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Cars have been getting smarter, and now it looks like roads are getting set to catch up.
Sun-charged road markings, symbols that appear when the surface is icy, and lights that switch off after cars have passed are all on the plan for a section of highway being built in the Netherlands next year.
The road markings use a luminous pigment that feeds on sunlight to produce up to 10 hours of glow after dark, replacing the painted markings that shine only when headlights hit them.
A temperature-activated dynamic paint will be used for snowflake symbols that will appear when the surface is cold enough to be dangerously slippery. Rather than burning throughout the night, Interactive lights will switch on as cars approach and then off again after they’ve passed.
The small section of highway being developed in the Dutch province of Brabant was designed by Studio Roosegarde, whose head Dan Roosegarde told wired.co.uk there was interest from other countries.
"India is really keen on it; they have a lot of blackouts there, it would be hallelujah to them,” Roosegarde said, adding he was keen to take the designs to the US and particularly the west coast epicentre of technology that is home to giants like Google, Apple and Microsoft.
"It amazes me that most innovation in the west coast is screen based -- I always imagined that technology jumping out of our screens and becoming part of our environment,” he said.
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