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Honda Makes Motorcycle Talk To Oncoming Cars
An anonymous reader writes "The system generates warnings to riders and drivers of other vehicles by continuous exchange of positioning data from satellite GPS sources. This is particularly relevant as road users approach intersections, alerting them to other vehicles that are potentially on a collision course, allowing avoidance manoeuvres."
But think of how many people would have to have these systems installed before it would really work.... I guess if a big company (such as Honda) started making them standard in each unit that would help, but it seems it would still take a fair amount of time to take off.
"Intelligence has nothing to do with politics!"
-Londo Mollari
www.hondanews.eu
...please dont hit me!"
Thanks to file sharing, I purchase more CDs
Thanks to the RIAA, I buy them used...
Fantastic. Now we won't even be safe from spam when we're in our vehicle.
The real trick will be to figure out the algorithm so that impostor signals can be sent in the appropriate number and at the appropriate time such that the warning messages sound like a jingle.
It seems like the most important thing to get right with this project is the way of informing the drivers of danger. The article mentions a HUD, a display on the bike dashboard, and an audio warning. I'd be intersted to see how they manage to convey urgent information in a non-distracting way.
Still, once that's overcome (maybe it has been already), it should be pretty useful.
This is just one more thing for a driver to learn to ignore. There will be too many false warnings that this won't work.
This could be very good for the safety of motorcyclists if widely deployed. Many motorcycle accidents involve cars pulling out in front of motorcycles and the car driver saying that they didn't see the motorcycle.
My only concern is for privacy. The broadcast message should not include the VIN or any other unique identifier that could be used for tracking.
More at the Honda Site. It seems to use a Car-to-Car protocol that is in development.
All this kit though looks like it would add significant cost to a motorcycle. :(
-molo
Using your sig line to advertise for friends is lame.
"This is particularly relevant as road users approach intersections," ...because obviously, simply slowing down and taking a look around like a normal person is completely out of the question...
So what happens when 2 people are warned of a possible collision course at an intersection and they both slam on their brakes, avoid the accident, but cause the person behind them to be completely blindsided by the situation and rear end them? I know its a stretch, but I can foresee problems with this (maybe not that one specifically). I'd like to see more of this technology to address traffic issues instead - rerouting individuals to optimal traffic flow.
I will bend like a reed in the wind.
The article link goes to an ad-plastered blog that tells you nothing more than the summary.
Honda made some thing that uses GPS to figure out when you're going to meet another vehicle, and then uses technology from the Intelligent Car Initiative (European Commission) to wirelessly transfer info between vehicles in the 5.9GHz range. It appears to use ad-hoc and repeater-type infrastructure, although the stuff I found is a little unclear on the ad-hoc.
The car driver gets some kind of warning, although it's unclear exactly what. The motorcycle driver is wearing a HUD that gives him a visual and audio warning. It's clever, but I find the whole CAR 2 CAR project (which this is part of) to be much more interesting.
Some real links:
http://www.hondanews.eu/en/index.pmode/modul|detail|0|1010,DEFAULT|21|text|1/index.pmode
http://www.car-to-car.org/fileadmin/gfx/inhalte/IP-08-1240_EN.pdf
The government can't save you.
Mass produced on Honda's level of manufacture, it would probably not be a significant price addition. It also may lower insurance rates for Hondas if data shows that it saves lives and reduces accidents.
Enjoy Every Sandwich
the best way to do this is have vehicles emit a low powered, low range signal that other vehicles and detect.
Wire the sound to the speaker nearest the location of the vehicle broadcasting.
Have the tone volume correlate to overall speed, and differential speed.
So that motorcycle zipping through traffic would be louder then one 'pacing' you.
Have it off when traveling under 20MPH.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
WTF are those badly aimed superbright wobbly headlights for, then?
Looking at the Car-to-car site, it says it is based on 802.11 networking with something like wireless mesh routing. This means that they will have Wifi-like MAC addresses, which means cars will be uniquely identifiable and thus, trackable. :(
-molo
Using your sig line to advertise for friends is lame.
It should warn when the motorcyclist is doing something asinine, which many in my state seem to do.
<kitt-voice>
Michael, you are not wearing a helmet.
Michael, perhaps driving between rows of cars is not the best method of saving time?
Michael, do you know what "yield" means?
Michael, zooming down the highway at 80mph isn't very safe.
