Honda Crash Detection System

MImeKillEr writes "MSNBC is reporting that Honda Motor Co. unveiled an early crash-detection system for one of their vehicles. The system is unique in working even before the driver responds. A radar in the front of the car stashed behind the Honda logo detects vehicles within a range of about 300 feet ahead. It then taps the brake and tightens the seatbelt. A buzzer goes off and a light on the dash is illuminated. If the driver responds, the braking power is boosted. If the driver fails to respond, the system kicks in and brakes more while also tightening the seat belt. Unfortunately, Japanese regulations don't allow for the system to fully stop the vehicle."

Comments

DOes it work ?

[dargaud]

Now I write radar software and I really don't have a clue how such a system can work reliably. A non-moving car 100m ahead ? That happens every time there's a parked car in a curb. Car radars are not like aircraft radars. The latter only has to see something ('anything') in the middle of a big mass of air. Nothing else around. A car radar would have to sort out lots of echos at various doppler: the ground is coming towards you (when it's far ahead), other cars going the same direction (slower in the right lane, faster in the left lane), cars coming the other way, parked cars, things hanging overhead (bridge, street lights. advertisement...)

Just imagine driving on a mountain road and out of a right curb comes a car driving the other way. The radar sees it right in front of you, coming your way. How does it react ? I'd hate to see it break suddenly, particularly if the road is wet or snowy.

Re:DOes it work ?

[Brento]

Just imagine driving on a mountain road and out of a right curb comes a car driving the other way. The radar sees it right in front of you, coming your way. How does it react ?

It works fine. Check out the radar-based cruise-control from Mercedes, now available on a few models. You can set your cruise to follow a vehicle ahead automatically. You just steer, and the two (or more) of you can pass cars and go through tunnels just fine without the cruise control panicking.

Re:DOes it work ?

[Anonymous Coward]

This just in... driver happy with turbo porsche! ;-)

Re:DOes it work ?

[Twylite]

It taps the brakes (no big deal)

Wrong. This is a huge deal if you happen to have seen the problem 125m ahead and are taking evasive action other than braking, for example changing lanes or even swerving. The slightest braking during a sharp direction change can throw your car into a skid.

It is illegal in most (all?) countries to interfere with the driver and/or the car's controls. Why should techology -- with less sensory input and a poorer decision making ability -- be permitted to do this?

Re:DOes it work ?

[Black Perl]

Let's say you're on a 6-lane highway. All three lanes in your direction have cars ahead. You turn this thing on, and it follows the car in front of you.

Now the highway turns sharply to the right. Suddenly oncoming traffic is directly in front of you. How does it know which car to "follow", i.e. keep a safe distance from? If it makes a mistake, thinking you need to keep a safe distance from oncoming cars, when you go around the bend it'll slam on the brakes and you'll get rear-ended (unless of course the person behind you also has this system, in which case he'd stop too. In fact all cars would stop at every sharp turn).

Even if the system somehow knows exactly how much the road curves in front of you (which I doubt unless the road has transmitters or other indicators), it would be very hard to maintain a lock on the same car. Police radar cannot distinguish between two cars that are one behind the other. And if it doesn't track a specific car, how can it tell the difference between an oncoming car and a car ahead slamming on the brakes?

Re:DOes it work ?

[Proaxiom]

I don't think so. This is way different.

It's fairly easy for a radar system to pick something up in front of you, and for a computer to track it. What we're talking about is picking out all the things in your path, and figuring out if you're going to hit any of them.

The trouble the previous poster was referring to is that so much depends on context. For instance, what if I'm in a left turn lane drive directly toward a car in an oncoming left turn lane? We're not going to collide, but does my car know that?

Re:DOes it work ?

[American AC in Paris]

To be perfectly frank, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if they could get this to work. It'll require years of testing, tweaking, trial-by-error, and careful design, but I can easily see the day arriving where they've successfully addressed enough "what if" scenarios that they have a highly reliable product.

