Can fish school cars in how to drive together?

Communication between connected vehicles, and between them and road infrastructure, could cut the risk of collisions, and make traffic more fluid.

"One thinks about autonomous cars in isolation. But what is also important is the information which is being shared between cars," said Shanghai-based vice president for product development at Ford Asia Pacific Trevor Worthington.

"For example, I'm a car driver now on the road, I don't know whether it's a dog or a person (in front of me). But that other car has a much better view and knows it's a dog. So, if it was able to share information with me ...," that could help avoid an accident, he said.