Automotive safety is generally focused on the driver and the vehicle, rather than unknown dangers of the road … features like anti-lock brakes, airbags, back-up cameras and crumple zones increase buyer confidence and sticker price.
This month, field trials in Germany and the US are testing whether accidents and injuries could be prevented by focusing outside individual vehicles…cars are silently communicating with each other and with the world around them to avoid accidents and traffic jams. Doug Newcomb writes and speaks about car technology– his article in Wired’s Autopia blog details the large-scale tests of a kind of automotive social network.
Check out this video from inside of a networked car.