Have you been keeping up with the latest changes to roads and the vehicles on them? If not, you’re in luck, because we can provide you with all the information you should know about the vehicles and roads of today and the future. Let’s start by thinking about the roads. You might think that roads today are no different and that they are the same as they have always been. But that’s not true, and developers are constantly looking for ways to deal with traffic.
In the past, dealing with traffic was a matter of widening roads. So, if you had two lanes on either side, this would increase to three until you reached the insane five lane roads in the London Docklands. Developers strongly believed that this would reduce levels of congestion when in reality, it caused the number of vehicles on the road to increase.
Today, developers focus on tech, building smart highways. With smart highways, the idea is that the roads ‘predict’ congestion and traffic issues. Car numbers are counted and if there are too many, speeds are reduced with signs connected to a larger network. To an extent, this works, and it is arguably the biggest change to roads today. You can expect this tech to continue to evolve in the years to come.
Gesturing
No, not that type of gesture. These days, cars can be controlled completely hands-free. So, if you want to increase the volume on your stereo, you could wave your hand to one side. Put on the wipers with a quick flick of the wrists or indicate, as you would on a bike. You might think this sounds like a step backward, but it isn’t. Research has found that any hand interactions can lead to a serious distraction when driving. This extends beyond taking your hands off the wheel to make a call. So, this took could actually reduce the number of accidents on the road. Although, it could also cause a certain level of road rage if other drivers think the gestures are directed towards them.
Right now, BMW is leading the way with this tech. But you can expect other producers to introduce variations of it in the near future.
Always Watching
Most vehicles these days have cameras on the back and sometimes the front. That’s certainly proven useful for car accident attorneys. An accident lawyer can access the video footage and show undeniable proof who caused the incident.
Automation
Yes, vehicles are slowly becoming more automated, and soon enough we might have our first fully automated vehicle. Right now, the kinks are still being ironed out as seen by the news stories around automated vehicles. Forbes has equated the tech to the early stages of cruise control that now allows you to keep your car at any speed without touching the accelerator. So, with any luck, in the next ten years, you should be able to drive a car while holding a phone in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. But again, we’re not quite there yet.
