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Toyota Patents Winking, Laughing, Crying Car
theodp writes "If the patent system ain't broke, don't fix it: The NY Times/IHT reports that four inventors working for Toyota in Japan have won a patent for a car that they say can help drivers communicate better by glaring angrily at another car cutting through traffic, as well as appear to cry, laugh, wink or just look around." The article goes on to describe "...a car with an antenna that wags, an adjustable body height, headlights that vary in intensity and hood slits and ornamentation designed to look like eyebrows, eyelids and tears."
is what part of the car is going to represent the middle finger
...would Herbie the Love Bug count as prior art?
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
can I patent a method of sticking a single finger out the window to express my frustration with other drivers?
Two Words:
Moon Roof
If you spend a few extra split seconds looking in the mirror at another car's "expression" then you are spending less time looking ahead of you.
2 tonne furbies on wheels
| `
| \,X`\ HEIL HITLER
|
...before the first news article "Driver of Glaring Car Shot to Death"?
This sig seemed like a good idea at the time....
I wonder what expression a riced-out version will show when mom's minivan beats it in a drag race...
the friggin cell phone that is glued to everyone's head.
Just what we need. All these hotrodders and riceboys that soup up their cars to bounce or sound like they go faster than they're going, and now we have the manufacturers participating in a slightly backhanded way.
This sig no verb.
So does this include a speech distorter so it sounds like the car is screaming obscenities at the rest of the idiots out there?
I'd set mine to "Bender"
- Relativistic? That's barely Newtonian!
Great. One more thing for people to concentrate on instead of driving. People can't handle using their turn signals, is having a selector to show a dozen different emotions going to help any?
I believe Walt Disney can demonstrate prior art via the Herbie the Lovebug series of movies...
Duh!
LG
When is Microsoft going to patent...
The crying computer?
Install Windows ME and Office XP on a Pentium 166MMX, with 64MB of RAM, and it'd cry too. Sorry, that would be me crying, so I guess the patent would have to be for computers that make humans cry...
And some flavour of Linux could patent a computer that gives out free beer.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
Wait... No, thats totally (for lack of better word, no offense to anyone) Gay. Very Gay. When are you going to make them fly like you promised in the 50's? Thats the future I want. I want a flying car with laser cannons! And missles that come out of the tail pipe! With a racing stripe!
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
Sounds like smilies for cars to me ;-)
Life is like a web application. Sometime you need cookies just to get by.
I hope the inventors complied with their duty to submit a copy of "Roger Rabbit" to the patent office. Benny the Cab anticipates every technology described in the article.
Finally, a patent that will block a BAD idea. Thanks Toyota!
...now I have to deal with being surrounded by crying cars on the way to work.
Screw that.
Did anyone else think of Speed Buggy or am I the only dope that remembers that show?l et/showid-5028/Speed_Buggy/
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/ShowMainServ
that will actually munch on other cars. An angry face just doesn't express my displeasure when someone cuts me off.
Brings "Bite Me!" to a whole new level!
Hehehehe... Japan is so funny. Anthropomorphic cars. Hehehe... Can we order them with Garfield stripes?
You know those Chevron cars? Those toy and clay model ones that they use in the commercials and you can buy at gas stations? Well, that's what I think is going to happen. I am going to be laughing my ass off and on during my entire commute if this thing was introduced heavily into the market. As such, it is important to provide safety controls for the drivers and passengers laughing their heads off and not concentrating on the road.
I propose that along with the car that has the expressions, when they get introduced into the general car population deep enough, that each be provided with a driver laughing restraint system, such as a swift kick in the balls by actuating the gas pedal or something.
In other news, a car gets indicted for sexual harrassment.
does it make when it's flattened by an SUV?
"The bigger the lie, the more they believe." - Det. Bunk
Instead the money is spent on making a car appear to have emotion. Why not just make a large magnifying glass or some other magnification device that allows other drivers to see the facial/ hand expressions of the drivers?
Then again...
Oh. The beauty of our neuroses. Jeez. Doesn't this stuff just make you want to AARRGGH! I know it's end of july but pleeze Zeus (hey I live in Athens GR) can we have some real news
Snideness noted, but what exactly is "broke" here?
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
Herbie, the love bug
The patent system may be broken, but I don't really see how this would be an indication of it.
At least to me, this is not an obvious idea.
Unless of course, you have a Japanese sense of imagination. I'd trust the people who invented Domo-kun , Vending machines for 'used' underwear and heated, self-deodorizing toilets to come up with just about anything.
...it can star in a "Girls Gone Wild" video, flashing tits and drunk on jello shots.
a beowulf cluster of these...
"With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine." -- RFC 1925
"Whoa, whoa. You better watch what you say about my car. She's real sensitive." Now she will furrow her brows, headlights flashing in anger before running you over!
Sacré-bleu! Where is me mama?
I believe Apple owns the patent to this.
Ever booted a (much older) Mac with a bad disk? Or shutdown improperly and cause loss of data? It cries!
Informatus Technologicus
So far I haven't had any problems with just glaring angrily at the other drivers myself, and my car's unchanging and expressionless front-end doesn't betray my internal turmoil OR get me shot at.
They should get my stupid air bag and anti-lock brakes to work properly before they "humanize" cars.
Forget anger and letting people merge in front of you... Here's what I want my car to be able to express:
1) Oops!
2) New to area.
3) I'm completely lost.
4) Medical emergency.
5) Learner
How many times are we angry with people who just happen to be dealing with one of the above and who we would easily forgive if we knew as much?
Live free or die
Shouldn't the idea be to decrease road rage? It's a great novelty idea, but nothing more. As someone already mentioned, it distracts drivers from watching the road. That's partly the reason why there are many restrictions (at least, in the US) about blinking lights, moving parts, etc., on vehicles. Personally, I think the little spinny-things on the rims are annoying enough, and I'm not looking forward to the car giving me the same head-tilted-back, lower-lip-stuck-out, looking-out-from-under-a-goofy-looking-hat, I-wanna-be-like-the-rappers-on-TV expression as the driver.
I pity the foo that isn't metasyntactic
Won't sell enough to mass-produce, anyway. Too many people revel in the emotional anonymity of riding in a metal box. If this really helped people communicate while driving, even in this limited second-hand way, they might have to acknowledge that they're sharing the road with other people, and they might be less inclined to drive so obliviously and/or obnoxiously to others. The market for that is way too small.
...what's the disappointed-of-the-USPTO glare...
