A Vision for a Network of Cars

Just a few thoughts I’ve had while being a passenger on a highway trip. I think one day not only will cars have sensors processing reams of data but they will all be networked, sharing their data with one another and the broader traffic network. For example cars much further ahead of a car will be constantly reading the conditions and if anomalies occur such as a sudden breaking by a car ahead that event will ripple through the network down to the cars behind, alerting them to changes in traffic conditions however minor, allowing them to respond and react accordingly.

If we go even more granular on this the car could use eye tracking sensors to determine the alertness of each driver and factor that information into its risk assessments. I.e. their is a car ahead being driven by a driver that is showing signs of drowsiness, that car could be highlighted in red in the augmented front windscreen allowing all drivers to keep an eye on that specific driver. For motorcyclists this would be particularly helpful and their augmented visor could alert them to high risk situations [given most risk to a motorcyclist is other vehicles].

On top of this the traffic network of cars could also use this data to help individual cars calculate their their best route based on traffic and other conditions. Even the infrastructure grid itself could use this data to set traffic conditions such as traffic light timings. Even bus networks for that matter could use this and other data collected at bus stops by passing cars to dynamically set the number of buses on specific routes.

Perhaps one day this will mean far less accidents and far greater efficiency in traffic movements through cities.

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