Michael, watch out for that dangerous inters - *Connection severed*
</kitt-voice>
Vincent J. Murphy
Spandex Justice
I've been riding motorcycles for 26 years (more miles riding than driving cars) and my body of experience tells me this: it doesn't matter how many fancy gadgets they come up with, the average automobile driver just plain isn't looking for and doesn't see motorcyclists. The only way I have been able to preserve my life and retain all my original body parts is by assuming they're all actively trying to kill me, and protect myself accordingly.
Another buzzer to drown out with the stereo.
(I'm not necessarily against the idea, but the interface on these ideas is usually 'a blinking light and a buzzer'. By the time you've sorted out what this light means, you are already in the accident.
Of course using this system will distract the driver from using the cues provided by the natural environment (which are many)... thus it will have to not only provide a benefit, but provide enough benefit to overcome what is lost.
Let alone what happens if someone's GPS is malfunctioning or even that a lot of people aren't going to have this system installed...
"They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
Wouldn't one receive a boatload of false alarms as they approached a split level intersection such as a highway cloverleaf or an underpass? How accurately can GPS determine altitude?
Imagine some psychopath who programs the GPS announcer to lie about its position, telling nearby cars that it's approaching them at 100 mph?
In the best case, this leads to people ignoring the collision warning beeps from their cars. In the worst case, someone is develops a car that automatically performs some evasive maneuver based on that data.
I removed the exhaust baffles so cars know I'm filtering :) Harleys have had this technology for decades!
Hi, how are you todwrooom... *sigh*
Swedish plasma phys. PhD student; MSc EE; knows maths, programming, electronics; finance interest; seeks opportunities
...cars will be uniquely identifiable and thus, trackable. :(
I'm curious to how one would track vehicles to avoid collisions without, um, tracking vehicles.
More Twoson than Cupertino
Arguably, those of us driving with license plates are already pretty trackable...
You only need to use an identifier for a short period of time. The solution would be to randomize the mac address when you start the car. But that won't happen.
-molo
Using your sig line to advertise for friends is lame.
Not with the data already digitized in bulk and available to anyone with a radio receiver.
-molo
Using your sig line to advertise for friends is lame.
...would just be to equip our motorcycles with RPG launchers for those idiot cagers who pull out in front of us. They'll only do it once.
I think they need to do buildings first. Maybe not to ward off on-coming traffic, but for triangulation. If buildings like the towns city hall were to pipe up and give out their latitude/longitude, it shouldn't be too hard to remove the unreliable gps from the equation. The more buildings of significance were to participate the easier it would be to create maps based on that town/city. Then cars can locate themselves and others. If 75% of cars have local positioning system, then it becomes mandatory.
Security would be a nightmare though.
Semi-automatic amateur armchair Australian philosopher; conjecture ready at any moment...
... in a stark room with hot lights. Honda was later quoted as saying "He was a tough one, but eventually we got him talking."
William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
Michael, perhaps driving between rows of cars is not the best method of saving time?
Lane-splitting is not specifically illegal in CA. The police and other motorcyclists do it, and it's tolerated by all (cars move over for motorcycles that are sharing their space). It's legal in Texas as well, from what I understand.
From the studies I've seen, it is safer to lane-split than not.
Another distraction for idiot cage drivers.
Here's an idea...
Hang up the phone.
Put away your makeup.
Read the newspaper at home.
And LOOK OUT YOUR FREAKIN WINDOWS.
Because the SUV drivers that are already intentionally trying to run me off the road are certain to respond favorably to the "Get the hell out of my way!" I'm constantly broadcasting while roaring down the road. And of course no friendly Law Enforcement Officers will have receivers for this and use the information to issue me tickets. I think I'll continue taking my chances operating in stealth mode and assuming every other driver is trying to hit me, thank you very much.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
I think what you need is to perform whatever operation it is all of the other motorcyclists seem to use that cranks their engine noise into the 110+ dB range. That will alert motorists on side streets, as well as residents in a three-block radius, and make certain that any passing runners can hear it over their headphones.
(As a runner myself, I have no difficulty telling when there are motorcycles coming up.)
Unlike the license plate?
Glider pilots developed a low cost collision avoidance system called FLARM.
The small-size, low-cost, low-power device FLARM broadcasts its own position and speed vector (as obtained with an integrated GPS) over a license-free ISM band radio transmission. At the same time it listens to other devices based on the same standard. Intelligent motion prediction algorithms predict short-term conflicts and warn the pilot accordingly by acoustical and visual means. FLARM incorporates a high-precision WAAS 16-channel GPS receiver and an integrated low-power radio transceiver.
