I like the 'Better Break Light' idea and one of the responses to it mentioned that many rear-enders are caused by people not looking ahead of them. So my idea is to include wireless communication links in cars. The idea would be that the cars surrounding yours would form sort of a network so that they could share information about position, velocity, and acceleration. I do not suggest that all this information should be shared with the driver, but rather it would be used by a computer inside the car to give warnings to the driver about cars in close proximity, or cars in not-so-close proximity that are approaching very rapidly. I think that non-visual cues would be most helpful and maybe the most helpful feature of this idea would be to warn people of a car in the blind spot when they are changing lanes. However it could also warn you when the car in front of you is deccelerating rapidly and you are not.
The wireless technology to implement this certainly exists. A medium-range type would be best suited, similar to WiFi. The computer end is a current area of research, with computers being able to detect each other in an ad-hoc network environment. Cars already have fairly sophisticated computers inside, so once the car could receive information from other vehicles it wouldn't be a huge leap to process it. One fairly major problem would be vehicles not equipped with the feature, but this could be solved with a device about the size of a cell phone that would sit on the dashboard or even in the glove box. It would also require a fair bit of standardization and unless it came standard in all new cars it would be very difficult to make sure that everyone had it. And it would be less useful if not everyone used it.
I admit that it's a far-out idea at the moment, but we seem to be heading towards a world where everything is wireless, so if the TV is going to talk to the 'fridge why shouldn't our cars talk to each other?
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A similar/simpler implementaion might be a radar at the front of the car which applies the brake if you approach another object too fast. (I have a feeling these already exist - but maybe there are issues to do with the driver not being in control.)
Or...Set the speed you want to go when you enter the highway, then when you come accross someone that has set a similar speed, the onboard computers have a little chat and form a mini-convoy! Others could join. I'm sure this would greatly improve traffic-flow efficiency.
Though I realize the impetus of your notion is safety while driving, a wireless network between cars also presents many other delightful possibilities, some of which are already being explored by a company called Mesh Networks.
If each car with the required equipment is a node in a traffic-borne peer-to-peer network, then interesting things are possible:
- Periodic ground stations with Internet connections can provide Internet access to systems inside of cars. (The nearest car to the ground station would route Internet traffic to and fro.)
- Digital car-to-car voice communication would be possible. (Long live the CB radio!)
- A new delivery mechanism would be in place for services like XM Radio and Sirius. But rather than satellite-based, they're ground- or even Internet-based.
- Listen to your email in the car. (Blech. That can wait for the office!)
- Stop for gas on a trip, and wirelessly fill up on new audio and/or video entertainment for the drive. Share same with others on the peer network. Kazaa for cars!
- Multiplayer gaming between cars. "You kids knock it off back there and play Quake VI with that minivan or something."
- Car speed data can be passed from the autos in the mesh network to traffic monitoring facilities for better traffic reporting and modeling.
- Imagine the new marketing opportunities! Interactive billboards! CarSpam!
- And finally, a whole new breed of snarled-traffic, time-killing entertainment can emerge with car-to-car gaming possibilities. Think trivia, tie-ins with radio contents, digital versions of the old travel games you played as a kid ("I spy with my little eye..."), and such.
So I'm all for auto mesh networks. That'd be big fun!
Oh, and it could help keep me from smashing into the guy in front of me too....
As one of the other commentators has said, the scope for value-added in such networks is mind-blowing. But, with safety concerns being what they are, it's unlikely ever to happen, becasue of the risk of a malfunction. 30,000 people kill themselves and each other in car accidents every year, but if just one is killed by a software malfunction or hardware failure, the manufacturers will be up to their ears in lawsuits - no matter how idiotic the injured driver. Here in the UK, airbags were buried until after the law said we all had to wear seatbelts, because they were so worried about somebody being injured by an airbag failing to deploy.
But, that aside (I'm not compeltely negative!), take the idea a bit further. Why should anybody really need to make a sudden maneovure anyway? Traffic on approach to a junction could spread out and just blend - no control lights, no stop and starting, just full-speed routing through junctions. There's be no need for speed limits - you could build up "road trains" several miles long, with inter-vehicle distances limited only by the procvessing speed of the radio link, and vehicle speeds limited only by the maxes of the cars (and, when cars are following at six inches, air drag would be a fraction of what it is now). Becasue the car is responsible for negotiating traffic, and the driver is only responsible for selecting a route, you could drive no matter how drunk you were. And the same technology could be used to create automatic diversions around the (very rate) accidents and (probably not so rare) roadworks.
Challenges for this idea:
Compatibility - this idea requires that everyone have the exact same piece of hardware and software. We can't have accidents because my Windows Lexus wouldn't talk to your Mac Explorer.
Compliance - every vehicle would have to have this installed... it would be too cost-prohibitive to include radar and other detecting equipment to compensate for those vehicles on the road that didn't have this installed.
I believe something like this will happen eventually. In fact a system like this will be necessary before we ever get to enjoy piloting our flying cars to and from work.
I have been researching this exact same idea with communication between cars and this is the first thing I found that has the same concept I am thinking of. My idea consists of having a way for cars to communicate and relay important diagnostic information. For example, if there is a car that is driving and a problem occurs the car can have the ability to detect the problem and broadcast it the surrounding cars and each car would be equipped with a screen that would display the problem and where the signal is coming from. My interpretation is mostly for safety purposes and to reduce accidents or prevent them totally.
I have just started researching this concept and would like to build a system that would display the concept of "Communication between cars" I found it very interesting that you had the same idea and you brought up some other aspects that I am not researching but are very possible in the type of system.
The last thing I need is a voice channel to talk to the moron who cut me off at the last intersection, and who now is oblivious to the light turning green 15 seconds ago because he's yakking on his cell... trust me on this.