Think there’s a lot of new technology going into cars? Well, you’re spot on! So much technology in fact that in about 2 years, we Singapore drivers will more likely be driving data packets on an Ethernet cable with packet shapers and QoS to make us more efficient. Now doesn’t that remind you of Tron?
When the Singapore government announced plans to upgrade the ERP in-car units with GPS-enabled ones earlier this year, most Singaporeans looked at it as a system to toll a driver from anywhere and the end of speeding. While the fast-lane will now just be max-speed lane, it gives rise to the possibility of something quite revolutionary.
According to Tom Vanderblit, author of Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), drivers today make user-optimal and not system-optimal decisions. He explains in the August issue of Wired that if we think of cars on the roads as data packets on a network, we get a chance at packet (traffic) shaping to improve our drive.
The article ends by mentioning the possibility of giving drivers real-time traffic data and offering dynamic traffic routing, but only if every car (in any given congestion) had technology such as Dash Navigation’s GPS-based social networking system.
It amazes me that what seems a dream to a futurist author could become a reality in my home country in about 2 years. The pieces just seem to fit: Congestions + GPS + ubiquitous wireless network (3G). And even better, Singaporeans won’t (can’t) complain about the death of road freedom!
Filed under: Technology
that from tron2?!
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Interesting look at how technology could assist in reducing traffic. The only problem I see though is that the peak traffic hours and locations will still tend to gravitate towards the same periods and places. Our working hours are generally more or less equivalent, and the density in residential areas are more or less fixed. Perhaps if roads can be more like grids without directions, it could be better. Or if cars can fly!
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