Carnage

I hate traffic laws. Stop signs are just suggestions, yellow lights are a challenge, and parallel parking is an Olympic sport best left to professionals or masochists. So, what if we just... got rid of them?

Voiceco is seeking a grant to build a digital demolition derby, a GTA-inspired hellscape of highways and intersections, but instead of Trevor Philips, it's populated by thousands of little AI drivers. Each one starts with a randomized brain – some are timid, some are reckless, some probably think they're in a NASCAR race. They've got realistic-ish physics, meaning they can flip, spin, and crumple in glorious, computationally-expensive detail. Each one of these digital brains contains a small, but growing, list of rules.

The beauty of it? No laws. Just pure, unadulterated driving anarchy. Every time a car crashes, and oh boy, will they crash, it's "killed off" and replaced with a slightly mutated offspring. Maybe the new one is a little more cautious, or a little better at judging distances, or maybe it just has a bigger virtual horn. Or, maybe it will add a rule to its little brain. A rule that says, "Don't drive into oncoming traffic" or "Red light means stop...probably." Over time, through the brutal magic of evolutionary algorithms think "survival of the fittest," but with more exploding pixels, we expect… well, we're not entirely sure what we expect. Maybe they'll all learn to drive in perfect, synchronized harmony. Maybe they'll develop a complex system of honking-based communication. Maybe they'll all just pile up in a giant, fiery heap at the first four-way stop. All part of the fun!

The Science:

Genetic Algorithms! We're basically playing digital God, letting the least smashed drivers pass on their "genes" code, really to the next generation. And their little list of made up rules.
Realistic-ish Physics: We're not aiming for NASA-level simulation here, but we want enough realism to make the crashes satisfyingly crunchy. Think "cartoon physics with a hint of Newtonian mechanics."
Emergent Behavior: The whole point is to see what weird, unexpected driving strategies pop up. Maybe they'll invent a new type of turn signal! Maybe they'll learn to avoid roundabouts at all costs! The possibilities are almost endless!

The Half-Baked Part:

Monetization through Mayhem: We'll let people bet on which AI driver will survive the longest. Think "eSports, but with more accidental vehicular manslaughter." We'll call it "Crash Betting."

Celebrity AI Drivers: Imagine a virtual Dale Earnhardt Jr. constantly getting T-boned by a timid AI grandma. Comedy gold! We could even have different "personality" packs you could download.

User-Submitted Mayhem: Let users design their own ridiculously dangerous intersections and road hazards. Giant potholes? Ramps to nowhere? Swarms of virtual squirrels? The more chaotic, the better!

"Real-World" Application: We'll claim that the winning driving strategies will inform real-world traffic policy. Nobody will actually believe us, but it'll sound impressive in the press release. We'll use buzzwords like "synergy" and "paradigm shift."

Road Rage Relief Valve: Users that are especially frustrated with their daily commute can log in, take the virtual wheel, and finally do what they have been dreaming about during their 2-hour bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Potential Problems:

We might accidentally create Skynet, but for traffic.
People might actually start driving like the AI in real life. Okay, that one's kind of terrifying.