Culture
9 Technologies for Building the 'Road of the Future'
Cities around the world are reinventing the highway with things like de-icing pavements, color-changing paint and wind-powered street lights.
Imagine you're cruising on a motorbike along a narrow road winding viperlike through the mountains. Around the next bend, a flooding natural spring has covered the pavement with thin, slippery ice. A rider who's none too careful might slide right into this frozen street-lake and suffer a bone-shattering crash.
Now imagine you're cruising on a highway that's wired to sense the local temperature. Ghostly, blue snowflake symbols begin to appear on the surface of the asphalt, warning that the road is cold enough to freeze. You brake in time to avoid the ice, as well as a bunch of pain and hospital bills.