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Consumers Expect Their Cars To Become Mini Data Centers (networkworld.com)
coondoggie writes: Many consumers expect self-driving cars to become common in the not-too-distant future -- cars that diagnose problems without human intervention, cars that adapt to a particular driver's behaviors and react to its environment. Those are some of the conclusions from IBM's 'Auto 2025: A New Relationship – People and Cars' research involving 16,000 global consumers who were asked how they expect to use vehicles in the next ten years. IBM found consumers have the expectation that cars will soon communicate with other vehicles and infrastructure around them, integrating easily into a broader collection of traffic. More than a third of consumers said they'd be likely to allow collection of their driving data to support these services -- a notable figure, given that IBM is partnering with Ford to do exactly that.
I don't want any data interaction with my car. I just want to drive from A to B.
I think consumers expect their cars to become Cell Phones or Tablets, not Mini Data Centers....
There are two types of people in the world; those who believe there are two types of people, and those who don't.
Does it save me a bunch of money on my car insurance?
A car used to be about independence, it was really the BIG first step in becoming and independent person from your parents, and was a symbol of individual freedom.
Now? I dunno....in the excerpt, it shows a growing number of people, willing to give up private, aggregate data about themselves, for the "greater good"....for some perceived and possibly realistic possibility of greater safety.
My question is, are you really that scared? Are you that scared of your driving ability to avoid wrecks? Are you that worried about people around you?
I just don't see it as "that bad".
I want to be the one in control of my car. I like to drive. Hell, I've never owned anything but 2x seat sports cars since I bought my first one in high school (exception my old '86 911 Turbo technically had 4 seats, but the rear two weren't functional for human usage). I like to be in control. I like to have a car that stops as well as it accelerates and handles. I don't want a computer intervening in my driving.
That sad thing is...that while I really don't have that problem with some folks that do want the aid....is that having your car be in control as described, will soon NOT be a choice and will be mandatory. It already is trending that way as that just the other day I saw a blurb on TV with a federal official saying this cooperative car, inter-vehicle communication would by law start becoming mandatory.
I dunno. It bothers me with this trend towards autos, and more generally, the fact that the individual is being celebrated less and less in our culture, in favor of everyone is equal, everyone MUST cooperate for the greater good. Cooperation and community DO have a place in our US culture, but the balance seems to be tipping to where we're moving more to be a part of the collective on everything.....and that is NOT where boldness, creativeness and greatness comes from.
OH well....I guess while I still can, I should move on buying that old 70's muscle car, and maybe do a resto-mod on it to improve the handling and braking. But then, I'll be able to have a car sans computer control, a 455 4-Speed engine, and open up the old air restrictions and get something in the 500HP range. Something fun to drive, and that isn't part of the hive mind growing today.
I'll try to do it while I'm still able to....legally.
I never thought the Rush song Red Barchetta would be quite so prophetic.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Alternate reality summary:
"After asking a series of highly leading questions, IBM shockingly discovers that what it is planning to do is exactly what consumers want."
Consumers were assaulted with an endless stream of buzzwords, and a response inculding glazed eyes and/or drool were taken as indications of approval. A spokesman for IBM gushed "Phew! We didn't know if we knew what we were doing, but now we have discovered that we're right, we can push ahead with, um, what we were pushing ahead with. Go IBM!"
And *I* want you not to crash in me/my car/bicycle/motor if *I* happen to be between your A and B.
Therefore, I want you car to be overstuffed with as much electronics as possible that can automatically break and avoid me in case you're distracted/busy texting/tired and not very concentrated/completely wasted, etc.
(That's why I'm happy that features like "CitySafety(tm)" and other such Forward Collision Avoidance Systems are becomming more common place. It used to be only on high end expensive cars like my father's Volvo, now it's even available on the cheapest VW Up! on my local car-sharing).
