It’s no secret that self-driving cars are the future. In fact, many experts believe that they will eventually replace traditional cars altogether. But what some people may not know is that one of the main benefits of robotic cars is that they won’t get stuck in traffic jams!
How scientific advances have and can make transportation systems even more convenient and modern. Modern vehicles are moving at great speed, and in this area we should not expect any revolutions in the near future. But even in this situation, there is room to strive and make transportation systems even more convenient and modern.
Flying Robot Cars
First of all tangible progress in the field of transport technology is expected for cars. There is currently a race in the world: who will create such a robotic car system that will gain popularity and begin to spread around the world. Both automobile concerns and, for example, Google Corporation are working on the creation of a “drone” car. The latter regularly reports on new stages of development and testing of a car that drives itself. Read more here.
The principle of the robot-driver is quite simple, its main detail is a laser rangefinder, which is mounted on the roof of the car and emits 64 laser beams, which allows you to create a detailed 3D map of the environment. The robot combines these measurements with high-resolution maps and creates different data models.
This allows the car to move independently, avoiding obstacles and not violating traffic rules. The main advantage of this system is that the reaction time of the robot is less than 0.1 second, while for a human, it is several (or even more than ten) times higher.
However, some elements of a robot driver are already used in everyday life. For example, there is a navigator, which reads information about traffic jams and, depending on this, paves the way to a point of direction from its current location. In such a traffic-challenged metropolis, many drivers use such systems. Another example of such systems (which, however, are now considered and implemented as an element of tuning, rather than as part of a “robot driver”) is a special system based on radars in the front and rear, which do not allow the car to drive close to other cars at a given speed. We can also mention the system, which reads traffic lights signals and does not allow the driver to go through a red light, or the system of checking the driver for alcohol, which does not allow the car to start, if the driver had been drinking before getting behind the wheel. However, the modern car is a rather archaic design.
A hybrid of a car and an airplane is an even more distant prospect than a robotic car. Although there have been a number of flying cars in the USA, they are all isolated examples, and such designs are still a long way from reaching the wide market. And flying cars would have the same problem as small planes do now: everybody wants to fly them, but not everybody can master the complicated aircraft control system and get the necessary license. Read here about jacks for lifted jeeps.
Other Applications for Microtechnologies
There are other applications for microtechnologies in transport. For example, embedded microchips in tires could transmit information to sensors installed on the roads, which would help track and control traffic flows. People could get real-time traffic information and change routes to avoid traffic jams.
Some experts believe that in the future we will have automated highways, where cars will be connected to the system to automatically change their direction and optimize traffic flow.
Smart roads can help reduce traffic jams, but we don’t yet know about all the routes that people, cars, freight and goods actually take within urban areas. Getting that data is the first priority. Then we will need innovative ways to use that data if we want to solve the current traffic difficulties. One way is by investing in research and development of autonomous vehicles.
Conclusion
We are still far from the world of flying cars and robotic drivers, but the development of microtechnologies is gradually bringing us closer to this future. Who knows, maybe in a few years we will be able to use these technologies in our everyday lives.