Speed controllers match the truck's speed with salt dispensation to keep mounds of snow from forming at stop signs. Some prototypes are nearly hands-free. Ari Adler, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Transportation, said Michigan is implementing global-positioning systems technology to track the plows across the state. Right now, that's done by hand. But eventually, we'll be able to do it automatically.
Video cameras track cars behind the plow.
Snow clouds are often blamed for causing plow-car collisions. Last winter there were 75 plow-vehicle crashes in Wisconsin. Wisconsin has eight prototype vehicles in eight counties. Eighteen trucks are on Iowa roads, all in one county. The new plows are just the beginning.