Driving is a dangerous activity. Driving causes way much more death than terrorism, illegal aliens, or any other of the bogeyman currently waved by the media.
Together with Cancer and Cardiovascular diseases, Driving is among the 3 leading causes of death. (Exact details vary depending on age. Youngs a more likely to die in a car crash, older are more likely to die of cancer or heartstroke).
I'm all for putting as much technology as possible to reduce risks of car crashes, and risks of me dying because I happened to be between your A and B point right at the moment you where distracted by the boobs on the model on some yogurt advertisement rather than paying attention in front of you.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
yeah everyone knows the new way to make phone calls, surf the web and turn on light switches is with smart trousers (smart pants for you americans).
All i have to do is lift my foot to my ear to take a call or make a switching like gesture with my ankle when i walk into a room to turn on the light... and most intuitive of all, i just have to roll around on the floor and flail my legs in the air wildly to surf the web.
I'm sure this is just the beginning, think of all the "smart" things that you can get technology to do for you... say you could gesture to open a door and it would open for you, or you could gesture to open a draw and it would open without you having to lift a finger, or gesture to take a shit and it would teleport your faeces from inside you (and possibly your guts) for you.... the possibilities are endless, welcome to the "smart world"
I get this, I actually felt the same way. I still maintain an old 86 Toyota MR2. Mid engined, RWD, no ABS... A hoot to drive. However it certainly isn't my daily driver, and my eyes were opened when buying a new car.
I thought, BAH! begone with your technological answers to questions I didn't have. I don't want a car that parks itself. But what I've found is that my car will now beep if a pedestrian is about to walk behind my vehicle when reversing out of a parking spot. I've never reversed into anyone before, but is this warning a bad thing? Does it make me a worse driver? I now try to make sure it doesn't beep.
My car will now has front collision avoidance. If I'm following a car and it starts slowing down to the point where a collision is imminent my car will break to avoid a collision. Has this ever happened to me? No. Is it something to complain about? Would I think I'm a horrible driver if it ever did kick in? Yes I probably would, and I'd also thank my lucky stars that it a potential collision was potentially avoided?
Are you so much in control that you can never make a mistake? Never look down to change the radio station? Never look at a your passenger? If that's all true, then maybe you are the automated system that's in my car.
I now welcome the technology.
A car used to be about independence, it was really the BIG first step in becoming and independent person from your parents, and was a symbol of individual freedom.
Independence comes in many forms. A car is merely one way to get it. It's a state of mind. Are kids in NYC somehow less independent just because they don't need a car to get around their city? I live near Detroit and people celebrate cars around here but it's more of a fetish than a practical necessity. Cars are transportation first and foremost. Any sense of independence you get from them is secondary and to a large degree perceptual.
My question is, are you really that scared? Are you that scared of your driving ability to avoid wrecks? Are you that worried about people around you?
No, No, Yes. But if you asked me about other people my answers would be different. Put my grandmother behind the wheel and the answers are Yes, Yes and Yes. And frankly you aren't scared because you are accustomed to how things work. The objective safety record of cars is rather bad and much of that is based in human error.
I want to be the one in control of my car. I like to drive.
That's nice but not really particularly important to society. I like to drive too but most of the time I wouldn't miss it, particularly when commuting. Much of the time driving is merely a waste of time and not much fun. You might be a great driver and you might like to drive but the objective evidence is clear. Lots of people are NOT good drivers. Lots of people who are generally good drivers make mistakes while driving. Tens of thousands of people die in auto accidents each year and many of these are possibly avoidable with automation. Furthermore we waste vast numbers of hours driving that could be put to better use. Your desire to have some fun driving a car is understandable but there will be ways to maintain that in the future.
I like to be in control. I like to have a car that stops as well as it accelerates and handles. I don't want a computer intervening in my driving.
