DISQUS

cybrbeast · 8 months ago

I don't get how this could be installed in cars. Do all modern car computer systems have complete mechanical control over the brakes and accelerator? Also GPS doesn't seem accurate enough to me to predict the exact location of a speed bump. I'm skeptical.

nextbigfuture · 8 months ago

Cruise control controls acceleration and braking to maintain constant speed. This system would be a retrofit to cars with cruise control with the software adjusting the target speed based on GPS info. Note the superior mapping that they are using has speed bump locations. Maps would need to be updated by local cities and authorities as speed limits are adjusted for construction work or any other driving condition change.

cybrbeast · 8 months ago

Thanks for clearing that up, makes sense with cruise control. Still I wonder if people will want to lift their feet off the pedals.

GoatGuy · 8 months ago

A solution in search of a problem.

Driving more "softly" (which is all that such a device can do - quash peak power, slowing accelleration, saving fuel ... and driving in a way that gradually slows toward the speed limit if the car is over-limit) is a great idea.

In truth, it is an absurdity. When - and if - I really do NEED to accellerate or to exceed the speed limit (there aren't many, but are a few reasons), I don't want to buy a slick car turned into backwoods cow turd.

Nice idea. It ain't gonna sell.

BTW - Just check the accelleration-versus-displacement(-versus speed) curve of modern cars. From the earliest post-WW2 cars forward, there has always been a "gas injector" or "accelleration injector" to provide that burst of fuel making the driver "feel the power". All psychology. After all, when one test drives a vehicle, what is the average man or woman going to notice? "Giddyup". Ya really think people will want to drive cars that have an accelleration curve of a BART train?

Finally - this seems like a "device to remove a feature". If nominally a fuel-inject algorithm could easily translate displacement of the gas pedal (across a range of velocities) into a linearly tracking amount of giddyup ... but have a much more sexy algorithm ... then to remove the sexy? See what I'm saying?

nextbigfuture · 8 months ago

People can over-ride cruise control. You push the cruise control button or step on the accelerator or step on the brake. People use cruise control. There are the legal limits on road speed, which are less than the capabilities of the cars and trucks. Having a computer controlled speed limit abiding mode could become a defense against speeding tickets. There are times when people do not want or need to speed or accelerate quickly. This system would be for those times. It is especially useful for times like now when police are especially active giving out speeding and non-full stop tickets in order to offset lost property tax revenue.

Road and vehicle restrictions are not novel. There will be means to over-ride or disable the system. The day could come when you could get a fine for doing that, just as there is a fine for disabling a smoke detector in an airplane.

It is a policy option to save tens of millions of barrels of oil each year in the USA. The big savings come from going full robotic driving. Being able to platoon cars. Then the savings are from slip-streaming behind other cars and preventing most traffic jams and increasing the volume of traffic that can be on roads.