Researchers at the University of Alberta in Canada are fitting major roads in Edmonton with sensors to relay real time information to cars on the road. We've heard about the technology before, but now it's actually getting implemented. The sensors will be fitted to roads and traffic signals, and they will monitor congestion, speed, accidents and other factors that cause traffic. As part of the study, two hundred cars will be fitted with the wireless technology to receive the information from the sensors in real time. This will give the drivers the ability to make on-the-fly decisions about their commute. This has great potential to lower traffic congestion on roads because drivers will be able to see what's happening and decide to change routes ahead of time. David Lynch, the Dean of Engineering at the University of Alberta, was quoted as saying, "time we spend in traffic jams is time that we are not being productive or enjoying our personal life" by the Edmonton Journal. Truer words have never been spoken. No one enjoys sitting in traffic, it's a waste of time. Technology and research like this could potentially be the beginning of the end for traffic jams and wasted time on the road.
November is home to two of the biggest days of the year, thanksgiving and Black Friday. It's not unusual for people to start planning their Thanksgiving plans weeks or month in advance, but Black Friday prep usually begins a couple days to a week ahead of time. Not true for two Beaumont California residents. Two women have set up shop and began camping in front of the local Best Buy THREE WEEKS in advance of the stores Black Friday deals. They stated to local news that they want to make sure they get the deals they are looking for. One of those deals being a fifty-inch HD TV for $200. Sure that's a good deal, but do you really want to camp outside a Best Buy for three weeks and miss Thanksgiving to get it? I guess if you survive the cold and the boredom at least you’ll have something to be thankful for on Thanksgiving this year.
Volkswagen has created an entirely electric car, and you would never know. Volkswagen has done what other automakers don't seem to realize is important. They have created an all-electric car that is almost indistinguishable from its gas fueled brothers and sisters. The eGolf (aside from the moniker) doesn't look any different from the standard Golf that VW rolls off its assembly line. In fact, Volkswagen has done such a great job disguising their electric car that they can be built right on the same production line as the gas powered Golfs. This also serves as a huge advantage to Volkswagen as a company, because unlike other automakers they do not need to predict the amount of electric cars they will sell for the year and produce them ahead of time. The eGolfs can pretty much be built to order. Rather than the standard fuel burning engine and battery, when an electric is made they just drop in a larger battery and a different engine, right from the same assembly line. It's nice to see an electric car that doesn't shout it's green status from the rooftop, but rather blends in with all the other cars on the road.
Just last Friday was the sweetest day of the year. Not just because it's so awesome but also because practically every house is giving away free candy to anyone who asks. One Seattle man however didn't get the memo. Around 8:30pm on Halloween a 37-year-old resident of Seattle decided to break in the front door of a chocolate shop and steal twenty-two dollars worth of candy. Residents near by saw the break in and called the police, who apprehended the sweet bandit shortly after he left the scene. I hate to burst this guy's bubble, but I'm pretty sure my nephew made out with over twenty-two dollars worth of free candy and his way was totally legal. This dude should take some lessons on how to trick or treat properly for next year.
We posted a while back talking about driverless cars that could interact with one another, but what about cars that interact with the roads themselves? The same technology is being looked at as a safer, more efficient form of traffic regulation. We all know how traffic lights work, the light changes based on a timer and we rely on the drivers to obey the signal. Now with the technology being put into cars, they are looking at replacing the standard traffic light with sensors that can "speak" with your car. The car would transmit information about speed, position, etc. the traffic light would then decide to send a signal back to your car that is the safest and most efficient choice based on traffic patterns. So your car may continue driving through the intersection, or the car may begin to slow down, as the light will decide to let another lane of cars through. Now of course this technology can't be implemented until all the cars on the road are equipped with driverless technology, but they estimate in another fifty to sixty years that is the world we could be looking at. The other possibility is to have specific lanes and roadways for driverless cars only, this way this type of travel could be possible even with today's standard of automobile still on the road.
