Smart highways that will allow a driver to program a destination on a dashboard computer, then sit back and enjoy the ride. University, the University of Michigan and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, among others. But there is plenty of work to go around. Shirley likes the idea of building a smart highway test lane parallel to the Blacksburg-Ironto expressway. The goal is to reduce traffic fatalities by 50 percent by the turn of the century.
Drivers also use compact discs that show the location of gas stations and other useful information.
RACS goes a step farther, with digital road maps that show a car's exact location. This system is being tested in Yokohama and in Tokyo, where even cab drivers have a hard time finding their way through the maze of streets. Putting smart cars onto smart highways in the United States would be expensive - though the cost might be offset in the long run by improvements in safety and reduced fuel consumption. Industries are waiting for a commitment from the government before going full speed ahead with smart highway research and development, he said.