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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
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
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| \,X`\ HEIL HITLER
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...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...
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.
...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
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.
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
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.
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.
No. Do not test your theory by way of brakes. Even if they hit you, you still have to go through the hassle of exchanging information, talking with insurance, etc. That's annoying.
Do what I do.
Keep a realistic looking stuffed toy dog (even a cat does the trick) in your car -- it doesn't need to be big or anything -- just realistic looking. Then, when someone is tailgating you, calmly roll down your window and release Fido (make sure your hand doesn't stick out too far -- ruins the realism).
Trust me...I almost died laughing when I tried it the first time. The guy slammed on his brakes and swerved to avoid hitting my "dog." And, well, let's just say he kept a healthy distance after that.
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...
...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?
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
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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!).