Really? The plain fact of the matter is that without computer assistance your ability to control the vehicle is limited, particularly in difficult corner cases. In the right conditions you WILL stop faster with ABS brakes than without. In the right conditions you WILL accelerate better with traction control than without. Etc. With a well designed computer assistance you will be a measurably better and safer driver. I love computer controls in cars that help me drive better and I love them even more in other people's cars so they don't crash and hurt anyone.
Think of it this way. Fighter jets are computer controlled but nobody complains about the computer interfering with the pilot's control.
In my area, they can't build a highway in 20 years, how in the world will they build a "intelligent" one in 10? The cost of upgrading all the roads and cars in the US to this new V2V driverless world will be in the quintillions. Why not just go with the Jetsons prediction and we will all be in flying autonomous cars with a robotic maid for our every whim by 2025? Saves the cost of all that road buildout.
"Driving is a dangerous activity. Driving causes way much more death than terrorism blah blah liberal crap snipped.."
Perhaps, you shouldn't have snipped all the liberal crap, because you missed parts such as :
Therefore, I want you car to be overstuffed with as much electronics as possible
or
I'm all for putting as much technology as possible to reduce risks of car crashes
or even the begining :
And *I* want you not to crash in me/my car/bicycle/motor
2 out of the 4 transportation mean I've cited are powered by internal combustion engines. (Well, partly. The car sharing service I get my cars from also feature Renault's Zoé electric cars. But they are all *motorised* transportation whatever the motor).
Thus...
Perhaps we should ban cars and see how life goes for you on your pedal bike when...
I've never advocated banning cars (nor motors, btw, the other powered transportation I've cited).
My point is simply that driving is among the most dangerous activity that we take day to day, one of the three main causes of deaths,
therefore I AM ALL FOR MORE ELECTRONICS inside cars (you know: the topic of the current fucking article),
and unlike the parent poster who simply wants to get from point A to B (as simply as possible, no need to have twiter and facebook connected to a SmartCar),
I want him to get from point A to B *AS SAFELY AS POSSIBLE*, without killing me in the process (thus I DO WANT all the possible electronics that can improve safety on the road).
driving is far more a force for good than bad.
Yes, that's why I'm not advocating banning cars, I'm advocating making them safer by stuffing as much electronics as possible inside, to give the capability to cars to break in case of emergency, etc.
Just an FYI - check out how many people were trampled and killed by horses each year back before the internal combustion engine was invented.
(Technically: Steam, Electric, and ICE)
Yes, cars are a tiny bit safer than horses. But that doesn't mean we have to be happy with that and stop at this step.
Cars are also much more driven arround than horses (among other reason, simply because nowadays many more people own cars, than used to own horses carriage back then), thus accident are bound to happen.
That's why focusing on improving safety is important and will always have much more positive result than, e.g.: all the security circus following terrorism fears, or all the paranoia about Ebola.
Up until recently, most safety improvement where about increasing the likelihood of surviving *after* a crash:
- Safety belts
- Air bags
etc.
Now with modern electronics, you can avoid the crash to happen at all:
- Forward Collision Warning Systems
- Autonomous breaking to avoid collision
- Lane Departure Warning Systems
etc.
Future development give us even more ways to avoid crashes.
(Autonomous cars, be it either full driverless cars by big name like Google and smaller startups like Best mile
or autopilote on regular cars like InfiniQ, Tesla, Mercedes, etc.)
I'm all for it and thus I think that not all inboard electronics is useless shit like Twitter from the wheel,
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
FWIW, it will probably also beep if any of the sensors is covered with ice or snow. At least my wife's car does.
On the whole, I think many of the new capabilities are positive. A backup camera is useful, and I wouldn't mind automatic parking.
However, the rich feature set is largely obviated by atrocious and frequently incomprehensible user interfaces. Just one example of way too many, my wife managed to somehow (she has no idea how) turn the volume on the GPS (dubbed Miss Guided in honor of it's sometimes problematic routings) to zero. She called the dealer service department, but was apparently unable to describe the problem in terms they could deal with. Or maybe they simply didn't know how to fix the problem.
