Putting the auto in automobile

It may be hard to accept but it.s likely that we.d all be much
safer in autonomous vehicles driven by computers, not humans.
Annually more than 30,000 Americans die in car crashes, almost all
due to human error. Autonomous vehicles will communicate position
and speed to each other and avoid potential collisions-without the
possibility of dozing off or road rage. There are still many legal
(and insurance) issues to resolve, but researchers who are revving
up the development of autonomous vehicles are relying on geometry
for recognizing and tracking objects, probability to assess risk,
and logic to prove that systems will perform as required. The
advent of autonomous vehicles will bring in new systems to manage
traffic as well, for example, at automated intersections. Cars will
communicate to intersection-managing computers and secure
reservations to pass through. In a matter of milliseconds, the
computers will use trigonometry and differential equations to
simulate vehicles. paths through the intersection and grant entry
as long as there is no conflict with other vehicles. paths. Waiting
won.t be completely eliminated but will be substantially reduced,
as will the fuel--and patience--currently wasted. Although the
intersection at the left might look wild, experiments indicate that
because vehicles would follow precise paths, such intersections
will be much safer and more efficient than the ones we drive
through now.