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A Car With A Mind Of Its Own
mindriot writes "When Hicham Dequiedt, driving on a highway between Vierzon and Riom in central France in his Renault Vel Satis this Sunday, was overtaking a truck, his car began accelerating to 120 mph on its own, apparently due to a defect in the cruise control system. Stomping on the brakes proved pointless and, having a magnetic card for a car key, he could not cut the ignition. After calling the police from his cell phone who then attempted to clear the streets of any danger to him, in what he described as the most fearful event of his life, he raced down the highway for another hour before finally managing to stop the car. Read about the incident here or, in more detail, in this article by the German 'Spiegel' (translation). The case is still under investigation. Are we putting too much trust in the increasing number of electronic systems that our lives depend upon?"
Slow the car down, HAL... I can't do that, Dave...
Why couldn't he take the car out of gear? Can this car not be shifted into neutral??? This story sounds really fishy.
Only in Switzerland.
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
But what about .. uhm .. say Neutral .. ? or don't european cars have that?
Only in Switzerland...
Do you have ESP?