Oh, wait, we (my car and me) never expected them to make any sense anyway....
Hey they patented "Speed Buggy!!!" now it'll never come back to saturday morning ;-(
Mike
The real question, for me atleast, is whether or not it weeps for our future.
~~Guildencrantz
Penguin Trivia #46: Animals who are not penguins can only wish they were. -- Chicago Reader 10/15/82
herbie the love bug?
Clear, Dark Skies
That's great, really, but what I'd rather like/need is a way to communicate with those people behind me, who like to tailgate.
Something like, 'You do not have appropriate stopping distance. Back off, or I'll test my theory by way of brakes.'
Informatus Technologicus
I have always thought that a cheap sort of CB radio available in every car would be very useful to increasing driver courtesy.
Maybe the radio receivers could tell which direction a transmission was coming from, and provide cues to people in the car (by positioning the voice across the speakers, or something).
Or maybe that wouldn't be necessary, in Counter-Strike you don't necessarily know the location of your teammates, but the voice chat helps immensely.
I think one of the problems with driving, that causes a lot of stress, is that your interaction with other people is very impersonal, and what communication can be done is through a very narrow channel (flashing your lights, waving your hand, etc)...
How many times have you pulled to a 4-way stop slightly after someone else, but they aren't moving. You feel a little frustrated, you wonder what's wrong with the other guy. Then, after 20 seconds or so, you both move at the same time, now you're saying to yourself, "What's this idiot's problem?"...
But, if you pulled up slightly after him, and he said "oh, you go right through, I need to help my wife find the pen in the glove compartment", everything is much smoother.
I guess it probably couldn't happen for technology reasons, it might be too hard to make a good user interface... But, it would solve a lot of problems imo...
This certainly sounds like it could be useful, as generally more communication is a good thing. But from my own observations, I'm not entirely sure that the other driver knowing what I'm thinking/feeling is a good thing. I've had plenty of thoughts about the asinine driving of other people that probably would have resulted in fights rather than better understanding! I, of course, drive perfectly!
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
Perhaps - but certainly not new.
Herbie the Love Bug
and, of course, his cartoon brother,
speed buggy
Clear, Dark Skies
and i'm installing hydros on it yea!
Sounds more like Wonderbug (aka Schleppcar) from the Kroft show of the same name.
well its already happened.....in Japan!
Did you know you can be apathetic to apathy? Not that I give a shit...
OMG KAWAII!!! (sarcasm) ...Great, now cars can profess disgust and joy just like little virtual avatars in games like Ragnarok Online and Final Fantasy XI. ...though the concept is a little bit intriguing. I still need one of those scrolling LED signs to stick in my rear-view mirror. The possibilities are endless.
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in the 70's the cops would come to school and bring a tricked out VW bug. it had modified headlight eyes that winked and blinked and turned on command. :)
it had a modified hood mouth that opened and closed to "talk"
and the fenders would move too I think.
also had a hat
comment directly in my journal
I can see it now... "Driver slipped off icy road when tears (from car) landed on ice"
how about increasing fuel efficiency? (yes, even more.
or making them safer (fundementally instead of bigger and heavier)
or better communication integration for the ever-pressed-to-the-ear cell phones
or better collision avoidance systems
or making headlights that can be "ub3r" that don't blind everyone on the road
Yeah, making sure the car has emotions and becomes more distracting is a stellar idea. Yesh.
I drive in Boston every day, I would always leave it on heart attack angry face.
Snoop Dogg's cars have had this ability for years.
...based on a routine I heard from a stand-up comic once:
"Every car should be required to have a cell phone, and the license plate is the phone number".
I can just imagine what kind of chaos that would cause...
Prior art can definitely be found here:
Benny the Cab in Who Framed Roger Rabbit
(If applicable) flip your rear window washer over so it sprays upward and fill it with oil.
Not saying I've done it. Just an idea.
For a while now I've been meaning to build an LED display for the back of my car so I can flash messages like GET OUT FROM UP MY ASS and plain old FUCK YOU! to whoever's tailgating me.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
I posed a question when I submitted this story yesterday: they claim that the horn only sends one message, and doesn't allow you to thank someone who lets you cut in. How does a smile on the front of your car tell someone behind you thanks? I always found that a simple wave accomplished this quite well, myself.
It's about time a patent was issued for something *valid* for a change.
If this were compared to most software patents, it would be a patent for the concept of using an automatic transmission gear-shifter, decades after nearly every car has an automatic transmission.
"Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
-Marilyn Manson
An "awake" car would have "open shutters, headlights fringed with complementary 'eyebrows,' an erect antenna and brighter glass and exterior panels."
So it has an erect antenna and it's batting eyebrows uh? I'm sure this car has great pimping potential...
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
It definately sounds like a hack of Herbie the love bug. There are probably other lesser known instances of prior art to the patent in old issues of popular mechanics or some old wonders of technology documentary in black/white tv. This is yet another example that the patent system is broken.
Sure i'd get a car that showed emotion, but i'm a sucker for over-priced, non-essential, almost-useless-gadgets....BUT by the description I immediately thought of the Chevron with Techron commercials. First I thought - "hay if my car looked/acted like that it'd be kinda cool" but then I thought "Does this count as Prior Art? Could Chevron sue Toyota or some such lame as scenario?"
Ave Molech Setting
Man this is sooo Janpanese. Whimiscal, imaginative, fun, anthropomorphizing machinery, almost-makes-sense-but-totally-impractical.
How many reasons, here's 2:
- drivers already have way to much crud going on like cellphones, food, entertainment systems, etc; we don't need people spending time communicating by freaking semaphore with their neighbors on the highway at 60 mph
- more non-essential parts to break (we don't all drive new cars); what happens if the mechanism stops working in glare-mode, Am I gonna pay for rent or getting it back in smiley-mode?
The BBC series with John Cleese entitled "The Human Face" explores this notion a little bit. I'm not surprised at all that someone is trying to implement it.
It sounds like these engineers are trying to take what is essentially a blank stare (your hood/grill) and give it some (small) flexibilty. Most of the emoting we do while driving never makes it past the windshield, and we end up feeling like people are ignoring us. The simple ability to express ourselves and get some reaction in return may do a lot to lessen peoples' anger at other drivers. In any case, check out the DVD...
When one of these cars is really scared, will it start leaking?
But, if you pulled up slightly after him, and he said "oh, you go right through, I need to help my wife find the pen in the glove compartment", everything is much smoother.
