Domain: itsa.org
Stories and comments across the archive that link to itsa.org.
Comments · 13
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Re:Curiously?
Seems that is a problem that has been thought of a long time ago! There is a Federally mandated not for profit organization that is a clearing house for all that data and helps industry to come up with clear standards for the collection, distribution and utilization of this kind of information and many others. Check out http://www.itsa.org/ It's been around for quite while now!
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Re:1 miilion??
From reading the Article I got the idea this was going to be another Federally mandated not for profit organization on the lines of http://www.itsa.org/ ! They get a lot of their funding from the dues that members pay to have access to all the info they collect! Basically a clearing house for all the technical info for Space like ITSA is for highways!
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Re:Driving hard or hardly driving?Usually, if they can bee seen from the drivers seat, they are supposed to be interlocked with the transmission. Out of Park, screen off.
I've seen several aftermarket installations that ignore this requirement.
Here's a discussion on trying to disable that for an Escalade.
For instance, here is California's requirement on this.
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ITS definition
ITS stands for Intelligent Transportation Systems, not Intelligent Transport Systems. There is a whole world of ITS that very few people know about. To learn more maybe the
./ers should visit http://www.itsa.org/, or better yet visit a company that does ITS for a living, http://www.iteris.com/. There is even a national architecture standard available for all to use when planning and developing an ITS project. Visit http://itsarch.iteris.com/itsarch/ to get more information.
Enjoy. The roads of the future are ITS based products and deployments. Infact, has anyone seen those little camera in the intersections? That is ITS. Has anyone seen those neat like weather stations along the roadside? That is ITS. Has anyone used a toll road automated pass system? That is ITS. Has anyone seen a commercial vehicle drive past an open port-of-entry while others have to stop? That is ITS.
The list goes on and on and on. Keep ./ing.
Mormonboy -
Data collection stops when business wants it toThere's a current flap over a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration proposal to use data logging to enforce the hours-of-driving rules for truckers. The trucking industry has been fighting this for years. Even now, the proposal is for onboard recorders that can be examined by law enforcement, not immediate online reporting of driving-hours violations.
Heavy-truck reporting is one of the easiest things to implement, and many heavy trucks already report their locations automatically to a dispatching center. But there's strong industry opposition for using that info to enforce truck safety rules.
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ITS has many applications
The problem with a train is that you need high population desnity along that route. This isn't all that common in the US, which is sparsely populated compared to much of the world.
ITS applies to rural areas too. I work for the ITS Institute at the University of Minnesota. It's not like ITS is a new thing. It's been around for more than a decade. There is a too.
An example of rural ITS work is driver assistance technologies (like heads-up-display) for snowplows and emergency vehicles (police, ambulance). Driving across a rural farm road in a blizzard can be quite difficult. We developed a HUD system that projected an image of the road, based on DGPS location information.
I'd like to add that I'm not against trains or mass transit. Certain areas of the US can utilize trains effectively, many already do. Personally, I think trains are great for urban areas. In Minnesota, we've finally opened our first urban rail line since the street cars disappeared 50+ years ago. It has surpassed all expectations for passenger levels. Now the people who claimed it would never have been used now claim that the expectations were artifically low. It isn't just the "car lobby". There are people out there who actually fear mass transit as if it's a plot to take away their cars. -
New Product: USB or Bluetooth interlock
The law permits displays "if that equipment has an interlock device that, when the motor vehicle is driven, disables the equipment for all uses except as a visual display as described in paragraphs (1) to (4), inclusive."
I would expect some clever peripherals maker (or hacker) to create an interlock device for computers that appropriately locks the computer when the car is in motion. The easiest design would simply blank the screen (a screen saver would not suffice as it might be construed as entertainment). A more complex design, tied to some navigation app, would force the display of the nav app (which is explicitly permitted under this law) and lock out all other apps and distractions. The device could connect wirelessly via bluetooth or via USB. The only obstacle is the hack into the vehicle system to detect the state of the transmission and engage the interlock when the vehicle is shifted out of the "Park." -
Nav systems are OK
The second page of the PDF clearly exempts navigation systems from the ban (it also exempts veiw-enhancing monitors like rear-veiw TVs). What it does not exempt are those ever-enlarging screens for audio systems.
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Re:FM SPec.a decent brakedown of the FM freq allocations?
Allocation of the 5850 - 5925 MHz band (i.e. 5.9 GHz) as reported here with further links. This is also knows as DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communications) and has been around intelligent transportation for some time.
Conceivable applications include:- Toll tags for automated payment (already exist)
- Co-operative cruise control ("I'm car X at coordinates Y and I'm braking at Z rate") for improved speed management
- Autopayment at gas stations and McD's
- Notification of active emergency vehicles in your vicinity (cars cabins are getting better insulated and stereos are getting louder...)
- In-vehicle warnings relayed by intersections ("Car Y, someone is approaching the intersection from your left and it looks like they will hit you")
- and much, much more
PS - If I remember correctly, the cited intersection does not use DSCR, it simply tracks incoming cars and warns if it thinks someone may get hit. I think it's a high speed rural highway intersection. I've seen presentations on it but it's been a while. -
Already exists!
First, see this article from five years ago.
Now, take a look here and here.
Is it any real surprise that the Japanese are leading the way? It's just a matter of time... -
ITSA is comingSpeed enforcement is just a small part of what's coming. US plans in this area are coordinated by ITS America, which is the trade organization for "intelligent transportation systems".
Commercial vehicles are being monitored first. In-motion truck weighing, toll collection, road use billing, hazardous material tracking, and similar functions are already automated on some Interstates.
But that's just the beginning. Here's an analysis of ITS by the Canadian Privacy Commissioner:
Besides having the ability to identify individual travellers, ITS can also collect and store a lot of sensitive information about you. It can, for example, be used over time to create individual travel profiles indicating, among other things:
- your driving habits and any traffic violations committed;
- where and how you like to travel;
- where you live and when you are home;
- where and when you go to work;
- where and when you shop;
- where you go for recreation (bars? casinos?);
- what place of worship you attend and how often;
- what community groups you associate with;
- where your children go to school;
- where your friends live;
- what political protests or rallies you may have attended;
- whether you have been to a doctor (or abortion clinic, or AIDS clinic...).
Such a personal profile could be used to make decisions about you, as well as to predict and manipulate your future choices. It could be used as a substitute for dealing with you personally. It has even been suggested that this ability to assemble information selectively, or to correlate existing information [is a] capacity, obviously facilitated by information technology, [which] enables (government) agencies (and other organizations) to identify, target, and perhaps manipulate a certain segment of the population that has common
... characteristics.U.S. privacy protections in this area are weak to nonexistent. The general view has been that since anybody can stand alongside the road and watch the cars go by, logging all that data doesn't require any new authority. It's going to be interesting.
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Actually, it's 5.850 to 5.925According to the FCC Allocations article at ITS America (itsa.org), it's 5.850 to 5.925 Gigahertz. The above article includes a link to another article from June 11, 1998 that has the same 5.850 to 5.925 spectrum width.
You did enter 75MHz so it must've been a typo.
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Actually, it's 5.850 to 5.925According to the FCC Allocations article at ITS America (itsa.org), it's 5.850 to 5.925 Gigahertz. The above article includes a link to another article from June 11, 1998 that has the same 5.850 to 5.925 spectrum width.
You did enter 75MHz so it must've been a typo.