The chief executive of Intel says self-driving cars won’t just improve vehicular safety but could also have other benefits, including doubling as security cameras.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Code Conference in California, Brian Krzanich told CNBC that self-driving cars will easily be able to read license plates and other details.

“I always say that the cars are going to be out there looking, so the next time an Amber alert comes up and they’re looking for a license plate, the cars should be able to find that license plate quite rapidly.

“We’ll have to put limitations on it. We’ll have to encrypt that data and make sure I can’t tell that it’s John’s [car] necessarily,” he said while addressing public security concerns.

During his interview, Krzanich also revealed that following an extensive study by Intel, the data company learnt that driverless cars will result in huge productivity gains for society, stating that even if 25 per cent of the vehicles on the road are autonomous, traffic congestion will be reduced significantly.

Note: BMW and Intel autonomous 7-Series pictured

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