Driving is serious business.
Driving is not a time to help someone find a pen. It is time to follow the rules of the road. Don't mess with the rules, just follow them.
If you have other business to deal with, take care of it some other time.
Thanks,
A Decent Driver
Spoon not. Fork, or fork not. There is no spoon.
Huh?
"I'm sorry, Michael - I honestly thought it would make them happy if I winked at them!"
You must think in Russian.
You insensitive clod
mentions patents... check.
stupid features only a male virgin could get excited about... check.
comment upon comment demonstrating a genuine interest in this "story"... check
obligatory bleeding-hearts complaining we should be more worried about the environment... check
Yeah, this is slashdot alright.
What will be the autoemoteicon for possesed cars like in the film The Car:/ -/6305 511861/qid=1090871045/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/103-08236 99-1556664?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail
Alex
"The Brady Bunch is back...working homicide"
I, for one, welcome our gas-powered, robotically expressive overlords. Wait a minute, how is that different from the last set of overlords?
This sig has been stolen. Return it to its original user for a reward.
A car that acts like a pet? Great, now I'll have to carry around a bunch of jumbo sized trash bags and a glove to pick up my car's "messes".
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
And make their larger SUVs look like male genitalia?
Or is Chevy already trying to do that with the Corvette?
Blessed be he who reads this post, Cursed be he who tells my boss.
Ok, then what is the correct word that will convey the exact same feeling to the audience of slashdot. One of the reasons why there are a bilion ways of saying the same thing in the English language, is that each one has its own sublte nuances that affect the meaning. So while you may deride my word choice lacking imagination, the fact is that the words I did use were the correct ones in this case and anyother words would have changed the meaning. So while a group of people ( gay, lesbian, transgender) may take offense of the charterisation, the reality is that the word really transends their use of it as a descriptor of their sexuality. In fact, there are still those that resent that very same community for adopting the word "Gay" for their use.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
..that the emotions EASILY add at least 50 HP to a ricer! Man, with this and the wiper LEDs you'd be unbeatable!!
SYS 64738
Will it have an "Oh shit!" expression when you wreck?
Will it vomit windshield fluid if the driver is drunk?
What ever happened to the good old The Smith & Wesson Model 29?
Do ya feel lucky, punk?
Guzzi
Dallas, Texas
in Toontown!
And thus begins the eternal war between the Autobots and Decepticons.
It's nice to see Toyota get a patent these days. They took a big hit when Honda got the patent for ricers.
Yeah, you're not even suppose to have your dome light on at night while driving... I'm sure this won't be a distraction at all. *rolling eyes*
And you think females on the phone driving in the left lane is bad now?! wait until they start having to play with their auto-emotion settings while driving! It will never make it into a production street-legal car.
..will the car drive around all day long honking incessantly?
How will we be able to tell if there is a traffic jam ahead, or several cars filled with teenagers?
Damn teenagers.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
Right?!
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
This is just the patent for the Toyota Pod concept, featured in one of the Gran Turismo concept games. Here's a little bit more information: http://www.supercars.net/cars/2001@$Toyota@$POD%20 Conceptb.html
If I do can I patent the EVIL portion ?
A car that when you glare at someone it RUNS THEM OFF THE ROAD, Now that I would buy.
Aside from that feature which I do not see listed the whole thing is well....
Unless of course they can have it show abject gibbering terror the first time it enters a rotary.
"Work is the curse of the drinking class" Oscar Wilde
I can't wait for the possible dating situations...
Ford F-250 winks at the cute little Toyota Echo.
"Hey good lookin', what's a car like you doin' on a highway like this?"
Will that be premium or supreme?
Can I change your oil?
And my personal favorite:
Wanna flash me?
Thank you, I'll be here all night. Don't forget to tip your waitress and try the steak...
Now my wife AND my car can look pissed at me all the time.
My car not starting after a red light because it's too busy flirting with the Mazda in the next lane.
that the car will look worried when driving through a bad neighbourhood, making the poor driver the obvious target of a nice mid-day-mugging..
any number of cartoons and as mentioned earlier are prior art for this.
It's a rare /. story that can be interesting, funny, clever and stupid all at the same time.
Very Informative Link
It's not just the anonymity that does it, it's the physical contact. If you go up to some guy in the super market and say "OH EMM GEE YOU ARE THE FUCKING GAYEST GUY ON EARTH DUBYA TEE EFF IS YOUR PROBLEM", you aren't insulated by tons of steel or miles of wire.
What we call folk wisdom is often no more than a kind of expedient stupidity.-Edward Abbey
...now I'll know if they guy who ran me over was drunk, sleeping at the wheel, or really pissed off at me
Don't the Chevron cars count as prior art? Sure, they are just animations, but that counts as a design prototype.
If you must moderate, please moderate as irrelevent, not something bad, because I'm sure someone will find this interest
I liked the finger. That was a good program.
---
ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
...Therefore I wouldn't expect to see the middle finger much, but I would expect to see all the standard manga/anime visual icons.
There's a good list of them here, along with all the appropriate emoticons, although they left out a bunch of other less common stuff (bloody nose for sexual overstimulation, snot bubble for sleeping, escaping spirit for half dead, completely white from shock, puking looks kind of like a waterfall), and certain mouth patterns (aggressive fangs).
In particular, expect to see sweat drops, popping veins, and funny eyes. ^_^;
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
And what's the deal with airline food?
Seriously, you're about as on-topic as the submitter's comment about the patent system. It's like seeing a story about case modding and saying, "OMG why are people spending effort on case modding when I still don't have holographic displays on my computer?!?"
it's expression as it drives off a cliff, right before impact and a nice big hollywood explosion.
weep! weep! WAP
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
is the middle finger. As a New Jerseyian (born and raised), I have a sub-two second roll down window/extend arm/raise middle finger time. It's second nature in situations like "soccer mom in minivan on my right doesn't even look out her left window and tries to change lanes into my car." My response then was an instictive, sub-second horn/brake/swerve/flip-bird.
This system is sufficient for any and all inter-driver communication needs I could ever imagine.
Now THAT's communication!
No. 1 rule for individual inventors, don't try to patent anything related to the automotive industry. That is an industry that patents *everything*, and will spend big money to protect it's IP.
...cars will have finally have some personality. God knows they need all they can get. Now we can have smiley toasters on wheels!
