As I was reading this article on ReadWrite, I had this unusual thought: What if cars had APIs? We have started to see the Internet of Things in toasters, lamps, and even egg counters. People are getting pretty crazy with their inventions, but until now we did not see innovations in the automobile industry. What if there was a Car Operating System that can know all of the car’s internal details. What if there was a protocol for car-to-phone communication? Then, we can have custom dashboard apps that can be downloaded to tablets. We can detect all car thefts and bring justice. We can customize the safety of our cars using Python scripts. We can program the car not to run if the driver did not have the seatbelt on. We can put speed caps for teenagers. The car can send us notifications when oil needs changing, tires need air, or the car is out of gas.
What if car-to-car communication became a reality? If Car OS was connected to our GPS, the car can send driving directions to other cars in the form of requests. For example, my car will ask the car to my right, may I go right. The other car responds, go ahead. So, my car says that I am safe to turn right. Can this be the first step to commercializing driver-less cars? If it is, we may see car networks in the future.
What if cars were controlled by monitoring towers on the roads? The towers can be programmed to give the perfect car flow. There will be no more fighting to get to the next lane. No one will end up on a lane with a dead end. Traffic jams will fix themselves without stressing the drivers. The drivers can then have their cup of coffee or read the newspaper on the way to work. What if the car can read online newpapers instead of playing the radio?
What if the car network gets hacked. The hacker can make all the cars go to one direction. People’s doors will be locked and won’t open. Cars start running off bridges and hitting trees. People start flying out of the windows and get crushed by self-driving cars. Can this be the apocalypse, the day when the computers take over our virtual and real lives?