy. They think these will be easier to add as additional indicators on commercial vehicles at first, but who knows, one day soon all cars may sport these.

[Physorg] VIA [Engadget]