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GM Researching Windshields For Old Drivers
beuges writes "General Motors researchers are working on a high-tech windshield that users lasers and infra-red sensors to identify and enhance important objects for older drivers with vision problems. 'For example, during a foggy drive, a laser projects a blue line onto the windshield that follows the edge of the road. Or if infrared sensors detect a person or animal in the driver's path during a night drive, its outline is projected on the windshield to highlight its location.' And it's not only older drivers who will benefit: 'Some features would be helpful to drivers of all ages. If a driver is speeding, a pink box frames an approaching speed limit sign to draw the driver's attention.' The 65 and older population in the US will nearly double in about 20 years, meaning more people will be struggling to see the road like they used to."
Because what all drivers need, are distracting colors at high speed.
Seems that all drivers could benefit from contrast enhancement in the fog (or rain or snow).
When you approach a street hockey game, the Super Windshield will also highlight the puck with a blue line when it is being passed and a red line when somebody takes a shot on the net.
But if no one can afford the gas here soon who is going to care?
Sure, safety IS important, but id rather see the billions poured into increasing fuel efficiency ( or ditching fossil fuels totally ) first.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Exactly. I mean, if someone needs technology like "headlights" to help them seeing at night, I don't want to drive anywhere NEAR them. Give me a dark, manly road any day.
Maybe automakers can work on expanding the field of vision. I still look back over my shoulder before I make a lane change on the highway to see if there's a car in my "blind spot", and every so often I catch one that I didn't see in the mirror. But the ability or willingness to turn around and look may diminish with age.
You can find a prototype of the display at this link. It's also handy for identifying makes of motorcycles and correct sizes of biker clothing.
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I don't know about the rest of you, but a "pink box" by the side of the road would cause me to not just slow down, but stop and offer it a ride.
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Because you can be a less than perfect driver and still be good enough that it's not justified to take away your license.
It's not a substitute for basic competency, it's a way to improve on factors that are already deemed adequate, but could still be better.
Weird slashbug #455
If a driver is speeding, a pink box frames an approaching speed limit sign to draw the driver's attention
I'd be much more interested if it could point out speed traps to me...
It only takes one man to change the Wisdom of the Crowd to Tyranny of the Masses.
Why does it have to be applied to the windshield?
Why can't the same be applied to a pair of driving glasses?
Using technology to compensate for human frailty is asking for trouble
So we should get rid of the engine then, right?
We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
Using technology to compensate for human frailty is asking for trouble.
...
Damn those eyeglasses, eh - if you don't have 20/20 vision naturally, you shouldn't be driving
Power steering? Blah - work out in the gym - discard the technology.
Windscreens? Forget it - only wimps can't carry on a safe comfortable drive with bugs smashing into their teeth all day long at 60 mph.
Motorcycle helmets and leathers? - only for wusses, of course. And, geez, what about those fighter pilots that wear g-suits - if they can't strain hard enough naturally without having a stroke while pulling 9 Gs for 30 seconds, then they should get out of the cockpit.
Come to think of it, that's what technology is - compensating for our inability to be from Krypton.
You can eliminate that blind spot by adjusting your driver-side side view mirror so that you can just see the side of your car when your head is against the window. See http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~gdguo/driving/BlindSpot.htm for images.
My father was an excellent driver, even though he was blind in one eye and thus had no depth perception. He'd learned over the years how to compensate and judge distances without it. He was still driving, safely, until his health failed in his mid-80s. However, this was in part because of a class he'd been to: Alive at 55. The idea behind the class was that elderly drivers, with slower reflexes and dimming vision should limit themselves to 55 mph on the freeway and stay in the right-hand lane whenever possible. He didn't need any fancy, expensive technology to keep him safe, he just drove at a speed that was safer for him. I've always kept that in mind, and when I get old enough to worry about such things, I'll be doing exactly the same thing.
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I know, drinking is optional, growing old is not. But if there's a danger to people on the street, there should be a limit on how old you can be and drive, just as there's a limit on how drunk you can be and drive.
Where do you put the limit?
I have one friend in his 30's who lost his license due to too many moving violations. Another in his 90's with a nearfect record. (Though the law where he lives requires him to get a driving exam every two years - actual driving, not just the written exam. He has always scored very high.)
Don't try to out wierd me, three-eyes. I get stranger things than you, free with my breakfast cereal. --Zaphod Beeblebr
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It interests me when the geek argues that less information - less situational awareness is better.
I have been caught in rush hour traffic in Buffalo New York when visibility has shrunk to nothing in fog and snow and ice ---sandwiched between drivers who had their own notion of what was safe.
I've been waiting for something like that for 20 years.
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A better use of GM's time would be to detect when a driver is old, then disable the engine and lock the brakes.
Indeed. The average 15 year old has sharper vision and quicker reflexes than anyone who'll need this technology... yet which one of them is allowed to get a driver's license?
(Hint 1: it's not the one who's statistically likely to cause fewer accidents per mile traveled.)
What color is the sky in the world where you live?
On my planet, which we call Earth, young drivers are involved in a disproportionately high number of traffic accidents. It's why their insurance rates are higher than the rates assigned to older people - they tend to be crappier drivers due to inexperience and a tendency to make stupid mistakes like driving way too fast, driving while drunk, driving while staring at their girlfriend's breasts, etc.
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