Could driverless cars end traffic jams?
For decades, transportation planners have argued there is no way to build enough highways to keep pace with North Texas' explosive growth, but a study led by Southern Methodist University engineering professor Khaled Abdelghani suggests the answer may not be more pavement, but smarter vehicles.
Unlike human drivers, autonomous cars can communicate with one another, allowing them to maintain consistent speeds and eliminate the stop-and-go traffic that often appears without an obvious cause. Researchers refer to those slowdowns as "flow breakdowns," the phantom traffic jams that ripple backward even when there is no crash ahead.
Plus, fewer accidents caused by human error could increase the number of vehicles existing highways can safely accommodate.
Traffic lights will become part of the conversation
Autonomous vehicles won't simply communicate with one another. Abdelghani says they'll also exchange information with traffic signals, allowing vehicles to adjust their speed before reaching an intersection. Instead of accelerating toward a red light only to brake suddenly, vehicles could slow gradually, reducing fuel consumption, emissions and rear-end crashes.
Your next car could be an office on wheels
Once drivers no longer need to focus on the road, the automobile itself begins to take on a different purpose, according to Abdelghani. Commutes become work sessions. Long trips become opportunities to sleep, read, watch movies or hold meetings. Instead of designing cars around the driver, manufacturers may begin designing them around how people want to spend their time.
Abdelghani tells his students to think beyond today's vehicles and imagine spaces built for living rather than driving.
The future may not include owning a car
Instead of maintaining two or three vehicles in every household, families could summon an autonomous vehicle only when they need one. That shift could reduce the need for garages, parking lots and even some personal vehicles, fundamentally changing how neighborhoods and homes are designed.
New independence for seniors and people with disabilities
Driverless transportation could dramatically expand independence for older adults, people with visual impairments and others who cannot safely operate a vehicle. Abdelghani says rather than relying on family members or caregivers, passengers could summon transportation to medical appointments, grocery stores, and community events.
Abdelghani believes that benefit alone will make autonomous vehicles transformative.
Ron Corning is a host of KERA's NTX Now. Got a tip? Email Ron at rcorning@kera.org.
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