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Volvo Safety Demo Goes Poorly
Lanxon writes "At a demonstration of Volvo's new collision warning system in Sweden this week, Wired got first-hand experience (and video) of what happens when it goes badly wrong. The new Volvo S60, due for release later this year, was fired out of Volvo's testing tunnel at around 30MPH, and the collision detection system should have kicked in, bringing the car automatically to a halt before hitting the truck in its path. It didn't. Instead, the brand new car ploughed into the back of the truck in front of us, and indeed the world's press who had gathered in Sweden to see the collision detection system in action."
The article (I read it) said "around 30 MPH", but the car had "35 KMH" printed on it (which is approximately 22 MPH).
Are the reporters bad with numbers or did they forget the metric system?
This article actually doesn't belong in the Idle section. This is a very serious issue with wide-ranging ramifications, i.e. the automation of our automobiles (hah!). I have said before, and I will say it again, we have gone past the point where adding any more automation to the car will do any good, instead of improving the driver's skills.