Summary: A Fox News article online entitled, "Forget Smart Cars, Imagine an Intelligent Highway," by Jennifer Booton describes a new form of technology for todays modern roads. This new leap in transportation was comprised by a man named Daan Roosegaarde who worked towards improving roadways instead of focusing on just the automobiles. The first test of the 'super road' will be conducted on a section in the Netherlands province of Brabant later in 2013. The road will use a mixture of solar technology and sensors to save energy for both cars and the road itself. It will be used to charge electric cars, illuminate streets/lights, provide ascetic appeal, and much more. If the test run of this new smart highway goes well, production for multiple 'Intelligent Highways' could begin as soon as in the next 5 years.
Analysis: Previous generations had always thought the 'next big thing' would be the hover car, in other words, some type of flying automobile. What they didn't think of was what would that mean for the roads. Logically, if we were to improve one, we would need to improve the other, in this case if we improve the technology of cars, wouldn't make sense to improve the roads? When we discuss improving cars to become electric, we take into account the fact that we would no longer need gas as fuel, but what would be the affects of an intellegent highway? This technology would completely change the way the world views ground transportation. We no longer would have gas or electric charging stations at every street corner, yet somehow we would have to pay for this electricity from the road. Which brings up the problem of how money makes the world go round. This change in fuel is definitely a game changer for any country's economy, making its government get a little bit more involved in the use of road systems. So sure the energy saving concept is rather intriguing, but in a long term investment, theres a lot of kinks to work out.
Source:
http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2013/09/12/forget-smart-cars-imagine-intelligent-highway/?cmpid=ac_ywtm
Very interesting! It's amazing to see how technology has a way of working its way into almost every aspect of our daily life! Many people will probably find this to be very helpful.
ReplyDeleteThis new idea would definitely help the environment and economy! Not having to pay for high gas prices will positively affect many people. It's cool to see how technology is constantly developing in today's world.
ReplyDeleteI think this is definitely a great idea. As you said, there are a lot of problems that would have to be worked out. And of course, changing every single road to this new and improved one would be a bit of a challenge. However, the idea is a great start to trying to improve. I think that altering the road, rather than individual cars is a great idea!
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