It took me way too many hours of my life to discover that I could restore the volume to normal by turning on the GPS, turning on the radio, driving somewhere, waiting for the radio volume to fade when approaching a turn indicating that the GPS was trying to talk, and then (and only then) adjusting the volume control.
If this is indicative of life in the future, you folks have a truly dismal experience to look forward to.
You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
My question is, are you really that scared? Are you that scared of your driving ability to avoid wrecks? Are you that worried about people around you?
I am generally way more scared of driving and being in cars than I am of, say, terrorist attacks - something which everyone probably should be given the statistical risks.
I've lost way more freedom due to the war on terror bullshit. I'd be way more happy losing whatever driving freedoms if it leads to an actual improvement in safety (even better if those costs are borne by the private sector and not my tax dollars, like they are with the war on terror!),
You making more money than you need to live is not particularly important to society either
What does a feeling of independence have to do with actually making cash? You or I making more money absolutely is important to society. It employs more people, it results in more taxes and raises all boats. The fact that people some people feel a bit of independence by getting a car is nice but doesn't matter nearly as much as the economic utility they achieve with one.
Actually, no. Many people can stop a car faster than relying on ABS alone will.
That's simply not true unless you are talking about specific conditions. I'm an automotive engineer. I work with this stuff. UNDER THE RIGHT CONDITIONS (those are important words) ABS will stop you faster. It's not a matter of opinion. It's a demonstrated fact. Car companies didn't put that technology into cars because it performs worse. People cannot pump the brakes faster than ABS. Any situation where pumping the brakes would be helpful you will stop faster with ABS. There are cases where ABS isn't helpful but you can find corner cases for pretty much any technology. The net result however is not in dispute. Other safety technologies are similar.
Anyone who can keep the tires at the limit of traction can easily stop faster than this.
A specious argument. You are talking about a razor edge there under a different set of conditions with a fairly small percentage of the driving population. Fact is that most people are not professional drivers (or even close to it) and they certainly aren't good keeping the tires at the limit of traction nor do they want to. I understand the appeal of wanting a car you can drive right to the edge (I own a sports car for a reason) but asking most drivers to do that is a recipe for thousands of needless deaths a year. We put technologies like ABS on cars to keep people away from the limit of traction because most people demonstrably cannot handle it.
It is hard to argue when you put "in the right conditions" as a preface to your remark...
That's why it is there. ANYTHING in automotive engineering is condition dependent. ABS isn't useful in every case - it is useful in corner cases. That's also why it doesn't kick on most of the time. You can find some even narrower corner cases where ABS degrades performance but there are a lot fewer of those.
In summary, the guy you are responding to loves his high quality, well tuned, and very sharp tools. In summary to the summary, you are not an artisan and could care less about the tool that you have to use and want lots of safeguards built in... and wanting to require such things of people who are masters at using the tool. Because society.
Wow, you have awfully detailed opinions about someone you know nothing about. The guy I'm responding to has an outdated notion of "controlling his car" which the facts suggest is almost certainly more perception than probable fact. I have owned a number of very fast sporty cars and I like driving them fast but I have no illusion about control, or independence or driving talent. I care very much about my "tools" and I want the very best ones available which means getting something that improves my ability to handle them. If you want to pretend that you are such a talented driver that you don't ever need the technologies baked into cars these days please tell me which Formula 1 team you drive for.
We're talking about the general public. Asking/allowing them to driver cars too close to their performance envelope is simply dumb most of the time. People die because of that every day needlessly. If you want to blather on about artisans and other nonsense, fine but my point stands. Just because you like risking your life (for art?) doesn't mean you should have the right to risk mine on a public road. Cars are transportation first and foremost. Whatever else they represent is a second order effect. If I have to sacrifice a bit of my own driving pleasure so that we can save a few thousand lives then so be it.