The End of Long-Term Parking?

Our cars are becoming more autonomous and more connected. In the next decade, there is the possibility that cars themselves will take over much of the responsibility of driving, moving and communicating with one another in swarms that reduce traffic and save time.

Cars are becoming ever more connected to the web, with social networking and mapping applications being integrated into the cars themselves, and connections over wireless broadband networks.

If the car is able to navigate without a driver at the wheel, perhaps it could park itself, after dropping us off at the entrance to the mall.

Taking this a step further, imagine arriving at the airport, getting ready to depart on a family vacation for a week. Instead of dealing with remote parking lots, shuttle buses, and hundreds of dollars in parking fees, the car pulls away from the curb...and goes home.

The car can then monitor the airline website, watching for your flight information to be updated, taking into account delays, cancellations, baggage wait times, etc.. Planning to arrive at the optimum time, the car pulls itself out of the driveway, drives to the airport, and waits in a holding area until it detects your cell phone's GPS signal approaching the pick-up area.

Why can't we make this happen?

So, I was outside this afternoon, wrestling with hoses and sprinklers, trying to do the calculus in my head to find the combination that would allow me to water my irregularly shaped lawn without multiple trips to move things around, and it hit me: There are robot lawn mowers, why not a robotic lawn irrigation system? So, here's my pitch:

The basic principle is exactly the same as a robot lawn mower (Lawnbott ) - you set the boundaries of your lawn using perimeter wire that the unit can sense.

The Irrigator-inator (TM) fills up a tank from a docking station connected to your hose, moves through your lawn spraying a predetermined amount of water per square foot. It returns to the docking station to refill or recharge as necessary.

You can program the unit to water at specific times of day, or only on certain days. Ideally, the system would also include a sensor that could be inserted into the soil periodically to test the moisture level, reducing the amount of water applied if the ground is already wet.

Add a Wi-Fi connection and a weather app, and the unit could even autonomously skip watering on days that have a certain probability of precipitation.

OK, people, let's get to it!