Traffic Fantasy: Michigan Pitches Dumb Idea

As if we needed more evidence that the people running things may actually be even dumber than we are, Michigan leadership has proposed building a separate lane for autonomous cars to run between Ann Arbor and Detroit. The special road would implement a vehicle-to-infrastructure communications network and is planned to be built alongside Michigan Avenue and I-94 as its own separate lane. Kind of like a bus line or railroad.

Reminiscent of the “ Highway of Tomorrow” that premiered in General Motors’ 1956 Motorama short Design for Dreaming, where a woman dances around the latest automotive products before the whole thing descends into futurist madness, Michigan’s more-modern concept is only slightly less ridiculous. State governor Gretchen Whitmer announced the project on Thursday, noting that it already had support from both the public and private sectors.

That doesn’t mean it will leave the realm of fantasy, however.

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  • 3-On-The-Tree In my life before the military I was a firefighter EMT and for the majority of the car accidents that we responded to ALCOHOL and drugs was the main factor. All the suggested limitations from everyone above don’t matter if there is a drunken/high fool behind the wheel. Again personal responsibility.
  • Wjtinfwb NONE. Vehicle tech is not the issue. What is the issue is we give a drivers license to any moron who can fog a mirror. Then don't even enforce that requirement or the requirement to have auto insurance is you have a car. The only tech I could get behind is to override the lighting controls so that headlights and taillights automatically come on at dusk and in sync with wipers. I see way too many cars after dark without headlights, likely due to the automatic control being overridden and turned to "Off". The current trend of digital or electro-luminescent dashboards exacerbates this as the dash is illuminated, fooling a driver into thinking the headlights are on.
  • Kjhkjlhkjhkljh kljhjkhjklhkjh given the increasing number of useless human scumbags who use their phones while driving (when it is not LIFE AND DEATH EMERGENCY) there has to be a trade off.It is either this, or make phone use during driving a moving violation that can suspend a license.
  • Wjtinfwb Great. Another Solyndra boondoggle wasting the tax dollars we contribute and further digging us into debt. The saying, "don't listen to what they say, watch what they do" has never been more accurate. All this BS talk about "preserving Democracy" and "level playing fields" are just words. The actions say, "we don't give a damn about democracy, we want to pick the winners and use the taxpayer revenue to do it". 100 million is chump change in auto development and manufacturing and doling that out in 300k increments is just a colossal waste. Nothing happens in a large manufacturing enterprise for 300k., it's a rounding error. A symbolic gesture. Ford and GM likely spend 300k designing a new logo for the 12V battery that runs your radio. For EV development it's a fart in a Hurricane.
  • Bd2 Let's Go Brandon!