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FCC Approves Highway Radiosystems
prostoalex writes "According to iWon/AP, the FCC has approved a range of radio frequencies to be used on US highways for transmitting important traffic information. The technology is still 5-10 years away from being implemented in cars and on the roads, but the FCC has set aside a special area of the spectrum instead of sharing the frequencies with other applications and devices. As for uses, there's currently a test running at an intersection in McLean, Va., where sensors can automatically warn a motorist when another car is approaching, thus helping to avoid a collision."
What the hell is to stop this from becoming as useless as the current emergancy vehicle light switching system (ala traffic lights), that used infrared frequencies? Some schmoe is going to make a device that makes your car think you're going to rear-end someone at his whim... Until finally the whole system will have to be thrown out, due to abuse.
The problem with the traffic light changers is that there aren't (or at least weren't) any laws dealing with abuse. Interfering with traffic to the degree of potentially causing an accident is already covered under any number of laws; someone stupid enough to make a device to abuse this system will get his ass sued six ways from next Wednesday, and a lengthly prison sentence to boot.
"They redundantly repeated themselves over and over again incessantly without end ad infinitum" -- ibid.
This technology could help save lives during right-turn-on-red accidents that happen at obscured intersections. Sensors on the cross-street detect triffic on the greenlighted street, relay a signal to the stop light, and warn the right-turners if it is unsafe to turn.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
Wanna bet this tech is gonna be used to track speeding and other unsafe driving violations?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Has anyone thought of or has taken staps toward integrating a radar detector with wireless and GPS to create a long-range, fault tolerant radar/lidar detection network? Seems like this this is a patent wating to happen...
What's the point? Radar can already be detected far enough in advance, and you can't detect lidar until you've been nailed -- everyone will benefit from this network except the guy who actually detects the lidar gun.
"They redundantly repeated themselves over and over again incessantly without end ad infinitum" -- ibid.
Red lights in my city detect a car approaching and automatically turn red, preventing any kind of motion whatsoever!
On a serious note... I fail to see how a system can detect someone about to run a red light in time for you to take avoiding action. It can't conceivably notify you much before you see the car failing to slow down.
This sounds like a good tool. The only concerns I have are the following:
1) It doesn't replace the people actually DRIVING the vehicle needing to be at their utmost alert. We've all seen what cellphones and driving do to people.
2) It doesn't get used later on as a spammer's paradise. The last thing I want is that every car in the country comes standard with these alert systems only to hear, while driving down the highway, "ALERT! Your car's engine is not optimized! Go to carspeed.com to help!"
3) It doesn't get used as a monitoring network. I'd assume since it would be sending personalized messages to cars given their position in traffic, cars around them specifically, etc., that you'd need some sort of unique identifier per car. Let's not abuse this like the FastTrack crap we heard about earlier, and have a constant, rudimentary GPS system in every car that uses it.
Other than that, it seems like it'd be a great tool for informing drivers (non-invasively) on what's going on on the highways.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
We have RDS in the states, you just need a tuner that can handle the piggy-backed data. RDS runs over existing FM frequencies, and requires the Radio stations to buy devices which allow them to put RDS data in their signals.
This systems is a completely different band. It's Out of Band in regards to any existing broadcast system. The concept near as I can tell, is a municipalty would install some sort of sensor(s) at a high-risk area (like the intersection mentioned) that would allow directed broadcast to a vehicle or vehicles in a specific area (100 yard limit) in order to warn or inform them.
The vehicles would be equipped with the capability to receive and relay the broadcast to the occupants (or later, possibly directly fed to some sort of software control system which could then do a visual warning instead of a audio one).
So no, this isn't anything like RDS, but thanks for being a typical slashdot noobie and not reading the article.
-Malakai
A Dragon Lives in my Garage
Perhaps also at that time we will figure out how to get people and their belongings to school or work or hospital or supermarket without driving.
Without this necessary requirement you will be cutting large groups of people from the society. As it stands now, the society as a whole is willing to take some risks but continue to function. What you propose is safety for some, and death for everyone who can't pass those difficult tests. Not everyone is born Andretti. Today's tests and requirements are reasonable.
First of all, I remember a system similar to this from when I spent some time in Germany a few years back. I would be driving down the road and suddenly the radio would switch over to this emergency frequency. You could not switch the channel once it came on or disable the feature altogether. I found it to be extremely annoying and altogether useless. Second, how long do you think that it will take spammers/telemarketers to put this to nefarious use. I magine driving down the road and suddenly every station is interupted with an advertisement using the pirated system? Make the transmitter mobile and short range and you'll have roving advertisers all over the road. You drive within, say, 50 feet of their vehicle and you get the ad. Oh what fun that will be! Obviuosly, I'm not a big proponent.
I feel your pain with the groceries that time. Myself I transported a TV set on a hand cart back then. Good that it was only a mile. But you agree that it is not a good way to live your life when there are choices. Car = freedom, and quite a few people value the latter. Otherwise you will stay at a party or with your friend only until the last bus departs; and if you are too late - too bad, walk or take a taxi or try to find an all-night bus if you know where they normally graze...
Three block walk is fine. It would be ridiculous to argue that. But where I live now people typically drive for 30-40 minutes to get to work; and there is no public transit even in principle. Maybe if you walk for 2-3 hours you can reach one, but that is hardly an option... and some roads are steep; most people can't climb these hills.
So generally I fully agree that we can do with less cars. But we need to have something else instead; a good public transportation, automatic or otherwise, would be sufficient. As it is now, in most areas of both Canada and USA there is simply no replacement for a car. Only downtown dwellers don't need a car. Everyone's else life in many aspects depends on ability to drive, and it would be awfully selfish to deny them this necessity of modern life just because someone else can afford to live near amenities.