-Z
Mount it backwards in the front... "TURN YOUR GODDAMN BLINKER OFF!!!"
lamenessfilter, dont use caps, blah blah blah
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
I have a issue of Grassroots Motorsports, where they did an autocross competition between a 1965 Porsche 356, a 1967 Jag XKE convertible, and a stock 2003 Honda Odessy minivan.
The minivan, with stock tires, smoked the Jag, and tied the Porsche. With one level better tires, the minivan smoked the 356 as well. Smoked it badly
I hereby declare it fair game to shoot someone simply for owning the car, no need to wait until they do something *else* offensive.
See, it's more efficient already.
-----
Believe me, I'm as surprised by my comment as you are.
If this technology would be applied, i bet oldtimer sales would rise.
For one, I always wanted my own lifesize brumm brumm !
Hivemind harvest in progress..
I'm schocked to read how this is being slammed. True enough, it may well be more japanese cutesy-ness than anything else, but I see lots of potential here, and I'm surprised no UI designers have chimed in with wisdom. I submit there are several valid views of just what makes for driving, including position relative to the road, position relative to other cars, and laugh or not, a social view is just as valid. The phrases "sunday driver" or "minivan mom" attest to it. My current home is a decent example. Each area has their own unique bad-driving style, and I blame Milwaukee's on having frequent freeway exits on both the right and left sides. The classic "fastest on the left, slowest on the right" school of driving totally fails here, and the problem results in all lanes being a mix of people who want to drive fast, and people who want to drive slow. ...and nothing but being able to pick them out ahead of time can really help. We already do a great job of this; beyond even assessing the type of car, there is almost a posture that can be seen from afar: someone looking for a turn, someone looking to pass, someone not paying attention, etc. (My most loathed is people who sit at a light with no blinker on, then hold up traffic to make the turn against oncoming traffic when i could have passed on the right had i known. I only guess right about 50% of the time on those..)
I'm not saying this anthrompomorphic attempt is the answer, but I do think that posture as a signal of intention could eventually be an invaluable element of driving: it's so elementary in understanding that all mammals I can think of understand. Wouldn't it be nice to know at a glance which cars at a red light intend to get going quick, and which are just cruising?
Or perhaps we'll just hand our steering wheels over to programs like in the 4-lane-traffic simulation article of recent... I for one welcome our new transportational masters.
-evilme
At first read, I would love it if I could use my car to perform some "Hood Shits" on all the pricks on the road. Sign me up!
Anyone from Toronto, ON (or those who've ever watched Toronto's international Santa Claus Parade) remember Toronto Police Services' "Blinky" ? Prior art, I think so!
But Maaa! Everyone else has a
to get you out of a speeding ticket
My old 1974 Fiat X-1/9. Bump the headlight switch just right, and the left headlight pod would go op, down, and back up again. Winking, as it were.
But have they gotten it to say "Autobots, let's roll out!" yet? Then they'll have something worth talking about.
HitScan
the moving parts start to inevitably wear out you'll get cars with partial facial paralysis... cars that won't stop winking, or can only smile with half a face, or have a floating eye
Seriously, the danger from tailgating is that they might rear-end you (duh). If you slowly reduce your speed this greatly reduces the risk of a high-speed read end collision while simultaneously giving them a great incentive to stop tailgating. They're doing it because they think it'll get them to their destination faster. I simply make it clear to them that they'll NEVER get there if they insist on tailgating me.
In my experience, most people get the hint and back off.
You patent a HOW not a WHAT, a specific mechanism, not a general concept that could be implemented in any number of ways.
You can't patent a style, you can't patent a function. Functions live in the public domain, only mechanisms for performing those functions can be patented.
It's not good enough for the concept to be original if the mechanism is obvious.
What next, a car that makes an "Oh" face?
It would be interesting to use the car lighting to determine the mood and attitude of the driver. Of course, we already have a version of that today: bass-pounding music and ground lighting effects, or the soccer ball on the back of the urban assault vehicle.
Anyone remember these commercials?
He who has no
I don't follow suit, because it makes me self conscious. I can see why someone might get offended but it doesn't seem to me that Bill, Shooter of Bul is attacking non-heterosexuals.
(white) People used to use the "n" word to describe black people. Then black people started using it to refer to each other. Now, it Trent Lott says the "n" word, I figure it's cause he's a jerk. If my buddy (who is black) calls me "his n-gga", it's not offensive to me. Okay, maybe I don't like to hear it anyway, but I know he's not attacking me. Likewise, homosexual people use the word "queer" with each other. I don't use the n-word at all. I say "gay" but not around my gay friends. It's more about consideration, I think, than grammar and vocabulary.
On the one hand, no one likes being labeled. On the other hand, words are just words. On the third hand, it all depends on context. I thought I had a point, but it's gone now....
It's easy to take offense, or to see offense where it was not intended. It's also easy to unintentionally offend.
Damn, what's this soap box doing under my feet?
"A witty saying proves nothing." ~Voltaire
"d'Oh!" ~Homer
The frustrating thing is that when someone cuts you off, they *AREN'T* looking at you, and *DON'T* look back at you. The idiot driving 55 in the passing lane is obviously ignoring you. So what's the point of having a car that shows emotion when the people you want to know you're upset are igoring you completely?
.357 magnum. A few rounds through their rear windows definitely let's them know how you feel.
That's why the only thing that ever really works is a
-- If god wanted me to have a sig, he'd have given me a sense of humor.
As a car is stuck at the lights the eyes will slowly follow some girl crossing the road, and then the hood will pop open..
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
The third base-mobile!
Just think about it.
Back in the 60s, linguists postulated that your vocabulary influences your character, claiming even that bilingual people act differently depending on the language they're speaking.
That would explain why drivers start acting like enraged apes as soon as they enter their cars: They are limited to honking, blinking, acceleration and hand signals.
Kreegah, bundolo!
I mean really.... because there's never been a movie/tv show ever that tried to portray a car as having emotions....
And it isn't like the idea of making a piece of machinery have emotions isn't something we talk about on Slashdot ad-nauseaum.
I'm sorry, but you must be easily impressed if you think this idea isn't obvious.
Do not spread "09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0" over the internet, thank you.
That'd be helpful for law enforcement.
Thanks to the internet, we can now all die alone together! -SomeWoman
great now my car can wink at the sexy brunette who just merged in ahead of me, now all I need is for it to be able to wolf-whistle at the girls on the roadside...
The article cites incorrect patent no.
This patent is for a USB powered lamp...
6,575,593
The other manufactures better hurry as most of the domestics have been way ahead of the curve.
