The opening of Terry Bennett’s new Wired opinion piece about the smart infrastructure that will be needed to handle interconnected, autonomous cars:

“Much has been written about the era of connected cars, especially as excitement grows around announcements that besides Google, Audi, Nissan, Tesla, Mercedes Benz, and others are planning to make commercially available self-driving cars, too.

The discussions range from the ethics of autonomous cars to every latest announcement around the technology involved in Google’s own self-driving car project — from wearables to manufacturing. But there’s a danger to these one-dimensional discussions: We can’t rely on the technology inside the car alone.

We need to think about what’s outside, too — a smart, interconnect infrastructure for our roadways.

It’s moving from thinking only about traffic lights, signs, and crosswalk lights to adding intelligence into pavement, utilities, and the like. This will require changes in how we think about business models, job functions, and more. Because our existing roadways aren’t inert objects: They’re dynamic systems comprised of the interplay between cars and traffic signals, as well as repaving and restriping.

With autonomous cars, infrastructure enters the realm of science fiction.”