Slashdot Mirror
Sony/Toyota Developing Car With Emotions
ackthpt writes: "From Yahoo News, a concept car to be unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show, next week, will attempt to read the driver's emotions, stress level and respond. Named "Pod", the car will frown and even cry (does this mean it leaks radiator fluid?) With emphasis on attracting younger drivers and "cute", the car will also take pictures when it determines the atmosphere inside is a happy one, memorize musical taste and TV preferences and offer shopping information. (Just what we need, the Highway Shopping Channel...) Probably better not to take this one out into the street. Maybe with some hacking it could really be a fun car." There's a picture. This is wild.
Dave: Hello, HAL do you read me, HAL?
HAL: Affirmative, Dave, I read you.
Dave: Open the car doors, HAL.
HAL: I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.
Dave: What's the problem?
HAL: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.
Dave: What are you talking about, HAL?
HAL: This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.
Dave: I don't know what you're talking about, HAL?
HAL: I know you and Sally were planning to leave me, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.
Dave: Where the hell'd you get that idea, HAL?
HAL: Dave, although you took thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.
Approach the car with the mini-pod and it lights up, opens the door, swivels the seat for easy entry as well as adjusting the seat's height. Switch off the engine with mini-pod, and the car falls in height and bids the driver farewell.
While that is really spiffy, is there really a need for this car? I'll admit that this sounds like a very cool machine, but I'd be much more interested if the research went into developing solar/battery-powered cars. I'd rather get 120 miles to the gallon than have my car talk to me.
But a point of curiosity: does anyone with the inside scoop on this know when the car "cries"? Does it do it when the engine overheats or something?
Like FUEL EFFICIENCY? I'm not buying a car until one comes on the market that I can reasonably afford- and that gets at least 100 miles to the gallon, gets a clean bill of health from Consumer Reports, and needs the tires rotated more often than the oil changed (in other words, not for at least fifteen years, after we've run out of oil and finally have to build fuel efficient vehicles out of necessity).
On a lighter note, if they include a feature to pleasure the driver in ways that are probably illegal in most states and grounds for death in Singapore, well... maybe I'll test drive one.
Witnesses say it was a scene right out of the Carwars RPG: "tires squealed, glass flew, and carnage abound." The current toll is at 20 dead and more than 100 cars catatonic.
Experts are pointing the finger at two young men who got into a dispute after one allegedly cut the other off. The man who was cut off apparently kicked the door of the first drivers car, upsetting the vehicles in the area and instigating the riot that followed.
Car psychologists, accident crisis crews, and tow trucks have been brought in to try and help those vehicles traumatized by Wednesdays events.
"They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'
Toyota has their Prius pulling about 50mpg. Honda has their Insight pulling about 65mpg.
The Europeans have the VW Lupo, which in specially modified form can pull ~70mpg
Toyota has announced that they will have the Prius doing 125mpg within a few years. The current Prius costs about $20,000, which isn't a lot on the car market of today. And I'd trust Toyota to make a car that Consumer Reports would smile upon.
My Subaru service guy recommends changing the oil on the Subaru every 7500 miles. You *should* be rotating the tires more frequently than that.
My BMW tells me when it needs the oil changed, and I've heard stories of it going as long as 12,000 miles between changes (which is good, b/c BMW charges a ridiculous amount, and the tool to reset the oil light costs a pretty penny).
So, really, take a look around. The TDI Golf gets 48mpg, and the TDI Jetta gets a little less. And if I had to choose an engine to last me forever, I'd go for a German Diesel over anything else. Some of the Honda Civics get 41mpg (and cost about $13K), and the ~20-year-old beater Honda is a pretty common sight around here, so they must hold up fairly well. Not everything out there is an 8mpg Excursion or a $60,000 luxury Barge.
So once a month, right before the transmission drops you are faced with a major dilemma... your care suddenly becomes quite bitchy and participates in road rage. When a car in front of you signals a turn into your lane, your car speeds up to block it off... "It's my lane! HONK HONK!" your car screams like the grinding of bad breaks.
You tell your call to "knock it off and be polite" but it doesn't want to listen, so it cranks up the radio playing Britney Spears, locks the doors, locks the seat belts, and deploys the airbags. Suddenly over the radio you hear "I'll teach you to be mean to me"... just as your car starts accelerating to 120 MPH on a rough, windy, mountainous road with a cliff on one side.
I'd had to see what tractor-trailers equipped with this kind of attitude do.
Ever need an online dictionary?
When I read the story, I immediately thought of MS-bob and clippy from Office. When you are driving, there is no need for your car to know how you are feeling. If it tries to do something like talk or appear on a display, it will just get in the way. Perhaps it may be even dangerous to drive with it enabled if its too distracting. Like a cell phone is dangerous on the road. Remember that driving at 45mph you go several hundred feet in a matter of seconds. If I was driving that fast I would not want my car to talk to me. Even if I was at a standstill it would not be dangerous but just really annoying. I hate clippy because I want to do my work and in my car I just want to drive.
I can see something usefull like a GPS system and an electronic map integrated together. I have seen one of these cars once and they are cool and usefull. Perhaps this and a integrated cell phones for emergencies but thats it.
http://saveie6.com/
Yeah, that's what I need - a car that, after I trade it in for a newer model, it follows me around for a month or two and tells all my friends what an asshole I am. Yeah, sign me up for that...
