KEY POINTS:
Traffic gridlock will be solved and car crashes become a thing of the past thanks to intelligent roads that drive cars, says a six-year study by two New Zealand researchers.
Transport Communications, a book by two professors from Lincoln and Victoria universities, suggests that nanotechnology, satellite communications, computer
chips and even sleeping pills will end congestion on roads, in the air and at sea.
Some of the forecast developments sound like science fiction, but the authors say they could become a reality in the next 50 years.
Co-author John Tiffin, emeritus professor of communications atVictoria, told the Herald one of the most immediate possibilities was an air traffic control-type system for motorways.
"Putting intelligence into roads so they drive cars rather than the other way round is perfectly feasible and is one of the most immediate possibilities the book suggests."
The speed at which cars travel and the flow of traffic would becontrolled by a central system in the same way an air traffic control centre manages aircraft.
"It is not a giant step becauseartificial intelligence is gradually taking over in transport and it makes sense to have one system rather than relying on all the different drivers," Professor Tiffin said.
"Planes already travel on autopilot and cars have lots ofcomputers which tell the driver to slow down, buckle up or change the oil."
Switching the intelligence from the car and the driver to a central system would stop accidents and be a much more efficient use of roads, he said.
The book brings together six years of collaborative research by Professor Tiffin on communications and Professor Chris Kissling of Lincoln University on transport.
Professor Kissling is in England promoting the book and his colleague will join him next week ahead of its September 7 publication.
Professor Kissling told the Observer newspaper in London that airports, ports, roads and shipping routes were all expanding and struggling to cope with more and larger traffic.
"We're trying to help people look into the future - what changes are coming - because more of the same, we think, is limited."
Professor Tiffin said it was "madness" that society was worried about climate change but "every airport in every city in the world is expanding".
While the book did not have "nice neat answers", it suggested a series of possibilities, he said.
The future it envisages relies on global positioning system satellites, which would help computers to guide cars on roads and fly planes or pilot ships remotely.
Other developments include giant radio-controlled submarines to transport goods around the world while freeing up shipping lanes and opening new trade routes.
Passengers on pilotless planes will be given sleeping pills and stacked horizontally, and nanotechnology will develop "clever clothes", including to help people to run or carry heavy loads.
Professor Kissling said that was already beginning to happen with the likes of firefighters' jackets and police stab-proof vests.
Virtual reality will also free people from travelling to meetings, and although that is already beginning to happen, the authors do not foresee the end of human contact.
As the book says, computers have "better memories and faster calculating skills ... do not get absent-minded, drowsy or drunk - but there will always be a need for human touch".