>>> "A home automatically turns up the heat ahead of cold weather moving in, or streetlights behave differently when traffic gets bad. Or imagine an insurance company instantly resolving who has to pay for what an instant after a fender-bender because it has been automatically fed information about the accident."<p>Honestly, I read statements like that and don't understand the mindset of some people. It smacks of a solution in desperate need of a problem. Turning the heat up before the cold? I could see preparing for the cold perhaps by storing energy (think smartgrid) but we have thermostats for a reason. They work. Pre-heating seems like a waste, or at least something nobody has ever thought necessary.<p>Streetlights behaving differently as traffic gets bad? Why? How? Do they get brighter or dimmer? Whenever traffic is gridlocked there seems to be plenty of light. Maybe ahead of bad weather? But why ahead? Cannot each light decide on its own based on local conditions ... as many do already today?<p>As for resolving traffic accident liability instantly, that cannot be allowed to be a thing. Even if the robots know all the traffic laws, nobody wants to submit to an automated judicial process. That's a nightmare scenario already explored by countless scifi writers. Drivers are mad enough already at red-light and speed cameras. I cannot see how they would be happy with robojudges assigning liability before first responders even arrive. Imagine having been in an accident, bleeding inside your car, and you get a text from your insurance company telling you they think you were at fault.