To take your example: Honda engineers discover that an oncoming car in a right curve that appears out of "nowhere" (from around the side of the mountain" causes the device to activate unnecissarily. Solution? There are lots of possible solutions. Is the vehicle approaching you at greater than your own speed? If so, it's oncoming traffic, and automatic braking is an inappropriate response (though a warning light/buzzer -may- be.) What is the four-second history of the angle of your car's wheels? If it suggests that you're on a right curve, it would make sense that an oncoming vehicle would appear to be directly in front of you; no alert necessary. Heck, you could even disable the entire system whenever your steering angle is greater than some small angle--it's safe to assume that if you're engaged in a turning maneuver, your attention is on your driving (whereas if you're bombing down the Interstate in Nebraska, it's much more likely that your attention will wander.)

I'm not saying that we shouldn't expect stringent and rigorous development and testing of such systems, but I find it a bit disingenuous to question the ability of such a system to work successfully because one can imagine scenarios where it wouldn't work. There are umpteen-thousand potential scenarios in which it wouldn't "work". That does not mean, however, that Honda cannot produce a system that provides a very real safety enhancement without putting drivers at risk from unnecessary activation.

Airbags, when they first came out, did their job pretty darn well, but there were still a small number of cases--very short people, overly-sensitive triggers, overly-forceful deployment, etc.--where they were problematic. These kinks got ironed out. Today, airbags are really, really, really reliable, they make cars considerably safer, and I'm glad we have 'em. I can see a system such as the one Honda is developing having a similar history--pretty good launch, a few rare but highly-publicized problems, second and third generation systems being excellent safety systems.

Re:DOes it work ?

[Dachannien]

Why should techology -- with less sensory input and a poorer decision making ability -- be permitted to do this?

You're assuming an awful lot about the driving ability of the average person out on the roads.

Re:DOes it work ?

[valkraider]

Many people are misinformed about the newest radar systems. With new technologies, police can do a lot more with "regular" radar than most people think. Check out Radartest.com for more in depth info and some good links.

Re:DOes it work ?

[Titusdot Groan]

How did this get an informative? This is an obvious (deliberate?) misreading of the parent post!

The work reliably part had nothing to do with speed it had to do with orientation -- how do you tell the parked car 100m ahead is in YOUR lane -- radar can't read the lines on the road and tell that your lane is about to curve and take you safely BY the parked car.

Re:DOes it work ?

[drudd]

That's the argument people always used to use with seatbelts... what if I were trapped inside the car and it was burning, and I couldn't get out because of the seat belt?

You just have to do a cost/benefit analysis... as long as the new technology saves more lives than it endangers, it's worth pursuing... you can always improve it to reduce the false positives.

Doug

Re:DOes it work ?

[drinkypoo]

You didn't quote an important part of the comment above yours.

Wrong. This is a huge deal if you happen to have seen the problem 125m ahead and are taking evasive action other than braking, for example changing lanes or even swerving. The slightest braking during a sharp direction change can throw your car into a skid.

[...] Why should techology -- with less sensory input and a poorer decision making ability -- be permitted to do this?

You're assuming an awful lot about the driving ability of the average person out on the roads.

It's assuming a lot that the person is going to be changing lanes or swerving? That seems like about the most likely response... either that or just jumping on the brakes at full, which is why we have ABS; to handle panic responses from people who really have no business driving to begin with.

Now, this system definitely has less sensory input. It has only one sense - depth. We have five, at least two of which apply to driving in every situation; vision and touch. Hearing usually comes into play as well, unless you have the radio up so loud that you can't hear anything else. (This is generally only a problem when the windows are up.) And your brain is necessarily more complex than this auto-braking system.

It has been shown that some technologies that do things for the driver can be beneficial to yahoos who don't know how to drive. ABS is one of them. However it doesn't do anything on its own, it only comes into play when you actually do something. This system does not, and as such it is fairly worthless, and will most likely cause more harm than help. Another one is skid control, unless you are driving in a way that you probably shouldn't be on the street (Though my car is designed to slide, and I do it basically every time I drive, in a quite controlled fashion) skid control is a great thing. Of course, it builds on ABS, and is really just an extension of same. But you see, those things are good because they help you maintain traction and therefore control. The best thing about ABS is that you can slam on the brakes as hard as you can, getting "maximum" stopping force (ABS actually stops longer than a skilled driver with manual brakes of the same size) while still being able to steer.

