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Ambulances In Sweden Will Be Able To Hijack Car Radios During Emergencies (digitaltrends.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Digital Trends: The Swedish government wants to make it impossible to be caught off guard by a speeding ambulance. Sure, their sirens are loud -- but soon they'll be able to take over your car's radio. Swedish students at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm have developed a way for emergency vehicles to transit radio signals to warn other vehicles of an approaching truck. It's called the EVAM System, according to Phys.org, and it's designed to send a signal over a specific FM radio band that'll interrupt music or radio and display a test message over the system's tuner display -- so long as the car is equipped with a Radio Data System (RDS). The number of crashes caused by muted sirens is on the rise, Florian Curinga, one of the students working on the project, said. That's because of improved sound insulation in cars. Emergency vehicles in Stockholm will begin testing the system this year. The EVAM System can also predict how far in advance the message needs to be broadcast, depending on traffic speed, according to Phys.org. It may also be helpful in warning drivers about upcoming accidents, the students added. EVAM will work on two-thirds of all vehicles on the road, Curinga said. All drivers need to do is have their radio systems turned on. If a message is broadcast then, they'll see it -- and hear it -- from the tuner.
Years ago, I seem to recall an internet video. Was it Swedes listening to a car radio? I can't quite recall. Two parents in the front seats of the car. Two young girls sitting in the car's back seats. The video was a commercial for learning English. In the commercial, the two children understood the, um, shall we say, not so family friendly lyrics being played over the radio in English. The parents didn't understand the lyrics. The mom began to rock her head and snap her fingers to the music. The two children snicker at each other. Then the commercial fades to text that says Learn English . . . and name of a company that offers lessons.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
Gee, if you can display text on the radio's display, or the car's infotainment system, could there possibly be any weakness in individual implementations?
Maybe the police should lobby to have certain texts that signal all nearby cars to cut engine power.
Because terrorists.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
No reason that a modern in car system could not be made to
With the way automobile manufacturers develop and update their "infotainment" systems, in 10 years half of the manufacturers will get this into half of their lines, enabled in half of the trims for half of the models, and it'll only half work.
Tesla will have a beta version next week, but will have to roll it back because it causes the car to drive into the nearest tree. Elon Musk will somehow blame both the driver and the tree in one fell tweet.
These messages are usually only about the situation on the roads: places where there have been accidents that impact the flow of traffic on large roads and so on. And once the message is over, your radio reverts to whatever it was doing before the interruption. I find these messages very useful, even if most of them are not about the roads I am on: the one time I was on a road affected, I was able (thanks to being told well before I got to it) to take a detour around the site of an accident, and save myself an hour or two of sitting in a traffic jam.
This RDS system can be turned off if you want to, in which case your radio will not play any of the traffic messages broadcast.
Full disclosure: I live in Sweden. I also happen to love the RDS messaging system, even if I am rarely need the information provided.
This sounds like a waste of money and likely not that effective. What could work, perhaps, is if you put a dashcam on the ambo and use plate recognition for those assholes who don't make way and simply forward the videos to the police for the application of a heavy fine. Do it enough times and not only would you generate revenue, but those who have to pay the tickets will either learn expensive lessons or not be able to afford a car anymore. Win-win!
Even though it's for a good reason, I cringe every time I hear something about 'taking over' what's mine, bought and paid for. The root cause of this is bad driving habits, not lack of communication. If a driver doesn't notice the flashing lights and siren they aren't operating the damn vehicle properly, IMO.
Perfect way to distract a driver with something they've never seen before, just as they need to not be distracted.
This is off on several levels.
a) Getting data based updates through the radio is not something drivers have never seen before. It's actually pretty damn common.
b) What do you mean with just as they need not be distracted? Distracted from what? From the thing they aren't paying attention to, can't hear and can't see in the first place? I actually have an app on my phone which while providing local traffic info also provides me notification of incoming emergency vehicles including a little radar screen showing where they are coming from. It's a great advanced notice that I get long before I see a siren so I know when to expect a vehicle to whizz past or borderline rear end, or undertake, or cut down the breakdown lane etc.
So, the article claims that 'number of crashes due to muted sirens (because of sound insulation) is on the rise'. That's a claim with no numbers behind it, what is this increase in accidents per year - 10? or 10,000? In the latter case, I can see a justification for this research with the (unfortunately not too safe) assumption that people do use their radios often. However it just as likely to be the first case of trivial increase, which might as well be due to higher traffic!, but is used to justify an expensive study for some PhDs.
Actually, if the difference between life and death is 30 seconds, then a paramedic getting to you 30 seconds sooner will make all the difference. Take it from a paramedic.
You mean this one?
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