What if all cars became Teslas? The end of traffic jams.

A guess on what the roads would look like if all cars became autonomous and communicative. Based on a Twitter Thread I wrote, pretty proud of it.

A couple of days back, on our way to the airport, my dad and I got to talking about traffic jams arising purely out of human error (which btw is a perfectly normal conversation to have with your parents). That’s when we had this idea.

If all the on-road cars are replaced by Teslas (or equivalent technology), it could potentially mean the end of traffic jams in that area. The passengers would just input their destination, lay back, and let the network do its “thing”.

The “thing” here would be to communicate within this network of cars and alter the driving behavior of each unit. The network would adjust a car’s speed, route, and other parameters to optimize for the shortest travel time while keeping the other vehicles as a factor.

This will allow for the self-driving AI to drive at much faster speeds since all the cars will be controlled by the network, which means (with precise calculations) you could have 4 cars crossing a junction at very high speeds and not crash (very idealistic but possible).

On-ground functionality, for example, will include mapping the road for potholes and updating the network’s database, checking the road for any other obstructions (breakdowns, barriers, and so on), finding better routes, and reporting rash driving/hostile drivers.

The obvious benefits from this system would be always staying in motion (unlike the current scenario of complete halting with traffic lights, domino effect of braking, etc.) and reducing the number of road accidents (caused by human error).

There would have to be a system of prioritization (healthcare emergencies, movement of heads of states, etc.) but that can be added later. Other features could be taking more scenic routes over the faster ones, adding joyride options, and so forth.

Eventually (after much calibration and crossing a minimum threshold % of self-driving cars on-road as compared to other vehicles), the only bottlenecks would be physical (narrow roads, footpaths, and damaged infrastructure) but they can be tweaked as and when they arise.

This system could then be extended to all other modes of motor transportation (trucks, buses, bikes, etc.).