So if your argument is that people might not be steering to avoid something, well, those people shouldn't be driving at all. This invention will harm both those who can and those who cannot drive. The only people it will help are those who are asleep, and I think we need to work on more technologies to keep them awake instead.

Re:DOes it work ?

[f97tosc]

The trouble the previous poster was referring to is that so much depends on context. For instance, what if I'm in a left turn lane drive directly toward a car in an oncoming left turn lane? We're not going to collide, but does my car know that?

Perhaps the emergency system does not kick in until the car can calculate that a collision is inevitable or at least come very likely. In your left turn example, this would not be the case, because both of you are travelling at speeds where you have plenty of time to break or turn before hitting each other.

But if you came speeding into the intersection, the car could calculate that even if the driver would break, and/or turn, there would be no way to avoid a collision. Time to tighten the seat belt and try to slow down.

Generally speaking, I am surprised to see how negative Slashdotters are to new technology, especially before knowing much about how it works. The assumption always seems to be that the implementation will be completely useless, dangerous and insecure.

Of course there will be troubles to get this to work properly. Honda will solve those problems, and put the technology in their expensive cars. If it is efficent and cheap enough it will go mainstream. That's all there is to it, pretty much.

Tor

Re:DOes it work ?

[jiminim]

>Tell me how you do that without adjusting your cruise control.

1. Take left shoulder and pass.
2. Do not die.
3. Return to left lane.

Re:DOes it work ?

[WolfWithoutAClause]

Wrong. This is a huge deal if you happen to have seen the problem 125m ahead and are taking evasive action other than braking, for example changing lanes or even swerving. The slightest braking during a sharp direction change can throw your car into a skid.

Ok. Good points. But I have a few observations:

a) if the vehicle has ABS (I assume it has), then a skid is unlikely

b) The system should be able to detect the cornering and adapt to it anyway to a large degree

c) in most cases a modest reduction in speed will greatly improve cornering anyway- maximum cornering goes as the square root of your speed- a reduction of 10% gives ~5% tighter cornering whilst reducing the energy of the car by ~20%.

Re:DOes it work ?

[vladkrupin]

exactly my point. How about a couple more confusing scenarios?

1. Some dork cuts you off on the freeway and steps on gas. You don't want or need to break even though the idiot is only 20 feet in front of you.
2. Wet pavement, your friend is tail-gating you. Now you neighbor's cat runs across the street. You would rather run over the stupid thing (and remove stupidity from the gene pool as an added benefit) than get rear-ended by your friend.
3. You are merging into a tight spot on the freeway. If you push the breaks, you are likely to "clip" the car in front of which you are trying to merge.
4. Some dork didn't bother looking when merging/fell asleep/whatever-else and is drifting into your lane on the freeway. Behind you is a semi truck. The only way (besides honking) to avoid a collision is to downshift into second gear and step on gas even though the car in front of you is closer than 300 feet.
5. Your example of the left-lane turn is very good too. It's a classic "looks like a head-on" scenario.

Also, sudden breaking under some circumstances (steep turn, slippery pavement, poorly distributed load in the vehicle, etc) drastically reduces responsiveness and maneurability of the vehicle.

Re:DOes it work ?

[lamz]

Generally speaking, I am surprised to see how negative Slashdotters are to new technology, especially before knowing much about how it works. The assumption always seems to be that the implementation will be completely useless, dangerous and insecure.

I may not speak for all SlashDotters, but perhaps our negative attitude comes from having seen the little man behind the curtain a few too many times. Although I am a web application developer, I still do my taxes with paper forms, and refuse to sign up for receiving bills by email instead of regular mail. I'm perfectly willing to order t-shirts and books on the web, but for the important stuff, I want to see paper documents. And there are few things more important to me than the performance of the vehicle I'm riding in.