Ford patented the transmission that dies after 20,00 miles
Chrysler already patented the Minivan / Roadside Grill
And Firestone already patented the "self blowing" tires.
Karma means nothing to me, so suck it...
This is a good thing. Road rage, some accidents, and much of the general stress of driving comes because Drivers Are Assholes. That happens because the road is too anonymous-- we don't see the people, we see cars. Add some emotional feedback to the system, and the road would be a lot safer and less draining for all of us.
My Photography - http://ian-x.com
The Deathlings (comic) - http://thedeathlings.com
When someone's been on my tail for a while, I keep an eye on them in the mirror until I see them look off the road. I then press lightly on the brake, just enough to turn the lights on. When they look back and see my brake lights already on, they panic and slam on their brakes. Double the fun if they have their own tailgater.
There is a minor difference... The Toyota car is controlled by the driver to express the driver's emotions. Herbie was a cranky car with its own emotions.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
...that we've hit the limits of the usefulness of technology where current automobiles are concerned. I'd take tailfins over these monstrosities any day.
Un-news
While I share your anger and frustration at people who drive too slowly, too far to the left, there is NEVER any reason to tailgate ANYONE! EVER! Tailgating is stupid and dangerous, and people who engage in it, for whatever reason, should, IMO, have their license to pass on their genes to a next generation revoked! (Not to mention their license to drive.)
People who don't observe the "slower traffic, keep right" law are a problem. Your proposed solution, however, is ten times worse than the problem you're trying to solve.
two extremes...
Car's that look menecing and angry, driven by male assholes in their late-teens and 20s.
Car's that look cute and fluffy, driven by hippy women and outwardly homosexual males.
You already see it to a point... the tough guy's driving around in lowered Honda's with aggressive stances, loud/harsh exhaust, etc... and the flower-child bullshit from people driving their VW Beetle's w/ airbrushed flowers on the hood, etc...
Even if there were lots of comments here about this patent, who really read it? The NYT gave a wrong number. The name of the patent is "Vehicle expression operation control system, vehicle communication system, and vehicle which performs expression operation" and its number is 6,757,593. Maybe the NYT was a little bit dyslexic.
Pay attention to the chick in the silver Civic tomorrow, she always flips you off as she passes and you NEVER give her the satisfaction of looking!
where do I mount the auto .22 Everything else is crap for some import yahoo to trick out his ride, and not make the payment...
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
There's a huge proportion of the human brain devoted to picking out faces (which is why so many things look facelike) and recognising emotions. Those parts of your mind are ridiculously rapid, letting you see and interpret microsecond flickers of body langauge.
In effect, like moving graphics procesing out of the CPU and onto a graphics card, this is handing off processing of some part of road conditions from (slow) learned analysis onto (fast) instinctive response. It will probably reduce real distraction.
While i don't think this is the way to go about it, traffic problems could be alleviated by communication. For example, if someone knew you were going to let them in ahead of you, there wouldn't be this mess where both of you would slow down, then speed up, &c'. This seems like it would like to aid in this, but ends up being cutesey.
1) Polarized, as a prior poster put.
2) Fluorescent, so the entire front bumper of the car is the light source (more light, but from a more spread out source, so not as blinding.
You are quite right - the meaning of the word gay has taken on a new additional meaning in society of something stupid or contemptful.
But if this word's new meaning stems originally from usage by homophobic males who used their negative connotations with gay people to give power to a new insult, than it is clear that using this word is an insult to gay people (regardless if it is intended to be by any particular speaker). Every time the word is used in a negative way, it reinforces the idea that there is something bad or contemptible about "gayness".
But for you to just say "blame society" is an ignorant avoidance of the fact that each of us can and should be responsible for our own vocabularies - and be mindful of the affects of various word choices on those around us.
People often use the word "girl" in a negative way - "don't be a girl". This is another example of word usage that creates and reinforces both a negative stereotype and negative connotations of being a certain type of person. What subtle (or not so subtle) affects does this have on girls images of themselves, and on women as they grow up?
Our word choices can often show our deep prejudices, as well as foster these prejudices in those around us and those growing up under us.
re: automoticons
Didn't the Autobots beat them up?
Nah, you're thinking of the Deceptibots.
Accountability on the heads of the powerful.
Power in the hands of the accountable.
So if one of these gets in an accident... I can picture some horrible scene with shattered glass and debris everywhere, ambulances, horrified onlookers... and a car with a cutesy-surprised look mugging away in the background. Nightmarish irony.
Much like a Jump-To-Conclusions Mat, this is a terrible idea.
My bet is that if men never drove after drinking (get creative here) and ditto for women, the insurance rates would probably be higher for the females since they simply don't drive sober as well as sober males.
Very seriously, I have often wanted a way to communicate hazardous conditions to nearby drivers. Just a couple of weeks ago, there was a car going about 65 mph in the left lane of route 128 whose right front tire was extremely low. We got to a section where traffic was choked up and everyone was going about 20. Their passenger window was open, and I was able to match speeds, open my window and yell "Flat tire! flat tire!" They did not seem to understand. This isn't a joke, I did NOT get a hostile response, I'm just saying that it's not easy to communicate. They probably couldn't even hear me over the wind. And, yes, it was a dangerous distraction for me to be trying to do that in congested highway traffic.
I've seen many cars with their headlights off at night, and trucks with badly secured loads. One time I saw a truck with some kind of hose on a big spool that had come undone. There was about five feet of hose dragging on the road behind the truck. Then there were six feet, then seven, then ten, then fifteen. By that time I was passing the truck. I honked a couple of times, which I'm sure meant nothing, and proceeded on my way; heaven only knows what happened.
I can't speak for anyone else if if I had a flat tire or a load that was coming loose I'd want the surrounding cars to let me know.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
When a funeral procession goes by, would all the cars be crying?
There's probably more... that's what they 'reply' button is for.
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
-- Pablo Picasso
Japan is so funny. Anthropomorphic cars.
You know, the limited communicative abilities of our cars is something that struck me when I visited my ancestral Japan. I witnessed my aunt, while driving, bowing to another driver - or trying to. I'm not sure if the other driver could actually see her very well. Bowing, of course, is ubiquitous in Asia, but there's no easy way to express that in a car. A horn obviously doesn't cut it.
I think adding more expressive communication to automobiles is a fantastic idea, although I don't know if glaring angrily and crying would be very constructive or useful...
So often, you would hear a beep, and you'd have no idea what it was supposed to mean. It's almost appalling, really.
