15 FUTURE Road Designs that will change the world

No matter what Doc Brown says, we’re always going to need roads. Whether we’re cruising down the interstate, sitting in rush hour traffic, or grinding down a dirt road at night, roads get you where you need to go. But not only do they need a lot of maintenance, some of them, it would seem, are becoming outdated as we move further into the future, moving from gas to hybrid to electric vehicles. It begs the question: what comes next? Engineers are hard at work to bring us roads that glow, roads that talk, and even roads in the sky. So join us for today’s video, where we countdown the top 15 future road designs!

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[BucketlistBeatty]

I love how this video praises LA for syncing its traffic lights to reduce congestion but LA is also known for being one of the worst cities for traffic and being congested. Only further proves the point that we should be building dense walkable cities that don't depend on the car to get you around.

[andrewsydney]

@ 5:50 "Los Angeles is the first city in the world to fully synchronise all of its traffic signals". INCORRECT. Sydney, Australia did this in the 1970's. Over 300 cities around the world have purchased the same software to use on their traffic signals. The system is the Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System.

[thomvandenakker]

Here in the Netherlands we quite commonly have green wave traffic signals, they are synchronized lights but across very long stretches of roads.
The idea is that a sign indicates you a recommended driving speed and if you remain driving at that speed you should (not always) end up at a green light at the next intersection, so you can keep driving through.
I have to drive through one of these waves when entering Eindhoven which is almost 2 kilometers in length, with 3 traffic signals which ends up in a roundabout

[jaidee]

The first time I experienced linked traffic signals was in the early 80s, Dortmund in Germany had them. The Autobahn flowed straight into the main route through the city, each set of lights was linked, you stuck to the limit you'd only get stopped at one set, then return to the Autobahn outside the city and back up to speed.

The results: slow moving traffic through the city, lower emissions, improved fuel economy.
I have to say, it could be nerve wracking approaching a set of lights at 50 KPH thinking: change, Change, CHANGE!!! but they always did.

[gobbletegook]

Great video. There is a parking lot in my home town that uses the motion controlled lights. The great thing about it is that it is a security light. If someone is in the lot late at night, it lights up, as well as saving money

[taitano]

An advantage to glow in the dark lines is that they can shine through light snow and heavy rains that could reduce the visibility of the retroreflective paint currently standard.
Bellingham, Washington has had synchronized traffic lights for several decades. LA may be the first LARGE city to use it, but it's certainly not the first ever.

[alphaxion]

The UK has had a solution for marking roads where there's no street lights for decades, they're called cat's eyes and they do the job fantastically since they use no power and are self cleaning.

[lisaaz]

I remember watching a program on PBS about 15 years ago about scientists who incorporated rubber from used car tires into tar that allowed roads to last 20 years longer because they could flex with weather changes. They had already road tested for several years. Never heard anything about it again.
I always suspected to concrete or tar industry of buying out that pattent and destroying it.

[TTeamFan]

Airlines across the world have found that more audible/visual warnings in the cockpit don't necessarily lead to an increase in safety - the audio-visual "clutter" actually distracts the pilot/driver from what needs to be done RIGHT NOW. I already find the proximity warning beeper in my car a distraction at critical moments and shudder to think what more intrusive alarms beyond my control will do to my ability to process what is going on.

[ChrisPtoes]

I love how we are getting to the point where we are just making everything more advanced. Like you think “how could a road get more advanced, it’s a flat asphalt track” but here we are.

[Comicsluvr]

A few points to consider:
1) The hyperloop is bunk. It'll never work as advertised.
2) The self-repairing road would be HUGE!
3) Replacing some roads with plastic versions of the same thing seems to make sense. I can see highways being replaced after some tech improvements and why not use waste plastic?
4) The temp-sensitive paint exists now in, of all things, coffee mugs that have funny sayings on them visible only when filled with hot or cold drinks. Using them on potentially icy roads seems like a no-brainer.
5) Induction charging lanes would change the ev vehicle market completely. The biggest drawback with them is range and the charging lane would eliminate that. If they used solar power to make the thing work then it becomes zero emissions as well.

[nathanfish]

Plastic roads will probably result in a *lot* more microplastic in the air

Edit at 3:26 in the video:
Didn't watch this video before commenting. Just provided my thoughts as is because most other videos going over the topic didn't address the microplastic problem. Glad to see a channel finally go over that issue instead of sweeping it under the rug

[neophytealpha]

A lot of road paint already has lenticular additives. Glow in the dark added to the lenticular and white could make it glow even more.

[Pimmie]

I love that a lot of the ideas are from my country, the Netherlands

[georgeslivka]

My préférée method is a mix between hyper loops and gliding airplanes, small, don’t crash by nature, light enough for paraschutes, and can be propelled magnetically from the ground. Plus the wings could come off as it moves through the city

[funcat]

I KNEW you were going to mention the netherlands. Most cool driving tech / infrastructure as far as i know.

[HumanBeingSpawn]

In Cape Town SA, they have reflectors that mark the pavement end to end and lane separation. It's pretty

[joannequina]

I am enjoying reading about all the geniuses at work coming up with brilliant ideas!

[spamrme]

Regarding more EV use in Europe vs North America.
My Scottish colleague had told me this tale.
His mom came to visit him in Canada. After he drove her a couple hundred kilometers sightseeing, she asked him if they had traveled to a different country.

[jimmartin]

The glowing road striping is an improvement over headlights by themselves, but nothing beats overhead lighting for maximum safety.