Amazon Patent Hints At Big Future Plans For Self-Driving Cars

A patent given to tech massive Amazon has exposed plans for a highway network that would control self-driving cars and Lorries.

It outlines how these vehicles would communicate with traffic flow and reversible lanes. Given the sprawling distribution network that Amazon commands across the world, any move into self-driving vehicles makes a huge amount of sense.

Originally filed in November 2015, the patent was decided earlier this week & imagines a roadway management system where the vehicles are told which lane to use and when.

This is crucial in haulage (mainly in the USA) since rescindable lanes come into effect dependent on the course of the majority of the traffic

"Disclosed are various embodiments for coordination of autonomous vehicles in a roadway," states the patent.

"A roadway management system can generate lane configurations for a roadway or portion of the roadway.

"The roadway management system can determine the direction of travel for lanes in a roadway and direct autonomous automobiles to enter the roadway in a particular lane."

The system appears to be designed so that any automaker can sync their cars with the proposed network.

Amazon is heavily investing in new forms of distribution. Last month, the company trumpeted its first ever drone delivery here in the UK.

Amazon says the first distribution was an Amazon Fire TV Stick & a bag of popcorn that was couriered to a purchaser in Cambridge. Seemingly, it took only 13 minutes from clicking the buy button on the website to having the order at the door.

Amazon has chosen to unveil the service in the United Kingdom rather instead of the United States due to the permissions received from moderators.