What do you think about a fleet of driverless cars making its way across our freeways? Well, the University of Michigan has high hopes that they will be able to develop an intricate communicative network and a stable infrastructure which will be able to usher in an era of driverless cars by the time 2021 rolls around. Such a network and infrastructure would be crucial when it comes to integrating autonomous vehicles into an urban environment. It is a great honor to have the city of Ann Arbor work alongside the university’s Mobility Transformation Center, hoping to be the first in the US to have networked, driverless vehicles on the road by the next eight years.
At this point in time, the Safety Pilot project will comprise of 2,800 volunteers from Ann Arbor, where the project has already collected more than 12 billion wireless transmissions from volunteer vehicles. All of these rides were equipped with radio communications devices which will be able to “talk” to traffic signals at 25 intersections, delivering essential information on traffic situations as well as driving conditions to the university.
What do you think of a fully driverless town? Will driving centers close down because nobody needs to learn how to drive anymore? A fully operational self-driving taxi service also opens up new possibilities, where you have the privacy of the taxi all to yourself and the other passengers without having anyone eavesdrop on your conversation.
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