See www.FLARM.com
niggers in my vicinity.
Motorcycle: Hey you! Car! Look out for me, I'm right over here!!
Car: Wha..? I can't see you. Who the hell is this?
Motorcycle: I'm right here! Can't you see me?!
Car: I think I can.... oh I can s... *BLAM*
It isn't possible to badger people into doing the right thing - the moment a system relies on (human) operator intelligence it fails spectacularly.
There is mountains of proof for this. Recently; cancel or allow?.
The ONLY thing that works is MANDATORY training and testing enforced by law or incentives (or disincentives for poor behaviour).
Consider; when a car hits a motorcycle, who gets injured? And subsequently, who is likely to have invested more in being a good vehicle operator?
Long-time motorcycle riders invariably develop astonishing spatial-awareness skills. Car drivers have reversing cameras.
Here's a really simple solution: the weight of your vehicle should determine your license class.
To operate a near-2-tonne quasi-4WD should require a yearly test - those things are weapons, treat them as such. To operate a backpack 'Smart car' should require basic written comprehension skills (which is actually more than current requirements).
Today's roads are basically mosh pits. If order is not imposed, it's survival of the toughest (or fastest or loudest or most ugly-looking).
Another form I discovered "by accident" is when I changed the exhaust on my bike and removed the dbkiller at the same time. The thing is so loud it would wake up the dead when I use the throttle creatively and the good thing about it was that it even woke up the asshat "I own the road while talking in my cell"-SUV drivers. I guess the sound of hellfire and brimstone coming raining down on their "precious" is enough(sometimes).
All aircraft should transmit their position and velocity to all other aircraft in the vicinity. It then doesn't take much computing power for the autopilot computer to calculate the minor course correction that would be needed to avoid the other aircraft (or even its wake vortices). It would make mid-air collisions a thing of the past (at least, while autopilot is turned on. All bets are off if a human's at the yoke.)
That that is is that that that that is not is not.
Hence, the AK-47, body armor, and the grenade launcher mounted to the bike.
Oh, please, where can I order? I've been looking for a way to level the field in the battle of car vs. bike...
GPS> "Motorcycle coming around bend in 3, 2, 1. Bonus points available !!"
Requiem for the American Dream
That's why I never stop behind a row of cars unless I'm really sure the driver behind me knows I'm in front of him (i.e. has been driving behind me for a few minutes and still not run me over). I drive next to the cars to the (near) front of the queue and get in line there.
I've had too many friends run over by a car "that just hadn't seen the motorcycle".
finally i can legitimately use the "does it run linux" meme!
it's pretty rudimentary to spoof a mac address, so long as you can modify the software
You can try this site, which has pictures of a Russian armored bike, but I think all they have is an E-Book. :(
My blog
<XML>
<OncomingMotorcycle>FirebladeCBR1000RR</OncomingMotorcycle>
<CurrentSpeedKmh>287</CurrentSpeedKmh>
<MatchGPSWithMaps>
<RoadAnalysis result="SpeedTooHighForComingCurve">
<ExpectedOutcome>FrontalCrash</ExpectedOutcome>
<RecommendedAction>DeployAirbags</RecommendedAction>
</RoadAnalysis>
</MatchGPSWithMaps>
<RequestViaGSM ambulance="false" hearse="true"/>
</XML>
I'm not a biker (yet), but I have to agree with a lot of the posts here. The biggest problem is people just don't pay attention. I'll be the first to admit, I push the limits a lot in my car, but I've never had a problem seeing either type of cyclist on the road. The only time there's any visual difficulty at all is when it's dark and one headlamp/tail-lamp is a bit difficult to use as a point of reference for distance. But that's never proved to be a big problem. I've also had other drivers pull out right in front of my car, and I always drive with my headlights on. There was one time it was nearly dark and some moron pulled out and did a left turn right in front of me, to the point I pretty much came to a complete stop to avoid him. How do you not see a car bearing down on you after dark with the headlights on? But I guess I'm doing alright with defensive driving, since the only accidents I've ever had (caused by me or otherwise) were when I was a young kid and caused by misjudging my vehicle's capabilities in the rain.
This does reinforce for me though the importance of the conscious effort I always make when behind a biker to leave even more distance than I normally would following someone, so they know I see them.
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