Car Tech Advances Can Recharge Detroit

Detroit needs to heed Henry Ford's advice and take failure as "the opportunity to begin again more intelligently," Sebastian Thrum and Anthony Levandowski write in the New York Times. Here are four technologies that can help the Big Three automakers turn things around:

• Car-to-car communication: Wireless technology will allow vehicles and traffic signals to communicate with each other, reducing accidents by up to 30%.

• Robot driving: Computers already help most new cars to steer; fully automated cars could drive in tight formation while you sip coffee and read the paper.
• Solar: Panels on cars is one thing—but a garage, even in low sunlight areas, could provide enough plug-in power for 10,000 miles of driving a year.
• Cars go online: How about a checking the Net for a nearby parking space while you drive? Or ordering a pizza while you park? An online car "could utterly transform the driving experience."

(More cars stories.)