Microsoft Research managing director Eric Horvitz talks AI and 'Hyperlanes'

While some may be waiting for a more traditional announcement or keynote from Microsoft regarding its future in ‘the car’, the company has its eye set on the much broader ecosystem play. The managing director of Microsoft Research, Eric Horvitz is using his team’s talents to build out a what he calls ‘hyperlanes’ for the future of driverless cars.
Microsoft may not have an open play for producing driverless vehicles like that of the Google’s or BMW’s of the world or even feeding the fire to rumors about an inevitable production car like Apple; the company is dedicating around 300 to 400 scientist and engineers to creating technologies for a driverless future.
As Horvitz sees it, the creation of ‘Hyperlanes’ will, obfuscate the need for drivers and pave the way for more autonomous vehicles in the future (all pun intended).
 

“I think we will have the rise of special lanes, hyper lanes, closed to manual traffic” — @erichorvitz on driverless cars #EmTechMIT

— John Miley (@johntmiley) November 2, 2015

Horvitz came up with the idea of ‘Hyperlanes’ while driving his Tesla around Seattle, according to a spokesperson who reached out to Geekwire recently.

As more companies move into the world of driverless cars, it seems Microsoft’s play on the matter is analogous to its recent company-wide shift. Rather than own the widget, it looks like Microsoft is content with being the backend support system, or in this case, the road on which car companies run their vehicles on. Horvitz “Hyperlanes” are at the moment, conceptual at best, but Microsoft is already working hard on the artificial intelligence behind it. We plan to keep an eye out on any new developments shortly.