For many of my fellow commuters, it may feel like the congested roads we traverse are overly populated. We swarm like a bunch of insects- randomly buzzing about toward a multitude of destinations. And for those at the Research Insect Vision Laboratory it appears that that like your fellow rush-hour drivers, African locusts are also busy at calculating the position, direction and speed of the other travelers around them. But, unlike all their human counterparts, the African locusts never collide.

Volvo, however, seen the implications and benefits of understanding how these insects are capable of such a feat. They hope to discover a means of keeping all drivers safe, by following the studies revolving around how locusts are able to avoid mid-air collisions. Some researchers postulate they key lies in the locusts' ability to (like GPS) tosend information directly from their sensory organs to their wings, bypassing their simplistic brains. This allows an instantaneous translation of data into action, keeping the locust safe. There is still plenty of work to do before the automaker can put nature to work on the streets. The sticking point is current automotive technology cannot equal the locusts' data-processing. So for at least the immediate future, we must be mindful of our neighbor on the road, and remain awestruck at nature's apparent superiority.[Source: Wired]

Source: AutoBlog

Original Story: Putting Mother Nature In the Driver's Seat Volvo Investigates the Accident Free Locust/