What technological improvements are you waiting for (details inside )?

In my opinion, none of the above. In the context you are referring to, the problem that needs fixing is the road surface. You need one that is flat, with texture does not get potholes or oil patches, and sheds or absorbs water and is wide enough to allow save maneuverability.

At this point, any technology that reduces or eliminates human interaction would result in increased speeds and safety. Whether it could be cost effective is another issue.

Teleportation

Technological improvements? It seems to me the main issues keeping speed limits in place in the USA are:

* insurance companies – insurance companies have exploited our corrupt government system to increase their profit margins, and that includes keeping speed limits down, so they don’t have so much damage to pay for, according to their calculations

* law stagnation – the speed limits are based on old legislatural decisions based on old studies and old corrupt influences. The first speed limits were set based on the first cars (LOL), and have stayed largely due to tradition. The 55 MPH highway limit was set in part based on fuel efficiency sweet spots of cars in the 1970’s.

* highway robbery – many speed limits are exploited by police departments raking in cash from tickets, mostly from drivers who are not doing anything dangerous

* safety-first people – many people put signs out that say “20 is plenty”, and think 60 MPH is pushing the limit of safe speed

* lame cars – many cars drive like boats, and many people have never driven a car with good performance

* bad drivers – some people lack various attributes needed for safe driving, and are actually unsafe above 25 MPH

Etc…

I don’t think higher tech is liable to result in higher legal speed limits, at least not directly or soon. We already have some cars that perform massively better than others, and limits tend to be the safe limit for an RV or 1950’s land yacht or top-heavy SUV with questionable tires and a distracted driver.

In fact, for some drivers, better technology may be something of a hazard. Some drivers for instance get used to super-good modern brake systems which can stop THEM really fast, and they may use them when moving ahead of someone with not so good brakes or a lapse of attention, causing a sudden threat to the car behind them.

Improved driving skill would help. Maybe if there were some really good driving simulators easily available for driver training, to give people non-fatal experience of dangerous situations, the roads might get safer.

Of course, in Germany, the Autobahn has places with no speed limit.

I’m fine with the speed of cars as is. I’m normally not in an all fired life and death rush to get anywhere special. Plus, I’m currently driving one of the aforementioned top heavy SUVs, so…

If I suddenly feel the need for speed, I can go to a test track and rent a car for an hour or so. I know there’s one somewhere around here not that far away. They did a segment about it on the news. This is the Detroit area, after all :)

But for everyday life, current speed is just fine by me.

Where you don’t need to carry around chargers everywhere, or actually plug stuff in. Where there will be away to power things, no cords.

A MD bomb that kills all people and no animal or plant life.