In 15 years vehicles will have robotic drivers maybe sooner for highway driving. A dramatic shift will take place when sensor systems and on board computer power exceeds the (oft-distracted)power of the human brain. Advances in vehicle technology combined with advances in road technology will propel this revolution. Whether it's the robotic traffic barrels I posted about several days ago or these new road embedded sensor modules, new digital technologies are paving the way(pun intended) for robotic driving systems. From the article:

Now, after perfecting illuminated markers that are embedded in the road surface to guide motorists through bad weather or warn of dangerous conditions, Mr. Dicks's company, Astucia Traffic Management Systems, is going a step further. Its latest creation is an embedded stud equipped with a camera that catches speeders, monitors traffic for criminals or stolen cars and even checks for bald tires on the fly.

Beyond that the sensors can detect standing water, ice and fog. It's only a matter of time before these types of sensors become networked and equipped to communicate with passing vehicles. Today embedded studs are illuminated for human eyes to detect them. It's a short walk to the point where the studs are optimized for the robot to see and communicate with them. Today humans rely on their experience when driving on wet or icy roads. Tomorrow robots will rely on millions of lines of code and vast arrays of sensor input to skillfully drive on wet or icy roads.

It's gonna be a great future!

[link]