Perhaps it is the typical SlashDotters familiarity with the concept of probability that makes us suspicious. What percentage of false-positives would be acceptable for a car that applies its own brakes?

Also, I just keep picturing some driver getting creamed by a truck while looking back, asking: "Who's pulling on my seatbelt?"

On the bright side, pay attention to the technologies that SlashDotters are excited about. Linux, Open Source, Macs, TiVOs, MySQL, PHP -- good stuff!

Damn!

[Gortbusters.org]

And here I bought a new 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid. I hate when ya buy something and then they come out with new features.

In other news...

[NetDanzr]

...drivers in New York suddenly face a severe shortage of parking space, as they are unable to parallel-park more than one Honda within 300 feet of each other.

Control over the vehicle

[notque]

Unfortunately, Japanese regulations don't allow for the system to fully stop the vehicle

Because what I want is to have less and less operation value, and rely more on technology!

We are slowly devolving into a society that not only has no common sense, but cannot operate anything without help.

No thank you auto stop. I have breaks. I know how to downshift. I'm fine.

I feel much safer knowing the control is in my hands, than an arbitrary machine anyway.

Is it just me?

Re:Control over the vehicle

[fred_sanford]

HAL: "Let me put it this way, Mr Amer. The 9000 series is the most reliable computer ever made. No 9000 computer has ever made a mistake or distorted information. We are all, by any practical definition of the words, foolproof and incapable of error."

Re:Control over the vehicle

[SnowDog_2112]

I feel much safer knowing the control is in my hands, than an arbitrary machine anyway.

People have said the same thing about anti-lock brakes, traction control, power steering, and automatic transmissions over the years. And heck, some people do prefer to have control over everything.

This is an option; don't buy it if you're not the target market.

(Also note that the system is much more complicated than described in the MSNBC article; you don't think Honda would actually go to market with something that wouldn't let you get within 100m of another car, do you?)

But for those who do buy it, it will make driving safer. It provides a visual and audible warning when it thinks a collision is likely. If you don't respond, it provides a tactile warning (tighten seatbelt, tap brakes). That should be enough to jolt you out of your daydream (or cause you to look up from whatever you are doing which took your eyes off the road).

If it determines a collision is unavoidable, it does what it can to reduce impact on the passengers within -- tightens seatbelts and brakes with force. At this point, if the engineers at Honda have done their jobs, the car is going to crash, it's just trying to make it easier for you to survive the impact.

Finally!!

[enigma971]

They can't get this installed in my girlfriend's car soon enough!

Re:Finally!!

[thriemus]

Funny this system sounds like my girlfriend!!

It gives me notifaction to brake when a car is hundreds of feet in front of me... even when doing 15 mph.

Gotta love loopholes...

[PseudoThink]

It then taps the brake and tightens the seatbelt...If the driver fails to respond, the system kicks in and brakes more while also tightening the seat belt. Unfortunately, Japanese regulations don't allow for the system to fully stop the vehicle."

But fortunately there is a loophole in the regulations, allowing them to gradually strangle the driver with his seatbelt until he stops the vehicle on his own.

How is this going to work?

[Zerbey]

You mean to tell me whilst I'm driving on I-4 every morning every time some idiot kid in a tricked out Honda (stupid large muffler, big fin, silly rims... pet hate :)) cuts me off I'll be rammed in the back by the his idiot friend who happens to be tailgating me because my car decides it needs to brake?

Re:How is this going to work?

[gurps_npc]

No. It means that unlike you, Honda was smart enough to put radar in the BACK of the vehicle as well as in the front.

The system is a lot smarter than you seem to be willing to grant it.

Why does everyone hear assume that a complex auto-breaking system is going to be built by idiots that do not even consider simple situations?

While I am sure that this device might cause problems in complex situations, the simples ones should already be accounted for.

Re:How is this going to work?

[Pyrosz]

Just do what my neighbor does (hes a cranky 90 year old bastard who hates everyone)... he tosses marbles out the window at any car who is tailgating him (I've seen the bag of marbles)!

