In the future you might not have to deal with rude drivers and speeding cars because cars will be completely autonomous.

Today's congested highways have resulted in a rising number of car accidents. In Australia the number of fatalities due to car accidents has increased every year. In 2009 the road toll was 1509 people killed in Australian roads. Traditional methods of preventing car crashes have mostly relied on building better automobiles but perhaps it's time to completely re-think the system.

One way of preventing accidents is by implementing an automated driving system in the car. The Highly Automated Vehicles for Intelligent Transport is a project that involves 17 universities, companies and institutions around Europe that proposes applying different levels of control in automobiles.

"Many drivers dislike the idea of automation; they fear that they will no longer be in charge of the vehicle," said Reiner Hoeger of the Automotive Systems and Technology department of Continental Automotive, one of the members of the HAVEit project told The Engineer.

"What we are proposing gives them a choice."

The system will have three different driving modes that is suitable for different situations. In the first mode, the driver remains in full control of the car. In the second, the car will only handle the braking and acceleration while in third mode, the car will handle the steering.

"Each mode has to be manually selected by the driver," said Hoeger.

"It's not done automatically, because it could lead to confusion."

Another approach to prevent automobile injuries is to completely automate the highways. Vehicles will travel on lanes that are equipped with specialized sensors and wireless communications systems. The vehicles will be linked in a communication network that will monitor the car's speed, acceleration, braking and so forth.

For now automated vehicle systems are being tested in public transportation. In the Netherlands the Park Shuttle an unmanned automated vehicle, shuttles people between parking lots and airport terminals at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. In Japan, car manufacturer Toyota has developed the Integrated Multimodal Transport Systern (IMTS). The IMTS operated several buses in close-headway platoon formations, all completely automated.

Automation is the future for highways and automobiles. It might take five years or ten but commuters will be riding buses without drivers in the near-future.