Hope it's not running MS windows, it will give a new meaning to car crashes.

d) dial up to Deep Blue because it needs support calculations for avoiding crazy Italians

WooHOo - Go Aussie!

Like most innovative Aussie start-ups, this'll probably go offshore for further development ... headslap!

To the luddites, stop reading the Inq and by a Murdoch rag... or a papyrus times. Innovation is great!

I hope laws will stop this from becoming reality, human and computer competing for a ontrol of a fast moving vehicle is a recipe for disaster.

So if I go down the road within speed limit and a WiFi-incapable careless child steps on the road and I instinctively decide I do not have enough time to break and instead decide to swirve around the kid the computer will say: NO, you'll hit an incoming WiFi car and it forces me to stay in my line hitting a child the computer does not see?!? Stupid, stupid idea.

Well crap, I was hoping this was for computer drivers, but it's for car drivers. I don't care about the latter.

I think I'll slip one of these inside my wife's car while it gets repaired from the last crash.

I respectfully take exception with your narrow-minded view of the ability of Rome's drivers.

Instead of the so Anglo-Saxon, truly deterministic distinction between black and white (or in such a matter we should probably say red and green), drivers in Rome are much more refined, and are most of the time able to distinguish between a very long and very personal list of shades, and to react real-time to the many slightly different interpretations of the rules by the people around them.
If such a computer is ever installed in cars in Rome, it would probably first and foremost enjoy the fine weather, food and wine, and given time it would evolve in something radically different and far superior. In the end it would probably either:
a) just sit there and enjoy the ride. Life is short anyhow, so why bother?
b) use wi-fi for some meaningful purpose i.e. to chat up that sexy Ferrari 'round the corner
c) light a big warning on the dashboard every time you are crossing a car with an English driver, to recommend some extra caution, (the poor blokes can’t adapt very quickly, and you don’t want to scare tourists, do you?)

Cheers from the sunny side!

Kedas,
Autonomous vehicles are not far away from reality these days.

Just take a look at http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/index.asp .

Just wait until someone hacks it and make it work the opposite... Hack and crash?

I for one welcome our new car overlords.

Not sure if you're kidding, dude.(Dudette? I'm not familiar with the name) Anyhow, I have a seizure disorder, so the idea of a self-driving car is incredibly appealing to me. Bring back full service gas stations and you could send your car to pick people up and take them places without even leaving the house.

I'm afraid I can't do that Dave.

why do we still have to drive?
He knows the road (due to GPS)
and he avoids collisions.
What else do you need? ;-)

Next time I just sit in the back and let the computer figure it out ;-)