"Intelligent" Cars

[Stratman]

I started watching a prog last night, tbh as much for Anita Rani (she floats by boat) as anything else, but I had to turn it off. Soon, cars will be able to spot hazards, tell other cars they have had a crash (though if they are that clever surely that's an oxymoron) etc.

How about training people to drive properly in the first place and put back coppers in cars to break the arms of the doughnuts driving whilst on the phone etc?

There was no mention of any other form of transport, at least as far as I watched anyway. A vision of the future? I bloody hope not.

[VTRDark]

I watched that program and with regards to the black boxes I think it's a way of trying to get people to come around to the idea of us being tracked wherever we go and the so called benefits to it. It's a bit like propaganda. I often wonder if the TV companies are paid by politicians to promote these things. I don't believe for a minute that having a black box in our vehicles will lower insurance. They will find another reason to keep profits high.

Some of the stuff was interesting, the cars swerving to avoid a collision to me is just an advanced form of traction control and combined ABS But what is worrying is that the control gets taken away from the driver and machines as well as humans can make mistakes. And I suspect when they go tits up, there are costly repairs involved. Another way of companies/government making money out of us by something being forced upon us. They are talking about all new vehicles having these by 2020.

I quite liked the pilot road scheme they are running in Coventry with no distinction between the road and pavement, no road markings or lights. The theory being that with less things put in place to control us, we all (road users and pedestrians) become more aware and read things a lot more diligently. They used an ice rink to show an example with people in a small crowded area moving around all over the place without crashing into each other which is where the idea comes from.

(:-})

[benny hedges]

the cars swerving to avoid a collision to me is just an advanced form of traction control and combined ABS But what is worrying is that the control gets taken away from the driver and machines as well as humans can make mistakes.(:-})

well you know how bikes dont get noticed by traffic light sensors, or those 'your speed' signs...
imagine an intelligent car swerving to miss an object in the road, and failing to see the biker coming the opposite way....

instead of inventing intelligent cars, why not just fit them with intelligent drivers, instead of the brain dead wombles who keep killing bikers cos theyre too busy texting, cant see thru an inch of cig smoke on the windscreen, were looking for a cd under in the passenger well etc etc - all apparently perfectly plausible reasons for causing death by negligent driving yet somehow evading jail and a ban

[VTRDark]

Your not wrong mate. But intelligent drivers, I think we need to mess around with genetics for that one and breed a superior more intelligent race.

They should defiantly increase the penalties for causing death by dangerous driving. Drink driving and killing someone used to be a get out of jail card. It's only recently they raised the penalties for that one but it's still not a life sentence I don't think. Life should mean life not 12 or whatever years it is. Or just execute them and get the world population crisis down a bit. Cheaper as well

(:-})

[TonyW650]

Your not wrong mate. But intelligent drivers, I think we need to mess around with genetics for that one and breed a superior more intelligent race.

(:-})

give the world to the monkeys they will make it better!

[firestorm1997]

How about training people to drive properly in the first place and put back coppers in cars to break the arms of the doughnuts driving whilst on the phone etc?

I didn't see the program but do agree with your comment...

Making the driving tests harder with additional training should also help. LGV drivers are now having to do a Driver CPC which intails 35 hours training every 5 years just to keep their licence. no training means no job. Why not do this for other road users too.
Far to many camaras on the roads, ok for catching speeding and un-insured, taxed moted vehicles, but only if the vehicle is registered. Put more coppers back on the roads.
Bring in tougher penelties for bad driving, Speeding does not fall under this, as time, road and weather conditions should be taken in to account. Camaras cannot look at the whole picture just your registration and as far as i'm concerned just there to make money and nothing to do with road safety...

[Trainraider]

Most of the new cars already have a black box. It records lots of things what is happening for the car.

It is just not used for anything else but factory's own research. It is not even used for finding what happened during the car crash. Only if that is especially demanded from the car manufacturer by the court.

