Driverless Cars and the Future

[LochnarITB]

I doubt that there would ever be a system that maintains the cars at just a few feet at speed.

I wonder if a solution to this might be a no-space system. Have the cars built with the ability to attach to each other. They are all computer controlled and so can communicate with each other (wirelessly before connection) to determine when paths line up long enough to connect and when space is needed. They would arrange themselves such that vehicles going the same way for a certain amount of time would attach to reduce drag, share workloads, and react to problems as a combined system instead of individually. Could maybe have the attachment mechanisms built such that a car failing gets supported by the other cars it is attached to so that it can fail gracefully. Like brakes failing gets communicated and the other cars help it stop. Just a crazy idea that came to mine from reading your post.

Actually, I almost added something to that effect. I started to type "unless they were to train together". It would be a great idea for freeway situations like long distance commuters. It would maybe even be the first type of application where the masses would accept it. Drive yourself to the onramp. The system sync light comes on. You open your morning paper or lay back for a little nap and off you go as Autobot eases you into your space. You get close to your offramp and the car gently alerts you. If something did happen, and you were run off the road, your experience might be 'What the hell happened? All of a sudden, this car turned into a cannoli.'