Mercedes System already does this

[servicepack158]

The AMG benz's come with a cruise control system that when active will slow down if a car in front of you is going slower then you, and speed back up to cruise speed when they get out of your way. It can apply up to 20% of the breaking force of the vehicle too if there is a sudden stop. you can look at it and watch a flash presentation on the website. To the dork programmer who doesn't understand how it works: That's why honda didn't hire you for the project :) You only activate such a system above certain speeds. So basically it's an autopilot system for a car, but people always change lanes without looking so now they need to invent something to lock the steeringwheel :D

I can picture this...

[selderrr]

one car suddenly brakes and all honda drivers behind it are strangled by their auto-tightening seatbelts.

4-point seatbelt wearers are castrated rather than strangled.

Too bad..

[MImeKillEr]

.. they don't have an early warning system for when you've exceeded the maximum number of ricer mods (R-Type stickers, neon, over-sized wing). I'd find that just as useful.

What astonishes me..

[popeydotcom]

Is the number of "300 yards! what about rush hour" posts here.

Think about what you've just said guys! Do you REALLY, honestly think that they would release a car that stamps on the brakes when *anything* is in range. Give it some intelligence.. Sheesh.

Here's a link to more info from Honda

[zptdooda]

Hereâ(TM)s more from Honda:

CMS

So itâ(TM)s more than just the 300 ft test, which would be arbitrary. It looks at "distance, speed and and anticipated path".

Sounds worse than a backseat driver though.

The death of Cruise Control

[dsmoses]

With as many people that tailgate and cut over directly in front of other cars (including just a few feet in front of one they just passed on an empty highway to then just step on the brakes), this should wreek havoc on cruise control systems and also wear through brake pads like sawdust.

At 60 mph, a one second distance gap is 88 feet. So 300 feet is roughly 3.4 seconds. Does anyone even stay that far behind the car in front of them anymore? I remember driver's ed/mva handbook recommending 3 seconds or so in distance, but my observations are that this is rarely more than 1 - 1.5 seconds.

Also, isn't it the last thing people need is a distraction in the event of an emergency. Granted it will take their concentration away from a cell phone or makeup application. How many times has a startled passenger's shrieking caused confusion just enough to distract the driver from the real danger?

Full service

[HarveyBirdman]

It then taps the brake and tightens the seatbelt. A buzzer goes off and a light on the dash is illuminated.

An in-dash audio/video capture system allows the driver to make any final requests if they are clear headed enough. If not, it'll make a great file for collision and safetey research centers or alt.binaries.tasteless.

An embedded MP3 begins to play a prayer in the religious demoniation of the driver's choice or, if the driver is an athieist, something by, uh, Isaac Asimov or something.

The driver's lower portion is wrapped tightly in Saran-Wrap[tm] by robotic arms so that the ambulence workers can be shielded from the soiled underwear.

A small hole opens in the seat, and a pair of cybernetic lips firmly and lovingly kisses the driver's ass goodbye.

Re:300 feet?

[dex22]

You don't like seatbelts, and you claim to have exceptional response skills.

It is for people like you, who think they're great drivers so don't pay attention, that this system was developed.

Re:Instead of braking...

[SnowDog_2112]

It starts with an alert chime. It doesn't apply the tactile feedback (seatbelt+brake) unless you fail to respond and it feels a collision is still likely.

Honda has a whole page about this feature; check Google (or just read other posts in this thread, it's been linked twice already that I've seen).

Jeez

[Z0mb1eman]

99% of the replies so far may as well be modded -1 Redundant.

Do you people honestly think the Honda engineers aren't bright enough to think of the objections people here came up with 5 seconds after reading the article summary and pouncing on the "Post" button?

The article is light on details, but it still makes the point that this is a collision WARNING system. It doesn't seem to be designed to stop the car or brake to avoid collisions; it's a system that fires off a small warning whenever it detects a potentially dangerous situation - say, if you're dozing off in rush hour traffic and you don't notice the car in front of you is stopped, this'll ideally snap you back to attention.

