By 2025 half of cars in Europe will be able to read road signs and warn the driver of all manner of hazards. Some of the latest models of Volvos and Fords are equipped with the technology to scan European road signs under the European Road Assessment Programme (EuroRAP).

The idea is to increase safety for motorists by ensuring they do not drive down unfamiliar one-way streets or to break the speed limit by not seeing signs. Warnings would flash up like they do with satnavs, including a rumble-vibration if a driver has strayed across a white line or were driving on the wrong side of the road.

The implications for road sign-makers are potentially vast, as every road sign in the country would need to be changed or modified. EuroRAP says the plans are about saving lives and cutting the 300,000 annual road accidents across the continent—which incidentally cost tax payers vast amounts of cash every year to clean up.

EuroRAP says, contrary to the reports in the British media, there were no plans to force England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland to have German or Italian road signs and, more importantly, the new signs would be manufactured and installed by UK firms.

Later this century, intelligent cars and smart signs could become the norm. Your car may tell you to stop and have a cuppa as you look tired or insist you have a snooze while it parks itself. Road signs that control your car. And there is the possibility of driverless cars—allowing you to have a pint on the way home.

But here is a thought: if a car can read a road sign then why not a handbag, a shirt, or even a pair of trainers being able to read signs embedded into shops, street furniture, or even the toilets in night clubs. The future of signs is increasingly intelligent.