Intel future technology show produces wine-powered devices, software that learns what your friends like Technology journalists crowd around a demonstration of how red wine can be used to power a computerised device. Picture: Rodney Chester Source: News Limited INTEL is working on smart transport systems that includes cars smart enough to communicate with other vehicles so that you travel in a pack on the highway and navigate you around upcoming bottlenecks. Speaking at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco today, research scientist Dr Jennifer Healey said her team had investigated the way people interacted with their cars and technology by monitoring their movements and interviewing them in cities around the world including Adelaide. Dr Healey said modern cars were manufactured with superb handling and power but when it came to getting from A to B in the rush hour commute the best advantage was still local knowledge. "Today's transportation challenges are really about traffic and, in the end, parking," she said. The research put monitoring devices in people's cars and on their phones so they monitor the way people drove each day and the activities they did while in their car. The study highlight problems such as a Berlin commuter who spent an hour driving in circles around the city looking for a park and a driver in China who regular went past his destination and did a U-turn because that was easier than making a right turn across traffic. The researcher are looking at how embedding technologies in cars might find an empty car park in a city quickly or know, like a local driver does, not to wait to make a turn. The new Intel Quark chip which is set to power a new generation of wearable devices expect to hit the market next year. Dr Healey described a future where a transportation system knows who you are and where you need to go. The system would access real-time information, such as finding best route, detecting that an upcoming traffic light will turn to green before you get there. The intelligent transport system that Intel envisions would have cars smart enough to communicate with other cars on a freeway so that they travel together autonomously. "I see a car as just another mobile device," Dr Healey said. A mobile device with an ecosystem, a mobile device that will help us manage our data and manage our lives more efficiently. Intel did not say how far off such a smart transport system would be. "We're working hard to make that a reality," Dr Healey said. Rod Chester flew to San Francisco for the Intel Development Forum as a guest of Intel.