What I would do is install two or three horns with different pitches (maybe just two to keep things simple) so that your honks can have intonation. You could honk expressively, like "!!", "???", or "....."
Accountability on the heads of the powerful.
Power in the hands of the accountable.
But when will they market those creepy cat buses from Totoro?
ha. thanks. that was funny.
He wrote a book about this. Turn Signals Are the Facial Expressions of Automobiles
Write Only Memory: Another pointless blog.
I, for one, welcome our anthropomorphic automotive overlords.
I can just see one of these get into a nasty accident, catch fire, and start blaring "Why?! Why!? Why was I programmed to feel pain?!" whilst flapping its doors madly.
Because I never go 60 in a 70 Zone. Here in Canada, I do 120 in a 100 zone. None the less, I *always* let people pass me by moving to the right lanes. People here LOVE to speed.
But you know what? Every now and then I STILL get some asshole who decides to tailgate me, even though the left lane is perfectly clear and they could easily pass me.
For these people, I wish I had a rear facing cannon.
Or another situation is when traffic is so tight that you *can't* move over to the right, and you *can't* go faster because there are 200 cars in front of you. Yet some sad excuse for a sentient being decides to ride your bumper thinking somehow that he can cause all 200 cars on the highway to move out of his way.
The strange-looking 2001 Toyota POD Concept seems to have been a first cut at the emotional car (e.g. light panels turn red to indicate frustration, blue to indicate "sadness" at being out of gas, etc.) The concept car doesn't have the "eybrows", but does have an antenna it can wag to indicate happiness.
wtf??
How come the subject of my message changed on it's own? Weeeiiird.
One more thing to distract that all but attentive driver while they talk on the phone with their right hand, hold the cigrette with their left, brights on all the time and now looking at the expressions of the cars they are running off the road or going to hit.
I can't use my sig - my computer can't read my handwriting.
I recall watching a TV program on the Autobahn (SP?), and there was mention that explicit emotional expression such as flipping someone off, or honking too long can lead to a traffic violation. So would these cars with emotions be illegal?
...JAPANESE. It's a very Japanese idea (dumb, cutesy, pointless, sure to have lots of dumb giggly japanese schoolgirls inside).
I guarantee they've got an emoting "Hello Kitty" car in the works.
Instead of this cutesy garbage, they could be doing something about fuel efficiency. But oh no, gotta make something "cute" instead of useful.
Welcome our new homosexual, Toyota driving Overlords ...From Japan!
If you can't handle the heat, get out of the left lane! On the other hand, i try to be nice to the people in the right couple lanes. They presumably don't want to deal with left lane traffic, and they're being considerate and using the right lanes like slower traffic is supposed to.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
All cars should have one-way windows that stop drivers from seeing the stupid self-serving hand signals, shoulder shrugs, and rolling eyeballs of other drivers. This stuff just makes people madder than they were already.
Of course the cops wouldn't like it but they allow heavily tinted windows a lot of places.
Can prior art exist in fiction?
For example: In the 1980s Disney made many great movies about a VW beetle called Herbie. Titles included "Herbie Goes Bannanas", "Herbie Goes to Montycarlo", and the unreleased movie "Herbie goes bezerk". Herbie was a POS VW who could show characteristics that are described in this patent, and more.
(In Herbie goes bezerk, my personal favourite, our lovable friend herbie runs down all manner of creatures. Nuns, schoolkids, dogs, cats, cops, are all in herbie's sights)
it is only after a long journey that you know the strength of the horse.
On most highways, there are signs every few miles with a few very wise words:
"Keep right except to pass"
If you are dealing with tailgaters in the right lane, you're fine. If you're doing this in the passing lane, you are just being an ass, and can actually get a ticket for this.
I've heard the excuse, but the left lane is the fast lane, and I was doing the speed limit. There is no fast lane...it's a passing lane.
Mod points are pointless when you browse at -1.
There is no "no offense" verion of "that is totally gay". If you are going to be a biggot or a jackass, *OWN* the jackassary... 8-)
... but no offense taken... 8-)
Would you also dare:
"No offense, that is such a lying jew tactic"?
"No offense, but what a lazy nigger thing to do"?
(etc.)
I know, I know, some of your best friends are homosexual jews of african descent... right...
Think about it. If you knew enough to plead "no offense" then you knew from the get-go that there was no non-offensive reading likely by your audience.
Now, rather than put some "weeping liberal" (8-) plea here, I just thought I point something out to you...
Using that kind of language will cost you money.
Let's say that you are the perfect applicant for a job, but lets also say that you have allowed yourself to develop these habbits of speach over the course of your lifetime. The patterns of speach and thought will, eventually, become habbits of speach and thought. When the interviewer hears you say "totally gay" or "yo dog" or whatever, he will either think you are ignorant and decided to cut the salary offer because you won't know you're being had on the cheap, or decide you are likely to let that sort of thing slip in front of a customer, and decide that you really aren't the most qualified applicant after all.
You should put the price schedule in your head:
(cost for each utterance)
$50 ending a sentence in "yo".
$100 placing two or more "yo"s next to eachother when not discussing a child's toy.
$75 "totally gay"
$200 "nigger"
$175 "heeb" or "jew boy"
(and so forth...)
Each time you use any of the above, mentally deduct the dollar amount from your lifetime earnings.
It's not like there is actually a guy standing behind you who is going to ticket you, but each usage increases the likelyhood that you will use the term at an ill-advised later moment and lose a substantial finincial position or opportunity.
This is part of my theory of "the instantaneously self-punishing nature of life."
Innocent people shouldn't be forced to pay for inferior software development.
--"Code Complete" Microsoft Press
Ok, so in addition to managing engine RPM and steering wheel direction (which translates to speed and direction of travel, most of the time), my headlights, my turn signals, my radio, my foglights, seat heaters, moon roof, and however many passangers I've got (go ahead, add to that list with everything else you have to do while driving), I'm going going to have to manage the automoticons of my car too? And instead of just noticing speed and direction of travel, brake lights, and turn signals of other cars, traffic lights, road signs, road markings, path of the road, quality of the road, the signage, lights, markings and paths of intersecting roads. I have to add the emotion of the other cars to the list of things I have to observe and take note off? Can we say operater saturation, if not overload. Pilot saturation in figherjets is a well known phenominon, to the point where they won't even hear audio alarms or see blinking red lights. And I can't count the number of times I've seen it in everyday drivers.
