Traffic Blocks, Self-Driving Cars, and the Case for Road Beacons
Traffic is not random—it is the product of inflow and outflow. When more cars enter a road segment than leave it, congestion forms. What lingers, however, is not just the incident itself but the slow, staggered release of human reaction. This essay explores how self-driving cars can shorten those tails, and how a new layer of road infrastructure—information beacons broadcasting simple, low-latency truths—could transform traffic from reaction into cooperation.
SF
11 min read