'Smart' cars and highways to help unsnarl gridlock

Article Abstract:

US highway officials are seeking high-technology solutions for the traffic congestion problem that could double by 2020. An $8 million project is underway in Orlando, FL, to equip 100 cars with computerized displays capable of receiving instantaneous traffic updates and detour instructions. A traffic research program is planned for the entire US that focuses on computerized dashboard maps to track vehicles, roadside sensors and signals to manage traffic flow, and steering and speed controls that could eventually result in cars that drive themselves on special highways. A $40 million California project is providing traffic advice to 28 cars that drive a 12-mile corridor between Santa Monica and Los Angeles (LA). If successful, installation of the system on all freeways in the LA area could cost $2 billion. The price is considered a bargain: congestion costs the county $8 billion a year in delays.

Motor vehicles and car bodies, Usage, Prevention, Traffic congestion, Automobile Industry, Intelligent machines, Smart materials, Computer Industry, Intelligent Devices, Traffic Monitoring

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Promethean plans for the next generation of cars

Article Abstract:

Several major innovations in automobile design are in development and will provide greater cruise control, vision enhancement and collision avoidance. The greatest effort to enhance car design comes from the Program for European Traffic of Highest Efficiency and Unprecedented Safety (Prometheus). This is a five-year old program that includes companies such as Jaguar, Saab, BMW and Ford and is partially subsidized by European governments. The program is designed to implement safety features before any other fancy design plans. Cars in the future will have infrared cameras that can see through heavy fog and snow and show surrounding objects on a heads-up display projected on the lower portion of the windshield. Another innovation will allow cars to calculate how far behind the next car they should be with brake and accelerator controls fixing the distance between the two cars.

Automobiles and other motor vehicles, Industrial research, Automobiles, Research and Development, Applications, Industry-Sponsored Research, Safety

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Orwellian dream come true: a badge that pinpoints you

Article Abstract:

Researchers are developing a new type of electronic computer-based surveillance system that can identify where a person is located and other related data from a badge worn by employees. The clip-on badge contains a microcomputer the size of an identification card that transmits signals to a central system. The badge reveals a person's location, name, the nearest telephone extension, other badge-carrying people present in the room and the amount of time the person has spent at that location. Several analysts have voiced concern that this infringes on people's privacy rights. Some legislation has already been proposed to regulate the amount of monitoring that companies can implement and whether employees must be made aware of that surveillance.

Communications equipment, not elsewhere classified, Cases, Privacy, Product development, Privacy, Right of, Right of privacy, Security measures, Electronic surveillance, Security Systems, Legal Issues, Surveillance Systems

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