It doesn't seem that it will brake enough to get you rearended; I'm SURE the Honda engineers can come up with a way to tell the difference between a squirrel, a tree, and an SUV; it's not very difficult to tell which way a vehicle is going, so it's easy to make the system ignore cars going past you in the opposite direction, or cars passing by perpendicularly at an intersection. I don't know the reasons behind the 300 feet range (although I'd imagine the range is dynamic and proportional to your vehicle's speed), but without more information I'll have to assume the Honda people did their research and have some rationale.

There, was that so hard? I'm a couch Honda engineer too now!

New warning buzzer

[WinDoze]

DING, your door is ajar.

DING, your headlights are on.

DING, you just crashed into a semi.

Re:Anything that improves safety is worth it.

[slittle]

Regular driving exams, say every three to five years: great idea.

PITA, not to mention a greater health risk than unsafe drivers. Have you seen the ferral creatures that inhabit the local RTA (DMV, or your regional equivalent)?

Graduated licensing programs: great idea.
Mandatory driver training: great idea.

Three days over 6 months to get a motorcycle license in Oz (NSW), after you have completed the road rules test, which you may take at your leisure.

Day 1, you are required to demonstrate you are able to ride a bike before you're given your L's (Learner plates/license). 3-6 months later, you're back for another two days worth of obstacle avoidance, emercengy breaking and general "how not to get dead" theory and practise. Gruesome video footage of people who fuck it up is optional. You are then tested on your emergency skills, plus a standard road ride, before being issued a Provisional license. This allows you to do upto 80km/h, upto 0.02BAC (one standard drink), and three whole points. You get to wallow in your lameness for a year or three - if you fuck up, you're off the road. If you don't, you get an unrestricted license. By this time, you have real experience under your belt, are now 20+ years old(er :) and theoretically, less likely to go nuts - you've been weened into your freedom.

Oh goody even less attention required.

[Moderation abuser]

I wonder what the radar profile of a pedestrian is.

How about PRE-Crash Detection?

[medscaper]

I saw the title, Honda Crash Detection System and I'm thinking, "Gee, that's retarded", while picturing in my head a horrid rollover accident with flying airbags and broken glass and bodies in the street...

...and this little red beeping "Crash" light flashing on the dashboard.

Real helpful, Honda. {smirk} Thanks.

Re:How about PRE-Crash Detection?

[zerocool^]

...flying airbags and broken glass and bodies in the street...

And pieces of "type R" stickers and rear deck spoilers *everywhere*. /me drives a honda.

Re:Anything that improves safety is worth it.

[n6mod]

Regular driving exams, say every three to five years: great idea.

Graduated licensing programs: great idea.

Mandatory driver training: great idea.


Stop right there. You were on a great roll there. We have hideous safety statistics in this country precisely because we give out driver's licenses in Crackerjack boxes. And we respond by lowering speed limits, which doesn't really work.

You want safe roads at any cost? Really? OK, simple: National 15 MPH speed limit, enforced with severe jail time. Or maybe death. Didn't think so.

You make a few great points here. Driver training and licensing in this country is a joke. I don't have his statistics handy, but there is an ER doctor in Southern California who is tracking the DMV records of a group of drivers who participate in performance driving schools (NASA and SCCA street schools, Open Tracks, AutoX schools and the like). He's seeing better than 90% reductions in both accident and moving violation rates. Ninety Percent! From better driver training. Not automagic systems that drive for you, just having a human that can actually control the machine.


Black boxes reporting accident data: great idea.


There are very real privacy concerns here. And very real property right concerns. It's not that having good data in a real accident is bad, it's the legal environment surrounding such data in the country that is horrifying. We have an environment where speed limits are set for political (I don't want them going fast near *my* house) and revenue reasons, not actual safety and engineering reasons. Yet exceeding those artificial speed limits is prima facie evidence of fault in any situation.


Automatic safety systems: great idea.


Maybe. Have you ever been in a situation where avoiding the accident required accelerating? How do you think the brake grabbing systems described here are going to react?


Photo radar: great idea.


If it were actually being used to enhance safety in places where the speed limits are set rationally, yes. But they're not. They're used to enhance revenue in places where the speed limits are set arbitrarily.