GPS's in cars are as well very common. It is just a matter of time when they actually start using this as a speed control. It won't be long mates.

"Intelligent" cars are interesting concept. It has huge risks, but at the same time, planes have had that for decades. There is automatic lift off, automatic flying and automated landing. So actually, why do we need pilots anymore? to drive from parking to the end of the highway?

I would like to see an automatic crash evasion system working in the Nordic countries when there is half a meters of snow and mirror ice on the roads.

[AMCQ46]

trouble with some of the driver aids that go into modern cars is that they allow bad drivers to survive and prosper, generating a future generation of people have even less ability to control their car, and have even more expectation that the car will look after them while they text, drink coffee, put on makeup etc.

net result is us bikers, cyclists and any other road user is in more risk.

[carpkisser]

Exactly. In common with many other areas, over reliance on tech will undermine fundamental skills. Driving standards are generally poor and these will make it worse in that (imho) a drivers perception of risk will alter. Less danger to me, no need to concentrate.

[lumpyv]

Exactly. In common with many other areas, over reliance on tech will undermine fundamental skills. Driving standards are generally poor and these will make it worse in that (imho) a drivers perception of risk will alter. Less danger to me, no need to concentrate.

spot on

i nearly got took out today by a women pulling out of a side road whilst texting. she was so engrossed she pulled out super slow without looking. did,nt really enjoy my spin out today what with wet/dry roads , bright low sun and lots of traffic...

[VTRDark]

I was watching something on the box the other night where they went to a Swedish test track and where testing cars that could drive themselves. Basically how it worked was that they would put a wireless type system in every vehicle, so when on major routes, the wireless control can tap into, say a bus or coach that is taking a known route.

What they have creating is a road train, so basically the car immediately behind the bus/coach would be controlled by the bus/coach and the car behind that would tap into the car behind and so on. So as the bus/coach slows down, the car behind slows down etc etc.

This is all supposed to be a form of road safety, but as far as I can see the control is being taken away from the human and being taken over by wireless technology. This is not safe! what happens if the wireless network gets hacked or interference from another wireless network confuses things. It's absolute madness.

Apparently there is one thing stopping us from introducing this kind of scheme in the UK and that is our Law. It is a legal requirement for a driver (meaning Human) to be in control of their vehicle at all times. So they will have to change the law. I think they are working on changing things.

(:-})

[Fireman on a Storm]

We have a black box fitted to our Vw polo. Our 17year old is a named driver on my wife's insurance. Using her full no claims the cheapest price was £1250. Going with co op and thier young driver black box bought the price down to £605. After 90 days of "safe" monitored driving we then got a £70 refund. If you drive like a Pratt the charge you more!
Needless to say I use my Vw T4 or our A4 that don't have a black box!!
It does give us piece of mind that he knows the black box is there and if he drives like a prat we'll get an email from co op telling us! The only problem is the black box doesn't know who's driving. So if I use the polo I have to stick to every speed limit and drive like a granny!!

[VTRDark]

I think they are not too bad an idea for young new drivers. Like you say it gives parents a bit of peace of mind. But there's a big difference between driving like a pratt and sticking to the highway code by the code to the letter. The problem is once they start using them on a regular basis for new drivers, this will lead to other's. How long before they are installed on all cars by standard. The next thing will be cameras watching us inside our vehicles.

Imagine being out on the bike and there is a black box or camera watching to see if you stick to the rules of the road. Your in your lane and a vehicle to the side off you starts to wander over into your lane. You have two options, either slam on the brakes and slow down, in which case your leaving yourself vulnerable to a vehicle going into the back of you. Or speed up which may take you above the speed limit but will be a black mark recorded on the Black box. It's like having speed cameras they probably cause just as many accidents as they save when people slam on the anchors. Concentration gets taken off the driving and vehicles around us and onto where the the next cameras or whatever other means are watching/recording us.

(:-})