Somehow humanity has managed to drive for a hundred years without using automoticons to commincate. If oncoming traffic had left their brights on, we didn't tell the car to squint... we flashed our brights. Granted, we might also be telling them about the speed trap, but thats for them to figure out. And if a dangerous condition existed on someones car, we would honk and point. Sometimes we would even convince them to pull over and actually help them fix the problem.
So lets recognize this for what it is. The next generation of 'look at my car' It started with a eyecatching and technically difficult paint job, lots of body mods and chrome. Then it was a horsepower proving exhaust, chromed out engine, and tires that could provide enough traction to get the space shuttle into orbit. Now days its underbody neon, LED windshield wipers, and complexe vinyl decals and chrome wheels. Next it will be the automoticons (doesn't that just sound like the Pokemon version of the Transformers?)
--Cam
All jocks think about is sports. All nerds think about is sex.
How...profoundly Japanese. From the exquisite grace of the tea ceremony to the frenetic beep and clatter of the pachinko parlor, everything about these people is surreal. And now, cars that raise their eyebrows, glance around and whistle when you stomp the brakes to avoid hitting a pedestrian. It's the final straw. I hereby give up my quest to understand Japanese society.
"OH SHIT, THERE'S A HORSE IN THE HOSPITAL!"
On most highways, there are signs every few miles with a few very wise words:
"Keep right except to pass"
If you are dealing with tailgaters in the right lane, you're fine. If you're doing this in the passing lane, you are just being an ass, and can actually get a ticket for this.
Maybe there are signs like that on most highways in your state (assuming you live in the U.S. as I do.) I've never seen any signs like that on any of the highways that I frequent. Likewise, I know it's the law that you're only supposed to use the left lane for passing in some states, but I don't think this is the case everywhere.
-- dR.fuZZo
Bump the headlight switch just right and the headlight pods would finally break free from the rust-crusted brackets and fall through onto the road, not to mention the similarly afflicted doors would implose under the force from operating the window winders. And then there was the days when if the temperature was just a tad too high the carbs would get so hot that fuel would vapourise and the damn thing would just stop - often for hours until it cooled down enough.
In fact there wasn't a weekend I wasn't up to my elbows in grease trying to keep it running. Head gasket, heater pipes, brakes, alternator, distributor, and a gearbox with so few teeth left that I learned how to expertly double-declutch on every change just to tootle down to the shops. However, I forgave it all these things because on a twisty road with the top off and (if mechanically it could pull itself together) it was an absolute joy to drive! I'd have another one....
I have seen them in Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Unfortunately the only drivers that see them are the irritated driver behind the driver who is drag racing with a semi at 55 mph in a 65 zone.
Mod points are pointless when you browse at -1.
Seriously, a few hundred million to the world's driving schools, or better yet a Toyota driving school would nicely eliminate the need for a car that shows emotions to other drivers. What a waste of money.
not emotional ones. If I look in my rear view mirror and see a car really close, yeah I want to get out of that situation. It makes no difference whether the guy is just an ignorant jerk who thinks his breaks are better than the laws of physics, or a psycho who's trying to run me off the road.
If I look in the mirror, it's to assess the presence and activities of vehicles around me. I don't care if they aren't pleased to see me, or if the lass over in the other lane is winking at the guy behind me (fellow geeks will know THAT feeling).
On the other hand, if I look behind me and see a guy really close, and his car has an 'angry smiley' look about it (red lights, lowered ride height, etc.) then I know he's a psycho, and it'll really piss me off. I will then most likely (although subconsiously) drive worse than before.
How many have had some guy acting a jerk at the lights and then found themselves tearing away from the lights, possibly trying to cut the guy up or at least show him up to all around? It's a primal thing, and it has no place on a safe road system. Adding these features will just take peoples minds further away from the prime reason for having mirrors in the first place. Self preservation!
Is this a hoax???
The patent number referred to is 6,575,593, but a quick search for that patent number at the US Patent Office yields a patent entitled: IEEE 1394 or USB powered computer light.
Seriously, people. I think this might just be a hoax.
sev
but have you considered the following argument: shut up.
Facial expressions run deep into our primordial consciousness... just try to ignore that someone is frowning at you from across the room. You can tell the expressions of everyone around you instantly.
It's called a group mentality. The reason horses seem so intelligent is not that they think much... on an analytical level they are dumb as bricks. They do have a herding awareness that approaches telepathy, and so when they are around people, they seem to read our minds.
This kind of group mentality is enormously useful for huge lumbering things running around at high speed. Horses are perched on ungainly legs, run at twenty miles and hour, and wheel about in amazing configurations. Antelopes, zebra... these animals don't have lines on the ground, they don't have rules, but they very, very rarely crash.
No, the problem won't be being distracted by the facial expressions. The problem will be how to set the expressions. If they're keyed to those of the driver, then the car of a mother with troublesome kids in the back seat may look like it's about to crash. If they're set manually, it will probably be rude to do anything but smile.
Is there going to be an expression for the 'Holy shit I'm going to die' look just before you get in a serious accident. A 'F@#K" loudhorn feature would be good too!
Wouldn't the Chevron Car characters be prior art?
That single or double-barrel tail pipe.
Most cars have them non-symmetrically placed, being either to the right or left. BUtt (pun intended) nooooh, some car makers just insist on locating their car's anodized poop chute on-center.
Porshe beath them to that one. So, unless Toyota adds streamers or such...
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
Maybe not, but pretty fcking stupid.
This can only lead to more road rage and increasingly hostile driving. Driving is not supposed to be "entertaining" unless it's on a racetrack. I have no doubt that it would eventually become illegal anyway, so they are just pissing money down the drain on this lame-ass concept.
Well,
Every time I see a car having one bright, clear, normal headlight and one yellow-dimmed, or clouded head light, i think:
CAR-CLOMA, as in "glaucoma". Might be less "sighted", since the newer (what, Halogen) bulbs have been around a while.
I wonder if Toyota will create suspension systems that make the car swish, sway, swagger, prance (sachet) along (at slow speed, for safety reasons.)
In 2000 or 2001 I once saw (and was behind) a black-and-purple-painted, rickety old (maybe former Greyhound or Partridge Family or some escaped-from-San Diego) bus teetering and tottering on a two-lane stretch of Highway 5 toward Sacto. I was laughing my ass off.
It was driving straight, but it was rolling, like a ship in mildly rough waters. (No, I wasn't consciously thinking the bus had super-king-sized bed aboard. I was thinking the suspension must've been shot like hell.) The roll moment must've been about 2 seconds to a side.