Let's look at a related issue, one that based on your comment is near and dear to your heart: Red light cameras. There have been numerous cases over the past couple of years of municipalities reducing yellow light duration to increase revenue. In Fairfax County, VA, cameras were installed at one intersection because of high incidences of red light runners. The cameras were catching an average of 52 events a day. Increasing the duration of the yellow from 4s to 5.5s reduced that number from 52 to less than 1. Engineering fixed the problem, not enforcement.


Hell, GPS tracking of vehicles would, if it reduced traffic deaths by a few percent, would be well worth the loss of privacy.


Do I *have* to quote Franklin?

I'm not worried that I'll be the cause of an accident. But I'm scared shitless of your driving, because you are, in all probability, one of the drivers who is a threat to my continued well-being.


I hear you. The average joe out there can't drive. The solution is to *teach them to drive*. It really is that simple.


Let's get our streets safe.


Through training and safety engineering, yes. Trying to idiot proof the roads and cars isn't going to work. Reducing the idiocy of the average driver will. (And does!)

well that sucks

[calethix]

" If the driver fails to respond, the system kicks in and brakes more while also tightening the seat belt. "

What if I'm *trying* to hit someone because they cut me off. Is there a button to disable it?

For those humour impaired people, I'm joking.

Waiting, wishing, for automated driving

[freality]

I'll probably piss-off the red-bloded Americans here, but man, I can't wait to not drive my car. I want to have fully automated driving. I want to finish work on a Friday afternoon, go home, grab my stuff, go to my car and say "Miami Beach, Please!". I want to watch movies for a couple of hours or finish reading Dune, and when I wake up, I'm parked right at my favorite beach. Same thing for the reverse trip Sunday night and Monday mornings wouldn't be half as bad. Paint fuel-cells into that picture and it wouldn't even tweak the greens.

CMU's robotics program has been working on automated driving systems for years. When I was there I heard one of the professors had outfitted his normal home car with about $1500 of equipment and "drove" to school and back every day mostly hands-off. All based on neural-nets and some snazzy control systems.

And that was like 6 years ago. I'm sure there's wisdom in not rushing into something like this, but I also get the feeling there will be some hard lobbying against it. Like, what happens to truckers, cabbies, UPS/Fed-Ex drivers, etc. etc.? Will the (perhaps undeserved) reputation of dangerous speed-freak truckers come home to roost?

I wonder how Detroit would feel. At first, it's a shinny new feature == more margin. But beyond that, I can't help but see cars become even more commodity. All you really end up caring about is your comfort/ammenities.. there won't be as much attention to "performance".. ahhh.. Detroit will ~love~ it, BMW won't.

You could even share these kind of cars, like the Zip cars, but instead of you going to the cars, they come to you. Or perhaps just the under-carriage comes to you and connects to your personal travel cabin. Then, you pull out of the driveway and merge into a long train of like-designed cabins-on-wheels, all virtually-linked together via 802.11z. The road/car system routes you shortest-dijkstra-path to your destination and then your car parks itself once it's dropped you off. There's traffic density that would make clog up modern highways for years, but its all flow-controlled, so you go 120MpH with only inches between cars, so your trip takes half the time.

The moving sidewalk (armchair) of the future? :)

Famous last words

[Mannerism]

"Yeah, dude, and it's got one of those new collision detection systems...check it out."

possible scenario

[Archfeld]

you are cruising on the free-way at speed, the car in fron off you slams on its brakes. You realize that you are folloing too close( just like everyone else), and quickly check the lanes to the left and right, taping the accelerator you slide to the right and avoid the hazard, giving the driver behind you ample time to break and avoid the same obstacle....NOW the same scenario, only as you scramble for an exit to the left or right, your car begins to brake by itself making a lane change MUCH harder than it would be if you were at traffic speed or slightly faster. Granted this is probably a fairly rare happening but there are a LOT of options and complications to deal with, and I for one would not feel comfortable driving in a vehicle which did not respopnd EXACTLY as I asked it to.