[Gui Cavalcanti]

I believe that everyone who has mentioned "idiot drivers" or the like in their posts have unwittingly made the case for smarter cars.

Imagine every single idiotic driver in the world was replaced by a car able to stay in its lane, accelerate and decelerate promptly, and remain under control at all times. Imagine every single drunk and tired driver that was replaced by a computer whose attention never wanes.

That not good enough? I'll go on.

What would happen if every car at an intersection accelerated at the exact same time, and maintained 5-10 feet between cars? Basically, traffic waves (and maybe even gridlock) would be eliminated.

What would happen if every car were computer-controlled, and due to the greater degree of control per car, highway speeds were increased to 100, 150 mph? If every car knew every other car's speed and direction, it could be done. How would your daily commute change?

Only a very small percentage of accidents on the road today are the fault of car failures. The other 95% of accidents are caused by fallible humans. You know, the ones talking on their cell phones, eating breakfast, having a beer, speeding to get to work on time... Why would you not embrace the ultimate safety technology with all these people on the road? I'll bet the car's reflexes are better than yours will ever be.

Obviously, this won't come about because of this one car, but this car is the first big step autonomous vehicles have to take before they're generally accepted. I think this pill will be much easier to swallow once a small, pilot project proves that you can reduce car accidents to 0 in any given year.