If Toyota can engineer safe, roll-inducing springs... Then, they can come out with 18-or 40-wheelers that have the cab and trailer rolling in opposite directions...
Toyota, make some "flex cars" that slinky along, maybe like a caterpillar... Call it Sache-imi, as in "Sachet Sashime" Just be sure it's a hybrid... Steel car with rubber flex-joints
David Syes
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
Seriously. In Colorado (at least in the Denver area) *277 would get you a direct connection to the reckless driving office of the state highway patrol.
You mean to tell me that, in Colorado, you can actually dial *ASS to report idiot drivers? That's awesome!
When will the rest of the states get their acts together?
Hmmm.. Godzilla, Guldar, Gammara.....
ClayYota?
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
[wait for it] . . . inscrutable!
... which winks, be charged with sexual harassment?
. . . a license-plate which says "STFU" ?
UTALKN2ME
Unfortunately the only drivers that see them are the irritated driver behind the driver who is drag racing with a semi at 55 mph in a 65 zone.
I'll let that slide if the semi is passing another semi going 40-45mph but NOT if the other one is going 54mph (well, I'll let that slide too I guess, but it certainly annoys the hell out of me). That can happen from time to time climbing the mountains and hills here in Colorado. Other drivers seem to get pretty ticked off though.
Anybody else here remember "Herbie the love bug?". The silly little VW that had no problem letting you know how it felt.
Still, I wouldn't mind paying for a vehicle that would lift it's rear tire like a dog and properly reward anybody who tried put a parking ticket on the windshield, or who parked too close and dinged me with their door.
My rights don't need management.
more shit to watch instead of the road.
I always thought that there should be bar lights, red for breaking; blue, green, white, or whatever for acceleration. And have them keyed to a standard applicable to all makes - e.g. three lights of red would mean a certain standard amount of deceleration.
The other thing I always wish for is that trucks and such have a screen on the back showing their view of what's in front of them. Then when you get behind an idiot who is going slow and has no one in front, you know you should/can pass. For those who think this would be dangerous for some reason, remember that most drivers do this already with cars in front, as you can see through them from back to front.
Heh, heh. Maybe the screen could be incorporated into the Toyota idea - if you're pissed off at the person behind you, you could switch to a shot of your face and mouth "fuck off" rather than having the car mimic the emotion.
One last thing that I always wanted were "excuse me" lights. You know, for when you're the dick who cut someone else off (for a good reason, of course!).
at other drivers, try a bike. If you're quick, you can also spit or throw nearby litter.
I'm pretty sure that Bumblebee and Herbie haved both laughed, cried, winked and glared angrily. I mean, didn't the patent office even search for any prior art? ;)
Ford has tons of prior art on that!
Yes. I have a Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4 and they come with an "Active Aero" spoiler which can tilt up at hih speed to increase downforce. But, they also have a manual override switch so that you can make it go up and down. I use it to wave at hot blondes in the car behind me when I'm cruising on the Pacific Coast Highway! =) Its also more prominent than the middle finger when you've just raced and car, beaten it, and are making circles around it! =)
Cars already have an f**k you button, but they need a Thank you button, and an I'm sorry button. (And in all reality, they don't need an f**k you button.)
Shit, were gonna have a whole bunch of Chevron with Techron cars running (err... driving...) around our streets... As if life wasn't already one huge ad. Chevrons gonna have a field day with this if it becomes reality.
...Had this been an actual emergency, we would have fled in terror, and you would not have been informed.
There was a movie in the early 1980's where some guys had a car with a lit middle finger that popped out of the trunk.
As for "an adjustable body height," havn't the more extreme/nutty lowrider guys been doing this for many many many years?
it's bad enough that I get to hear the neigborhood cats makinging noises in the night but the last thing I need now is for my new vehicle to be making "doe eyes" towards the cute car in the next driveway - let alone having to worry about my car's potential late night amorous adventures...
Oh my...
I have come to the conclusion that some people just aren't comfortable unless they are a 5, 10, 20 feet away from your bumper at highway speeds. I can't explain it with certainty, but it seems to fall into certain categories:
:) But I find the first two types far scarier....
I regularly watch people leave the right lane (empty) and squeeze into the center lane between other vehicles. Apparently, they are confused when confronted with a large empty patch of road in front of them....
Other people drive closely because that's all the further they look ahead. They are fixated on that distance and get as close to your rear bumper as their forward vision focuses...
The rest are just inconsiderate jerks, of course
Am I the only one missing the point here, or is nearly everyone else?
I read this as a condemnation of our patent system, not an essay on some excellent new patents.
There seems to be some serious problems with the patent system, not the least of which is the patent office's inability to find a sufficient number of qualified patent examiners to hire. The backlog of patent applications must be horrendous. If you were running the patent office, and it was your job that was on the line, how would you tackle the problem? Something simple like rejecting rediculous applications out of hand? or what?
Heard any good sigs lately?
Toyota created (and let others implement this) a system to prevent other cars to stay too close to your car while driving.
The system consists in a laser system that draws a line in the road after your car with the distance depending on the speed you have (or in front of your car with your speed).
The laser can not dammage other drivers eyes, as it can stay bellow the eyes in the car.
All the pieces to create this gadget are available today (and 5 years ago).
I'm sure that this tool will prevent some crashes, and multiple crashes (I hope).
Of course, this method can not be patented, as I am posting this "previous art" here.
As you have guessed, English is not my native language!.
On the shelf in my kid's room we have proof of the existence of prior art, it's called "Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon" - beep, beep to you too..
Lost in space at an early age. Survived the vacuum. Now rebuilding castle in air.
I'm sure most of the angrier respondants are your typical road-rage asshole.
There is no fast lane...it's a passing lane
...but what if you're passing everyone?
An "awake" car would have ... an erect antenna ..."
Exactly what human emotion is this supposed to convey to other drivers?!?!?!?
(a) pull your head out of your ass
(b) get of my way or
(c) run me off the road and pound me into tiny bits?"
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
There was some "lysdeksia" in the IHT story regarding the patent number. It was listed as 6,575,593 which is a "USB powered computer light" erroneously. The correct number is 6,757,593 if you'd like to have a look-see.
Better drivers won't sell any more Toyota cars, so THAT would be a waste of their money.
In fact it'd probably result in quite the opposite, since if all people were perfect drivers, nobody would be in a need of new car after they wrecked their old one.