The way drivers communicate with one another is woefully primitive when you really think about it. Although humanity is working on scary-good AI and brain-chip implants that can literally read minds, the basic range of things a person can convey from inside their car is stuck in 1950. We have blinkers to indicate direction and hazard lights that say “I’ll only be parked illegally for a minute, I swear.
But they were too difficult to interpret from more than a few feet away. They mulled over a red hand, like you’d find at a crosswalk. But too many survey respondents misinterpreted it. Words and letters—like a “P” for parking—were ruled out. It was important to land on something that would cut across language barriers and potentially be understandable to children who can’t read. After all, a huge portion of Audi’s customers are in China.