Our phones and car know where we want to go. Why shouldn’t the traffic lights know as well?

Long gone are the days of “just going for a drive.” If I’m in my car I have places I need to be and I would like to get there as quickly and safely as possible. I would love to not have to actually engage in the actual driving process as well.

Driverless technology keeps moving forward, but why aren’t we promoting a fully connected future?

Maybe people are afraid to give their information to the government? You know like when you have to license your vehicle? You don’t think Tesla or Google knows where you are all the time?

What’s the Solution?

Cars should be able to understand other cars and the city traffic grid. When you get in your car and enter your destination your car tells the grid of your intentions and it can try to help you and the other existing cars in the grid.

You don’t have to participate. Maybe you’re planning on hopping around from store to store and just want to drive free. That’s fine, but understand that the lights and other traffic will not be in your favor.

Aren’t Companies Working on This?

I’m sure larger companies are trying to press on local governments to make this a reality, or maybe they’re not. Maybe they want to have the best ecosystem that they built and don’t want to share with others.

The media focus seems to be on driverless technology, but there’s not mention of the other benefits of not having to have a driver make decisions. You could have a perfect self-driving car, but if you are always stuck in traffic you’re still not getting anywhere.

There is no immediate financial benefit of a car company trying to develop communication systems unless there is a widely spread solution to cars being able to understand the current state of lights or more importantly the future state. I’m guessing Google is getting smart enough to start to understand that based on user’s phones how frequently users are stopped at certain lights during certain times of the day. They could then give suggestions on estimated travel time improvements with certain changes.

What Will Driving Be Like in 25 Years?

You have to imagine that in the future gas will be limited to the rich who will still want to drive their trucks and classic cars. They’ll probably own driverless cars too, but want the freedom to just drive like the good ole’ days.

We need a way to allow for safe efficient travel alongside random joy rides.