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Self-driving cars may get their own special 'Hyperlane' in the future

Eric Horvitz, the managing director of Microsoft Research, said roadways will change to accommodate self-driving cars in the future.

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At MIT's EmTech conference, Horvitz said with the advent of autonomous vehicles, that "we will have the rise of special lanes, hyper lanes, closed to manual traffic."

Microsoft declined to comment further for this article.

Eric Horvitz
Eric Horvitz YouTube/ Microsoft Research

Self-driving vehicles are certainly on the horizon. Many companies have publicly announced that they'll be releasing autonomous driving capabilities in their cars by 2020, with Google and Tesla as top competitors in the arms race.

Google will not make its own car, but will partner with suppliers to release their technology. The tech giant has met with General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Daimler and Volkswagen.

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But Tesla could beat Google to the punch. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company's fully autonomous vehicles are just a few years away.

And Nissan is currently testing a prototype of its self-driving car, with plans to release an autonomous system that can handle urban roads by 2020.

That being said, it makes sense that roadways might change to accommodate these new types of vehicles. After all, the United Kingdom is currently testing lanes that will self-charge your electric car as you drive, The Atlantic's CityLab reported. This makes sense considering more and more companies are investing in creating electric vehicles.

But at the same time, self-driving cars are developed to work on regular roadways alongside conventional vehicles, and are equipped with the ability to merge and change lanes.

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For example, Google's self-driving cars have sensors that can detect objects up to two football fields away, including people, vehicles, construction zones, birds, cyclists, and more.

Self-Driving Car Microsoft
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