Amazon patents a highway network with 'reversible lanes'

The race is on to develop self-driving cars that are able to navigate busy roads safely. Now, Amazon has been awarded a patent for a road network that controls how autonomous vehicles could one day navigate a busy motorway. The patent hints at Amazon's ambitions to control fleets of vehicles and roads as well as its dream of'reversible lanes' to help ease congestion. Reversible lanes could essentially change the direction of a flow of traffic, with the traffic management system communicating with cars to allow them to travel safely in the direction they want without slowing other vehicles down. The patent, awarded by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in Alexandria, Virginia, reads: 'A roadway management system can generate lane configurations for a roadway or a portion of the roadway.