A simple wireless technology promises to make driving much safer. Availability: 1-2 years Breakthrough Cars that can talk to each other to avoid crashes. Why It Matters More than a million people are killed on roads worldwide every year. Key Players General Motors University of Michigan National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Hariharan Krishnan hardly looks like a street racer. With thin-rimmed glasses and a neat mustache, he reminds me of a math teacher. And yet on a sunny day last September, he was speeding, seemingly recklessly, around the parking lot at General Motors’ research center in Warren, Michigan, in a Cadillac DTS. I was in the passenger seat as Krishnan wheeled around a corner and hit the gas. A moment later a light flashed on the dashboard, there was a beeping sound, and our seats started buzzing furiously. Krishnan slammed on the brakes, and we lurched to a stop just as another car whizzed past from the left, its approach hav...
