Technorati Tags: cars, automobiles, smart cars
Nope, this isn't about the anthropomorphic cars in the Golden Globe-winning animated film. Neither is this about David Hasselhoff's TV ride in the 80s. This is about real cars, Cadillacs, Camrys and Accords.
Well, they're not really talking. It's just that automakers such as General Motors are currently developing systems that allow cars to electronically communicate with each other and essentially avoid collisions. Forbes Autos has more:
On a General Motors test track in Warren, Mich., an engineer sitting in the passenger seat of a black Cadillac CTS gives a reporter the following instructions: Step on the gas and drive 30 mph toward another CTS parked in the same lane. Don't touch the brakes.
Two car lengths before a nasty collision, and just before panic sets in, the two Caddies start talking to each other, sharing status reports over tiny radio chips in their trunks. The moving CTS realizes it has to brake, and does so all by itself.
These cars are test vehicles in General Motors' effort to develop vehicle-to-vehicle communications systems. Other automakers are developing similar systems in the hope that, starting five years from now, roads and highways will be information-rich networks, with cars knowing what other cars are doing and responding intelligently. "It opens up a whole new world for automotive safety," says GM's advanced-technology chief, Larry D. Burns. "A road where cars wouldn't potentially crash at all."
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