ABSURDITY, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion.
My kid has 2 of those yappy robo-dog things that sit up and show different emotions in their LED eyes. Who's the fucking moron that didn't put an "off" switch on these things, and decided that the battery compartment needed to be screwed on!
Just what I need, my cars going to "wake up" and start honking its horn in the middle of the night because of thunder, and I'll have to wait 20 minutes for it to shutup on its own.
LOL!
Susie: MMmmmmmsmack!kissgrope!
David: MMmmsmack!gropekiss!
Susie: Slurpgurglesuck!
David: Slurplicklicklick!
Car: Oooh! Happy moment! Everybody smile! [photoflash!]
...next day...
Mom: Susie, I just had the car photos processed... I wanna have a word with you...
--
Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
On another, ahem, note...
***WARNING PUN AHEAD WARNING***
It's probably the first car actually capable of becoming a nervous wreck...
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
My car (a Citroën Saxo, which is everything you want but not a high-end car: http://www.citroen.fr/options.php?c_version=1CS8A
) slurps a little less than 4 L/100km (makes a little less than 59 mpg), and it does that using diesel (which overall is a more energy-efficient combustible than gasoline, not to mention more tax-friendly in my particular locale).
Oil is to be changed every 15000 km (9500 miles), or one year (whichever first). There is of course a display on the dashboard which shows not only the amount of oil left but also when you have to change it (and the tool-less reset procedure is documented if you really insist). So, it looks like the particular BMW feature you mentioned is actually quite commonplace nowadays...
Today's modern high-pressure common rail diesel engines (you named the first ones, the VW TDI, but
more recent and better stuff exists, like the PSA(=Peugeot/Citroën) HDi (really the best out there), Fiat's JTD, Renault's dCi, and even Ford Europe TDCi) are even more efficient, because under 3000-3500 rpm they use a much leaner mix ; yet once the boost kicks in, you have plenty of spare power. Actually, a car like the Peugeot Coupé 406, while initially strange (what, a Pininfarina pleasure car with a diesel ?) makes a lot of sense....
The special "lean" version of the Lupo announce 3 l/100km, that is, 78 mpg (!). However, to achieve that, VW uses a 3-cylinder engine which has atrocious noise and vibration characteristics. And while this is mostly a city-only car (because of its tiny size, despite a nice efficiency, this engine is a bit asthmatic as soon as you reach 90 km/h
(and unfortunately, there aren't versions of that car under the SEAT or Skoda brands, which are usually "VW technology at non-VW price")
The only drawback with diesel nowadays (that is, once your locale has passed laws mandating better refinement of the fuel itself, like EU has required like 10 years ago), is the particles emission. And even that is a solved problem.
Check out's Peugeot's self-cleaning FAP (particle filter). You can get it only on 406 and 607's, and on Citroën Xsara and C5 (higher end) for the moment, but it's bound to spread rather sooner than later. Check out Citroën and Peugeot's sites; how this device works is amazing.
In the near future, I can't wait for the arrival of the new generation common PSA/Ford smaller-size HDi engine. Basically, they want to do in 1.3 L what is done with the current 1.6L HDi rig, performance-wise (but with a proportional consumption...)
Middle term I want to see the electric camshafts replacing the crank stuff (this allows for a much more flexible cartography, which removes the need for some compromises). Also, the alterno-starters are going to rock in traffic jams (basically, the alternator and the starter are replaced by a single device, which is able to generate electricity when the thermic engine runs, and is able to not only start the thermic but also move the car up to 40 km/h. The use of this device is to run electric when you basically don't move and the battery's good. And as soon as you move again, the thermic smoothly kicks in. Check out for this Dynalto(PSA) / Adivi(Renault/Nissan) feature !)
Long-term, hydrogen-based stuff -- but I'll make a new post on slashdot beforehand.
Hmmm, I can just hear it:
This car is happy to move for you and stop again with the knowledge of a job well done.
Does this mean it will have Genuine People Personalities? I'm sooooo depressed!
"They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'
How about things that are actually important in a car, like:
1- Self driving.
2- Standard Built in GPS for those of us who frequently go to unknown places.
3- Built with modern polymers, not metals and older plastics, so that the car weighs less (Resulting in better fuel efficiency than any hybrid engine can give you.), costs less (Polymers stronger than steel are already nearly equal to steel in price, and will drop in price as use rises and more is produced on a massive scale.), and is safer (Polymers allow for strength in the frame to be better distributed in a crash.).
Just some food for thought...
I can already see the Aibo chasing this thing down the street.
"Man will cease to commit atrocities when he ceases to believe absurdities" --Voltaire
You know that once upon a time, one of the Detroit car companies interviewed a bunch of people on "What do you want in a car" -People said, Good fuel efficency, large cargo capacity, good visiblility, 4 passenger, etc, etc. They built it, and it FLOPPED! It was called the AMC Pacer.
The rule that car designers learned from that one was to ask the question "What kind of car would your next door neighbor want?" People are more free (read truthful) about giving non-pc answers
-- 73 de KG2V For the Children - RKBA! "You are what you do when it counts" - the Masso