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."
For $200 per vehicle--the cost of a Wi-Fi router, a microprocessor and a global positioning system chip--cars will be able to continually share data about their location, speed, angle of steering wheel, acceleration or deceleration rate, even whether the air bags have gone off or the windshield wipers are on. With help from signals from roadside markers and traffic lights, in-car computers will be able to determine if a car should slam on the brakes, alert the driver to a passing vehicle in the blind spot or slow for a red light up ahead that another driver isn't heeding.
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