Black roadways would totally look disgusting in retrospect if this happened. Hell, they already look gross. More people should watch, share, and talk!

And there is the problem. 10 years alone is massive from a technological standpoint. Those panels will already be outdated by the time they finish 10% of the work.

The price for these will first go down and then up rapidly after we exhausted our rare earths to build the technology. Roads will be destroyed and pilfered for materials.

Then there are the insurmountable maintenance costs. Someone has to keep those panels clean around the clock or you can already forget the solar panels in them. If they're damaged they will need to be replaced. The networks have to be maintenanced as well. Not only the cost to build network infrastructure for thesee things will be gigantic but someone will have to develop, update and maintain the management programs.

Costs alone for security will be gigantic. Lives are on the line with these things so they're extremely sensitive applications. To build and maintain network security will take a lot of effort. But it will probably not stop attackers from abusing them.

It sounds all well but you can see that these things were developed by an engineer rather than an informatician.

Great idea, but knowing our slow to act government this won't be seen for decades. Hate to say it but our country doesn't care about advancing technology. Imagine where we could be if our government spent more money on technology advancement rather than Military funding etc.....(I mean still spend money on the Military but not the current 600 billion a year that we do spend)

fight against the industry millionaires that will attack this technology that is already working by supporting it.

Maybe it could be privately funded and then the private firms can sell the electricity generated by this to power companies? There are people who have made lots of money from having solar farms and selling the electricity to power companies so I don't see why this can't work. 

Its a closed network. No real security issue.

Its a fully connected system. Every square meter doesn't have to be clean for the whole system to work.

Its likely that once mass produced this will cost about the same as typical tar pavement. So the cost is negligable in comparison. 

The tech involed is not super high-end and thus its not a legitimate item to steal. Additionally, if it can stand constant driving of all sizes, then its pretty damn indestructable. Doesn't soud like you realy need to worry about people stealing it.

Really think about it. You have very low-end computer tech, crazy cheap LEDs, created with 100% recycled plastics, and likley low-end solar panels as the idea is quantity over quality.

Its this idea that is high-end awesome. Not the tech. No real value for theft.

There is really no security concerns. It should create and send energy blindly. Its not connected to any type of network that doesn't already exist for electricy circulation. It won't create any driving issues that are not already easily tampered with in current system.

Every day in every major city there are crews repaving highways. 

First phase should literally just focus on replacing our big-box/mall retail and mass parking areas along with all major interstates. That would take <10yrs and immediately provide massive returns in energy as well as its arguable that these would require less maintenance than typical pavement. 

Benefits on this plan:

• Major advancement in % of energy coming from solar (too many benefits to fit here)
• Parking lots become safer (LEDs) and configurable as needed. Also great test cases for implementations.
• Interstate corridors become fully aware of traffic levels to better corrispond to issues. Including speed enforcement, etc.
• Interstate corridors also become simple pathway for fully connecting country with higher end network capabilities (fiber optic) and allow removal of intercity power lines freeing up land and simplifying national electric grids.
• Lays ground work for intra-state pathways and upgrades.
• Once complete, country is fully interconnected and dramatically lowers effects from natural disasters as grid is more robust.

There must be something wrong with this though, otherwise governments would be more enthusiastic about this and scientists would support it much more. 
Also, can this work in all weather condiitons? Would it become dangerous to drive on when its raining or snowing? 

Its new and it will take a lot of initial funding as well as contruction work to make it happen. So yes, its not going to gain immediate traction.

He first came out on TED talks 3yrs ago. Since then, as this video explains, he was given some funding to create a working set of prototypes. Those are now mostly complete. Now, he needs better funding to actually kick it off and be able to present it as a real option to govnernments and construction crews.

If you follow the link in the video, he's almost at his goal of $1m. Only a few hundred thousand left to go.

Its also very much possible many simply haven't heard of this yet. Which is why it needs to be shared and hopefully go viral.

Everything has flaws. But that doesn't mean you just ignore it and toss it out. You take a good idea and continue to make it better until it can be implemented. This is a good idea with more than enough real benefits to be pursued.

That's true. I'll definetely donate. 

 Well hopefully we can see this in the next few years. 

That explains why I, who studied and engineering carrer, don't see as many troubles as you .