Isn't that how we advance though? By trying new things? Sure they may not work first time or even at all but nothing ventured nothing gained.
It sounds like they had some issues in the pilot but learnt from them and adapted some things.
Call me a risk-taker but I am genuinely interested in this.
(oh and if the panels are heated like they say then there would be no frost damage, or salt for that manner.... 
)
Absolutely agree with that, yes.
It's more that, well I wish there was a bit more of what I could call the Jurassic Park level of thinking in design.. that wonderful line "we were so caught up in whether we
could we didn't stop to think whether we
should" and that's a good way of looking at the world, in my humble. We
can do many things n this world, and technology marches on, of course. But the chief priority for us as a species is to be kind to the rock we're all living on - to preserve the life that resides here, be it human or other animals.
If this technology means the roads are safer, that is fine. But it must do it in a way that offers a lower carbon footprint than that already generated by conventional roadbuilding methods - and ideally a fair whack less. Consider the Hollywood Actor that buys a new Prius every year to be 'green' and 'save the planet' - year, but they have a corvette in the garage, too, and in any case, the thing costs far more to produce in the first place than a normal car, and doesn't offset its own imprint on the planet via reduced tailpipe emissions for several years. So buying a new Prius every year actually costs the planet.
Not damning this technology, not at all, it's very exciting. But we're all scrabbling to invent new greener, safer ways of doing things - which in turn means throwing out the old, still perfectly serviceable technology it claims to replace. But often keeping something going by proper maintenance and care, like an Omega for instance, is often greener than simply disposing of it, on the claim that it is 'recyclable' We had many a debate over these issues with lecturers, and the true impact of new tech, which offers alleged golden eggs.
If I were asked to design a new safer road surface, I'd probably start looking at finding a means of pulping, grinding certain types of landfill - perhaps even crumbing plastic, something we have an inexhaustible supply of - and mixing it with a natural bonding agent such as tar, or maybe look toward something less noxious / sustainable. A road sign by the side of the road which can change like a TV screen has massive advantages in terms of ease of maintenance, compared with a road surface that does the same, too.
As for glowing roads that alert us to roe deer in the road, the Mk. 1 Eyeball still has a function, and in any case the road scanning technologies / self-driving cars are literally around the corner. If they're not careful this road technology may get made obsolete like the Forth and Clyde canal, intended to help sail vessels circumvent the hazardous trip around Scotland which was opened just in time for the invention of Steam ships, or the Minidisc, three seconds before mp3s come about.
I purely speculate, and as these words shall last for as long as this is hosted, I could in fact be marking myself down for all time as Betamax man, here
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Topic: Interesting tech (Read 4120 times)