def get_distance(highway_now: list, car_index: int) -> int:
    """
    Get the distance between a car (at index car_index) and the next car
    >>> get_distance([6, -1, 6, -1, 6], 2)
    1
    >>> get_distance([2, -1, -1, -1, 3, 1, 0, 1, 3, 2], 0)
    3
    >>> get_distance([-1, -1, -1, -1, 2, -1, -1, -1, 3], -1)
    4
    """

    distance = 0
    cells = highway_now[car_index + 1 :]
    for cell in range(len(cells)):  # May need a better name for this
        if cells[cell] != -1:  # If the cell is not empty then
            return distance  # we have the distance we wanted
        distance += 1
    # Here if the car is near the end of the highway
    return distance + get_distance(highway_now, -1)