Inliners International Forums General Discussion Bench racing Enjoy it while we can!

If you read the car magazines, you can see it coming. Now we have adaptive cruise control which tracks the car in front of you and slows if necessary to keep a good following distance. Then there is lane departure warning which watches for drifting out of the lane without signaling. A number of cars have a “brake assist” where if the car detects an imminent collision, it gives maximum braking power to the slightest nudge of the pedal. One of the features designed into Onstar (GM’s feature that alerts someone if you have an accident or problem), is that it can allow vehicles to communicate with each other as well as a central network. A number of European cars are coming out with a system that can actually “read” the speed limit signs. It makes a circle around them on the windshield and if you are speeding, it makes the circle flash on and off! Volvo is working on accident avoidance where the car will actually steer itself away from trouble. They have big car shaped balloons they are practicing on. Most cars now have “drive by wire” where gas pedal isn’t hooked to the engine; it’s hooked to the computer. Steering will be next. It’s been that way in larger aircraft for years. Last year the defense department sponsored a race where driverless vehicles navigated a simulated urban course completely by them selves. I just read quote from Larry Burns, VP of R&D for GM who said “Imagine a world where there are no car crashes and very little traffic congestion ….Imagine being virtually chauffeured safely in your car while doing your e-mail, eating breakfast, and watching the news.”

Naturally a road full of computer controlled, driverless cars are going to have a hard time with a 53 Chevy. We better enjoy our cars while we can. With groups pushing tighter emission standards, safety, and going forward, special lanes and then whole highways where certain equipment is required, our grand kids (and maybe our kids) will have fewer places to practice our hobby.

Happy Holidays!


Leif

“Imagine a world where there are no car crashes and very little traffic congestion ….Imagine being virtually chauffeured safely in your car while doing your e-mail, eating breakfast, and watching the news.”

Actually people do that on our roads now, minus the chauffeur. :P Scary.

Leif, Maybe we could all get together and trailer our cars to a big field somewhere and take turns driving around if we promise to be safe.

More than 3 cars in any field without a permit would be an illegal gathering. 1 OL REDNECK

Thank God we'll still have our guns! We will be able to travel where we want like Americans used to do!

Yeah, I'm a big believer in "hang up n' drive" myself.

If they plan to legislate the piloted vehichles off the road, they'll just have to make new roads to do it.

Of course that means we'll be stuck with paying for roads for brainless fools and not get to use them ourselves.

wonder if someone will offer a program to make my computer driven car more aggressive than everyone elses, stop light to stop light.

That would be against International Law! If you install one of the illegal, foreign made, smuggled over the open border chips your mandatory government GPS will tell on you and you be under house arrest and lose your eRights for your virtual life! They may even restrict your associations with other subversives like many on this BB. Not only is Big Brother watching, he is DRIVING!

The on board diagnostic system in a number of current cars records enough "history" that if you race it and throw a rod they can tell and not honor the warranty. I have a "Fast Pass" box that lets me go through the toll both on all the local bridges (it deducts from my credit card). It came with a silver Mylar sleeve because if you leave it out, the sensors already in the roads track you for traffic data. Currently this is "for statistical purposes only" but all we need is a few more terror events and that could change. GPS enabled cell phones an also be tracked individually. You can by software to see where your kids actually went. Big Brother has a lot more tools today than in 1984. I don't see how owning a gun would help in such a situation.

Leif

It can also be known where you use your credit card and what you buy. Not making the "Healthy Choice" your heath insurance company might raise your rates. It's also true that the new bills in your pocket are detectable. Owning a gun is never a help. On the other hand using a gun......

Amen, Beater