Avoiding Red Lights By Booking Ahead 299
RedEaredSlider writes "Peter Stone, associate professor of computer science at the University of Texas at Austin, has presented an idea at the AAAS meeting today for managing intersections: a computer in a car calls ahead to the nearest intersection it is headed towards, and says it will arrive at a given time. The intersection checks to see if anyone else is arriving then, and if the slot is open, it tells the car to proceed. If it isn't, it tells the car that the car remains responsible for slowing down or stopping. He says that even with only a few connected cars, the system still works, even if the benefits are still only to those who have the connected vehicles."
Re:Roundabouts (Score:5, Funny)
Tell that to the people in my neighbourhood who don't have a clue how to deal with a roundabout.
Re:I've been doing this for years (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Roundabouts (Score:4, Funny)
Scary, isn't it. We had a roundabout put in one of our major intersections about a year ago (to much wailing and rending of garments). Perhaps 90% of drivers picked it up in the first few weeks. The other 10%, well, all I can say it's a shame that speeds are so low that we'll never get rid of them via traffic accidents. We just have to find some better way.
Nobody really liked my idea of putting forks in some power outlets to see who would pull them out.
Re:What happens when people change their minds.. (Score:5, Funny)
Good rant, but a few nitpicks:
1. No, the usage of 'fail' was entirely appropriate.
Defined by popular usage, FAIL means "there was a slight incongruity between what was promised and what was delivered, and by the way, I'm slightly retarded." (For comparison, EPIC FAIL is the same as FAIL, with the addendum, 'and I shat myself.')
If the speaker had meant to imply that the system really didn't perform, he would have written that it performs "literally."
2. If you ask one thousand experts about your great idea, you'll find that 990 of them aren't experts, 9 of the 10 remaining will only tell you all the ways it can't work, and the last guy will try to steal your idea.