I am not sure what problem this transponder would fix though. All autonomous cars need to have excellent perception that can track other cars and what they are doing on the road. So having a transponder to tell the autonomous car where other cars are and what they are doing, is not necessary. The problem is that the humans in the older cars are bad drivers. I am not sure how a transponder would fix that.
The best way to fix the problem of bad drivers is to replace the bad drivers with a capable autonomous car.
I can think of several reasons info from a “dumb“ car could be beneficial for an autonomous car:
- if turn signals are used can convey future intentions.
-if navigation is being used and destination is known, can help anticipate lane changes for exits/interchanges.
-avg speeds can assist with determining if car should overtake, or promote efficiency by drafting with the other vehicle for the portion of shared route.
- if the car was being driven continuously for long periods (4+ hours) could signal the autonomous vehicle to avoid the driver by either speeding up/slowing/changing lanes to distant itself from a fatigued driver. Or if the car is having a mechanical issue (low tire pressure) Info can be used to create a safer distance.
-if the other car hard brakes or drives “aggressively” assumptions can be made about the drivers style and the autonomous car can adjust its safety measures accordingly.
That’s just off the top of my head. Not sure how you don’t see a benefit in having more accurate information available for the car to make better decisions.
I do agree that all autonomous cars would be best, but that’s a LONG way off.