Robotic Nation Evidence

If this takes off, it his will be a very short-lived phenomenon:

A car that winks, laughs and cries

From the article:

Four inventors working for Toyota in Japan have won a patent for a car that they say can help drivers communicate better by glaring angrily at another car cutting through traffic as well as appear to cry, laugh, wink or just look around.

The inventors explain in the patent that they want drivers to have more than a one-note horn and on-off headlights to signal other drivers. The horn sounds the same, they write, whether a driver is asking for permission to cut in front of another car or showing gratitude for having been allowed to cut in front, so other people often do not know what the honking is about.

The reason it will be short-lived is because, within 15 years or so, cars will all be driving themselves and communicating with each other and a central data center continuously. There will be no need for something as primitive and silly as tears. The cars will be sharing reams of data at the speed of light.

See also: Robot drivers.