As a 90’s kid who grew up in the middle of the technology and internet boom, I pictured a futuristic adulthood world with flying cars, robot helpers and hologram phone calls. With all the cool gadgets we have these days, giving up my walkman for a CD player then an iPod doesn’t really seem like that big of a deal anymore.
But hey, video phone calls, touch screen everything, mobile media, and medical breakthroughs isn’t that bad of a futuristic life and it’s apparently not stopping there.
Soon, the streets of Ann Arbor, Michigan will be the setting of an experiment to help create safer roads everywhere. The proposed solution is coming right from the scenes of a futuristic movie—cars that communicate with each other.
No, unfortunately the 2,800 cars hitting the road won’t actually speak to each other but signals sent from one car to another through wireless devices will let drivers know of potential dangers around them. So if someone decides to run a red light or if traffic comes to a stop a few miles ahead, drivers can adjust accordingly.
Sure, it’s ability to change red lights to green lights when other cars aren’t around (did I forget to mention that?) will be a time-saver, the real benefit lies in its potential to reduce car accidents and save thousands of lives.
If that wasn’t cool enough, there’s a car out in Nevada driving itself around town. In 2011, the state handed Google the first U.S. license for a driverless car that uses software consisting of proximity sensors and GPS data to get it from Point A to Point B.
If Autonomos Labs is right, we all might have the luxury of having a driverless car as early as 2019.
-Juan Frausto
(Photo credit: Silicon Angle ,Gear Fuse)
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