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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."
Does someone have a decent brakedown of the FM freq allocations? It seems like that space is getting crowded.
Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
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.
This thing will be abused before it's even anywhere near fully deployed... what a waste... and as per the article, how about getting people to focus on driving... as in paying attention to thing around you... how the hell is making sure you don't rear-end the guy infront of you not a normal driving task? WTF?
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Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
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...
One of my long-standing dreams (realized in movies like Minority Report) is automated, self-diriving cars.
That's where I think the technology should be heading. Look at TV remotes- they prove that the average Joe doesn't want to move 3 feet on his own to change the channel.
If you got a car that reliably drove itself, even if it was expensive, you'd have people falling over to buy one.
This statement is solely an opinion. Kindly take it as such in all cases.
I see the biggest advantage of intelligent highway systems as being able to efficiently route traffic. Imagine if we tried to run the internet the way our present system works. Joe Schmoe's router catches fire and the system snarls for hours instead of routing around it?
This system sure has a helluva lot of potential to save us all a lot of problems.
A little offtopic, but while I am thinking of insurance companies, I wonder if there are any out there which lower their risks by refusing to insure any modified vehicles? I see all these SUV type things out on the road, modified in such a manner such that not only is their center of gravity moved upward (encouraging rollover), but their bumpers won't mate ( resulting in much more damage from even casual bumps ), and their headlight height from road surface now shines down into unmodified vehicles, with the resulting glare causing it harder for the unmodified vehicle driver to see. It seems the accident statistics should indicate that an insurance company could significantly lower their payouts by refusing coverage of modified vehicles, and be able to lower premiums and attract more policyholders.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
Why are they deciding who gets to broadcast over what frequency.
It's not like they could stop you if you decided to start transmitting with a bunch of stuff from Radio Shack?
What's this country coming to?
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Are you serious? Think about the beginnings of TCAS (onboard collission avoidance system for aircraft) -- until they got them communicating, there was always a danger that they'd tell planes to do the same thing -- ie: dive, or one go right and the other left (opposite direction), and proper use of these means a hell of a lot of trust in the instruments, which is what IFR instruction is all about.
Now take your average motorist and see if he or she is going to listen to what a car-based version of TCAS is telling them to do. And if it comes with no instruction, merely: warning -- collision imminent -- then you've got the same original problem as the TCAS. Frantic swerving is a good way to cause an accident, especially if they haven't visually spotted the danger on their own by then. Honestly, there is no replacement for drivers paying attention.
Perhaps someday we'll get past the idea that we have a RIGHT to everything and things like driving will be a privilege with tests that are actually difficult to pass, and a driving age that isn't shrinking toward the preteen crowd.
And why not? The real point in car-to-car communication on a highway is to keep everybody moving at roughly the same rate of speed so that there are no crashes, because a crash slows everybody down.
That's the principal behind most automated highway systems... everybody goes at the same high speed in tight formation until somebody indicates they want to leave... at which point the cars ahead speed up, the cars behind slow down to create space, the departing car departs, then the lead cars slow and the trailing cars accelerate so that the formation is reformed.
Highways are a great situation where the tragedy of the commons come into play. Somebody wants to go faster than everybody else, faster than they themselves can go, and as a result causes a crash that ruins the ride home for everybody behind them.
Many years ago I remember a collision avoidance trial in a steel plant between locomotives. We were not sucessful due to interfernce from subsonic frequencies thru the high MegaHertz range. Microvave was not feasable at the time.
... it seems to me that there is no specific need for a spectrum allocation.
I have believed that collision avoidance is quite possible but some mechanism to diminish "scattering" was necessary.
Given the wavelength and directionality of this
ok, so this can help drivers not to violate red traffic lights. Won't the traffic camers installed at intersections potentially record fewer violations of drivers going through the red light? (you know, take a snapshot of the car's license plate; send a bill to the owner.) Won't local communities demand a subsidy for the lost revenue due to this sensor system?
To-do List: Receive telemarketing call during a tornado warning. Check.
From the blurb:
"Smart radio technology means smarter highways, safer roads and a more secure homeland," FCC Chairman Michael Powell said.
How, precisely, would a radio broadcast regulated to be useful no further than 100 meters away be useful in securing the "Homeland"? At first, I chalked that up to some sort of bureaucratic lemming syndrome where anything that happens needs to be connected to securing something. But then I put my brain in gear and figured it out; what a great way to create an industrial strength vehicle tracking system. Build out a collision avoidance system and, "discover" how useful it is in tracking bad people, and then...generalize!
Maw! Fire up the karma burner!