LANE markings on roads could one day be changed at the click of a mouse.
Dutch electronics firm Philips last week filed a patent on a hard-wearing version of the electronic ink used in emerging flexible displays for e-books (US 2007/0041785). Instead of painted white lines, ultrathin plastic strips would be attached to road surfaces. Electric fields applied to the display attract coloured, charged particles to the surface 鈥� making them visible to motorists.
This would allow lane markings or speed limits to be changed at will. 鈥淭wo lanes on a road can then be changed into three when the need arises during the rush hour,鈥� Philips says. Likewise, three lanes could become two in bad weather.
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The displays only draw current when they change, so they use very little power.
