In Pictures: The 31 weirdest, wackiest and coolest sci/tech stories of 2012

The U.S. Department of Transportation said it will run a massive road test of cars, trucks and buses linked together via WiFi equipment in what the agency says will be the largest test of automated crash avoidance technology to date. The test will feature nearly 3,000 cars, trucks and buses equipped Wi-Fi technology that will let the vehicles "talk" to each other in real time to help avoid crashes and improve traffic flow in the test area around Ann Arbor, Mich.