Look, no hands: Cars that drive better than you

www.newscientist.com...

Quote from source:
WITH his jeans, white trainers and stripy top, Bob is every inch the well-dressed 6-year-old. He's standing in the middle of a hotel car park and, scarily, I'm driving straight at him. Instead of hitting the brakes, I put my foot down on the accelerator. With just 10 metres to go, a row of red lights flashes across my windscreen and there's an urgent, high-pitched beeping sound. An instant later, I am jerked forward as the brakes slam on automatically and the car screeches to a halt just short of Bob's stomach.

This is what Bob is for. The child-sized dummy has just helped me test the first in-car system that can sense an imminent collision with pedestrians and brake automatically if the driver doesn't. It is being put through final trials before being launched in May by Swedish car maker Volvo in its new S60 model.

The Volvo system is the latest in a line of developments made possible by sophisticated sensors based on cameras, radar and lasers. These sensors already provide drivers with adaptive cruise control, which alters a car's speed to maintain a safe distance from the vehicle in front, as well as technology such as semi-autonomous parking systems. Yet according to Jonas Ekmark, a researcher at Volvo near Gothenburg, this is just the start.

I am very impressed by this system and cannot wait until it is in all of our cars. I cannot wait until we do not have to drive anymore and the car drives itself.

Anything that will result in less casualties is a good thing in my book and am happy to see this technology is going mainstream.

Any thoughts?

Pred...

Fantastic, car related accidents account for a large amount of deaths, it's silly that we haven't perfected this technology already!

reply to post by predator0187


Interesting article, S&F.


Though it may take all the fun outta driving. Me, I like to put my car through it's paces while driving & feel the G-forces when going through the turns.

Driving would be kinda dull if I was nothing more than a glorified passenger.

For safety I give this a

For fun though

[edit on 4/10/10 by FortAnthem]

reply to post by FortAnthem


I am sure there will be plenty of places to drive your cars though. I just think on the main roads they should imply this safety.

I am all for feeling the power when you push the pedal down. It just does something for me, but in the future I would take having safe kids running around with no worries over my need for speed.

Pred...

reply to post by hippomchippo


I would have thought so too. I mean how many people die per years in vehicle related accidents? Too many and yet we have some things that kill a fraction being studied non-stop. Don't get me wrong, I think everything should be studied but this field should have had some major breakthroughs long time ago.

Pred...

I am always in fear that it may decide to park itself
neatly into a space while I'm doing 70 down the interstate.

Oh , but Toyota is having sort of the same problem now,
with cars that decide to pass everything on the highway!

I'll wait till I see you all driving them awhile before
I take my chances!

reply to post by Ex


Good thought for sure.

I know the whole Toyota thing scares people but they knew far ahead of time that there was a problem and chose money over fixing it.

I would though, just as you said, wait at least a couple generation to get lumps out of the design. Although this is Volvo and they are a pretty reliable car company.

Pred...

The bad part is, people will most likely get used to the system and pay less and less attention while driving. And eventually, those sensors (like everything) will wear out and begin to malfunction or not work at all. That's a disaster waiting to happen.

The good side is, it will make hitch hiking a lot easier. Step in front of a moving vehicle and it stops automatically. Let's hope no one feels inclined to go on a car-jacking spree.

Originally posted by predator0187Don't get me wrong, I think everything should be studied but this field should have had some major breakthroughs long time ago.

Pred...

I don't think a technology such as this could have been brought out significantly sooner tbh. It relies on a variety of technologies that have only recently developed into maturity and even now I'm not sure if they've really got a proper handle on it. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think I'll be purchasing 1st gen tech of this nature

Originally posted by crazyinthemiddle
The bad part is, people will most likely get used to the system and pay less and less attention while driving. And eventually, those sensors (like everything) will wear out and begin to malfunction or not work at all. That's a disaster waiting to happen.

Yeah, it does seem to lull you into a false sense of security, doesn't it?. I'm sure they've done thorough testing but bugs and unforseen scenarios are the sort of things no amount of money and man power can really iron out until it's put into the real world, so to speak. Still, its a necessary sep none the less.