Solar Roadways: The Prototype

[WildspitzE]

Pretty cool concept.

"The Solar Roadways project is working to pave roads with solar panels that you can drive on..."

[dummass]

Re: Solar Roadways: The Prototype

Pretty cool concept.

What the video didn't say:

The electronic roadway monitors your speed, at all times.
It notifies you of speeding infractions by email.
It automatically debits your credit card for the imposed violations.
It has a built in backscatter X-ray scanner, which monitors vehicle contents without discretion.
It will also identify the occupants of the vehicle by referencing the biometric database.

Of course, driving is not a right; it's a privilege!

[WildspitzE]

Re: Solar Roadways: The Prototype

What the video didn't say:

The electronic roadway monitors your speed, at all times.
It notifies you of speeding infractions by email.
It automatically debits your credit card for the imposed violations.
It has a built in backscatter X-ray scanner, which monitors vehicle contents without discretion.
It will also identify the occupants of the vehicle by referencing the biometric database.

Of course, driving is not a right; it's a privilege!

you forgot, it gives you cancer.

[Rajiv]

Re: Solar Roadways: The Prototype

Pretty cool concept.

"The Solar Roadways project is working to pave roads with solar panels that you can drive on..."

Some more videos with some more details

Company Website

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: Solar Roadways: The Prototype

These panels are rigid, not flexible like asphalt. That means the subroad will have to be built up more like crushed stone ballast underneath a railroad track. This is especially challenging in climates with freezing winter temperatures. This might make sense as a gradual phase in for major arteries with heavy traffic and for inter-state highways, but I don't see it happening on secondary roads in my lifetime.

The efficiency of the solar panels will be degraded by road dirt, oil and grime, and of course falls to precisely zero at night time.

None of the above is a show stopper so far as I know. But it does mean that one has to be careful in costing out the benefits of this and in assumptions as to how much of our roads could be economically replaced with these glass panels.