Why don't autonomous vehicles use swarm intelligence? Why are the companies trying to make a sufficiently advanced AI for each car, isolated from others, instead of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarm_robotics ?

I think to some degree it will play a part, esp. once most of the vehicles have autonomous functionality. But without that homogeny and having to deal with many outside variables it's not enough.

There's a huge boon to be had esp. with traffic shaping.

It would be nice if I could carry a beacon detectable by every autopilot when I walk

A smartphone can fill that role, no?

The car will go on the road with cars, people and animals outside of its control. Either it copes or somebody dies. Simple as

Also bicycles, motorbikes, e-scooters, trams, trains, runaway objects...

I always thought that the city itself could be part of the swarm system. Roadside sensors could broadcast information to all relevant participants - such as "emergency vehicle incoming, move to the right lane, vehicles ID 123, 456 and 789 stop immediately" or "danger - static object at 45th km", or even "slow down/speed up to 60 km/h to optimize traffic flow".

In the science fiction of my youth, where roads or similar systems existed, there were cases where the infrastructure was part of the autonomous vehicle system. It was often car-exclusive, never mentioning pedestrians, mobility devices, or anything that wasn't motorized, but it was an interesting bit of speculation.

> Either it copes or somebody dies

In what way does introducing swarm intelligence preclude coping?