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Smart Cars to Save Stupid Drivers?

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the soon-we'll-blame-the-cars-for-that-too dept.

bl8n8r writes "Ford spokesman Mike Vaughn said they tested computerized optical scanning and a variety of warnings: a vibrating steering wheel, the sound of a car driving over rumble strips and a visual warning projected on the windshield. Researchers also tested a so-called "active" system in which the vehicle would actually adjust the steering automatically if it veered too far one way or the other."

16 of 476 comments (clear)

  1. Smart Cars to Save Wealthy Drivers... by garcia · · Score: 5, Funny

    Spinella said automakers have studied systems that use cameras to scan drivers' eyes or sense when they're loosening their grip on the steering wheel beyond normal.

    What's normal? I routinely drive w/o my hands on the wheel. I also tend to take "half-naps" by closing one eye. If it doesn't learn my behavior how is it going to work for me?

    It will be offered this fall on 2005 models of Infiniti's FX sport utility vehicle, then again next spring on the 2006 M45 luxury sedan.

    Apparently only those wealthy enough can afford to be saved while the rest of the 1500 people a year that croak because of drowsy driving have to suffer.

    Bah!

    1. Re:Smart Cars to Save Wealthy Drivers... by TheFlu · · Score: 4, Funny

      "I routinely drive w/o my hands on the wheel. I also tend to take ?half-naps? by closing one eye."

      Could you let me know before you're going out for a drive.

      --

      --It's Pimptastic!--

    2. Re:Smart Cars to Save Wealthy Drivers... by Mantorp · · Score: 4, Funny
      Could you let me know before you're going out for a drive.

      In this same vein, an individual in my defensive driving class last year when asked why he got so many speeding tickets:
      "I only speed when I'm drunk or high, but that's pretty much all the time"

    3. Re:Smart Cars to Save Wealthy Drivers... by goodhell · · Score: 3, Funny

      Reminds me of a little story.

      My friend was driving on this road and he noticed there was a winnebago out in the middle of this field with a confused elderly couple kinda disheveled. As he got closer he saw that the road had made a little jog to the left, and the tire tracks from the winnebago went straight off the road, through the fence and into the middle of the field.

      He got out of his truck to see if they were alright. As he was talking to them, the elderly gentle man sat confused. "I put the thing on Auto-Pilot, went back to get a soda, and next thing I know we're out in the middle of this field!"

      I think that's why most people call it cruise control now, instead of auto-pilot.

    4. Re:Smart Cars to Save Wealthy Drivers... by modecx · · Score: 5, Funny

      You've not seen anything till you've seen a guy steering with one knee, other foot on the gas...Playing a FLUTE...passing you on the shoulder.

      Kid you not.

      --
      Constitutional rights may be respected, repealed, or modified; but they must never be ignored.
    5. Re:Smart Cars to Save Wealthy Drivers... by pjt33 · · Score: 3, Funny
      I routinely drive w/o my hands on the wheel.
      After I passed my driving test, my instructor drove me back to the centre of town, and it was quite an eye-opener. I already knew he could be a bit aggressive, but I wasn't expecting him to drive part of it steering with his knees while he wrote his mobile number down so that I could pass it on to anyone I knew who wanted to learn.
  2. Stupidity 198823, Engineers 42 by onyxruby · · Score: 5, Funny
    Doomed to failure. Trying to pit engineering against the almighty demon known as human stupidity. The poor engineers don't stand a chance. Time for my favorite Einstein quote.
    Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
    /me still bitter about the driver of a full size truck that rear-ended me on the freeway because he was looking at a tow truck in the ditch and not the road. He wasn't malicious, he was just plain stupid, and no avoidance system could have prevented it.
    1. Re:Stupidity 198823, Engineers 42 by MalaclypseTheYounger · · Score: 3, Funny

      A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools. -- Douglas Adams

      --
      Check out the best P2P sharing website: MEDIACHEST.COM
  3. All it needs to detect is.... by Chris_Stankowitz · · Score: 5, Funny
    Estrogen levels!!!!

    /ducks

  4. Warning ! by AtariAmarok · · Score: 5, Funny

    Coming from the Onstar speaker: "You are approaching 88 mph. Your flux capacitor is set to Europe at the time of the Black Plague. Are you REALLY SURE you want to take the DeLorean there?"

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  5. Finally! by Shaper+of+Myths · · Score: 5, Funny

    Researchers also tested a so-called "active" system in which the vehicle would actually adjust the steering automatically if it veered too far one way or the other."

    Finally!

    Now when I'm talking on my phone, reading the newspaper, and eating breakfast on the way to work, I can look down to pick a DVD or refresh /. without worrying about being a hazard anymore!

    1. Re:Finally! by mph · · Score: 3, Funny
      These features will only encourage people to be more wreckless.
      Great! Wreckless drivers are exactly what we want on the roads.

      Reckless drivers, on the other hand...

  6. Re:If they keep protecting stupid people by dr_dank · · Score: 4, Funny

    I somehow feel that the answer involves the Ice Capades.

    --
    Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
  7. Re:What we need, really by Scrameustache · · Score: 4, Funny

    Also having an autopilot would be nice for those among us who like to nap on the roads.

    A rapidly diminishing group ;-)

    --

    You can't take the sky from me...

  8. C172 by MisanthropicProgram · · Score: 5, Funny

    I found out the hard way that a C172 has a stall condition warning - it would go into a dive and my pants get really wet!

  9. Reminds me of the Urban Legend - by Alsier · · Score: 3, Funny

    I think the Urban Legend was: At a recent COMDEX, Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated: "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving twenty-five dollar cars that got 1,000 miles per gallon." Recently General Motors addressed this comment by releasing the statement: "Yes, but would you want your car to crash twice a day?"