Cars that Drive Themselves, Ctd - IntelliDrive

The Department of Transportation has started a program, "IntelliDrive," which is basically a wifi network that will connect all the cars on the road and report traffic density to a central server. Almost like I suggested it.
I am afraid, however, that boneheads will scuttle the potential of this idea.

[The IntelliDrive] can also include additional information such as whether cars’ headlights and windshield wipers are on, which would indicate the exact location of where rain or snow are falling.

“Who would have ever thought of a windshield wiper as a sensor?” asked Rod MacKenzie, vice president and chief technical officer of ITS America, an intelligent transportation advocacy group. “Now it is.”

Of course, the answer is that General Motors thought of it. Almost all Cadillac cars come with an automatic rain sensing device utilizing infrared light, and have since the 90's. Here's a pdf of how the system works.

All in all though, I am pleased to see the government stepping in to fund technical development of "hands-free" cars. It is a significant step in the right direction towards lowering the number of vehicular fatalities.

“Cars cannot prevent all the accidents and deaths that occur, but this should put a big dent in it,” said Schmidt.

This is true. Some estimates put the number of preventable vehicular fatalities near or around 97%, and the other three percent are caused by sudden failures in the road or nature, for example the collapse of the I-35 bridge in Minneapolis or a moose stepping in front of someone's Prius. But nevertheless, I hold that we could save 97% of people killed in or around cars, easily, if we just got rid of human drivers. That's over 40,000 Americans a year. Talk about job-saving stimulus! That's another 40,000 tax-payers!

I could go on, and have done so before, but really, I'll save your time and just say that this is a really good idea.


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