By Andrew Liszewski
Sure the Drive-e-mocion is a novel but limited way to communicate with other drivers (or at least those other drivers currently behind your own vehicle) but it’s really lacking in the high-tech department.
Sony is currently patenting a more elaborate means to get your message across to nearby drivers. The system uses high-powered LEDs built into a vehicle’s headlights that appear to produce a continuous beam of light but in fact are rapidly flashing an encoded message. A light sensor on the target vehicle would then decode the message and deliver it to the other driver. Other interesting applications include the ability for a traffic light to beam out a countdown of how long it will remain on red and police cars or ambulances being able to beam out emergency messages to many different vehicles.
While the traffic light application is something I’d love to see I still think it’s not the greatest of ideas to make it easier for drivers to communicate with each other. Being able to easily ‘express’ ones feelings towards another motorist seems like a quick path to more road rage in my opinion.
