Collective intelligence will help autonomous cars avoid accidents

Drivers would be able to look out for each other.

The University of Sydney is currently collaborating with Cohda Wireless to develop technology helping to make roads safer. The innovation is being initially created for autonomous vehicles, although it is also suitable for standard cars. The concept is remarkably simple: Drivers must keep their eyes on the road and each other.

If a car is believed to be on the verge of an accident, other vehicles will alert the driver. Although in the case of autonomous cars, "communication" occurs between onboard computers. For standard vehicles, though, other drivers will have to inform anyone facing danger. For example, they can display warnings on a car's windscreen through augmented reality technology.

This will significantly reduce the likelihood of an accident in hazardous situations when danger is out of the driver's line of vision. Traffic cameras could also be linked to help people. Thereby, this discovery can reduce the number of accidents that occur in poor visibility conditions considerably.