Safe Speed Forums

I had no idea just how far the driverless car had advanced...

I’ve been reading the latest IAM Magazine, for Spring 2010, which has a very interesting article ‘Human VS Computer. The Future of Driverless Cars’

Unfortunately I can’t find a reference to it on a web link, you will have to get the glossy, but it makes fascinating reading.

An Audi TTS is set to negotiate a hill climb of 12.4 miles long and 154 turns at a race pace controlled by a computer, not a driver, in Pikes Peak Colorado.

A guy called Richard Fleury “explores the rise of computer controlled vehicles and asks whether driverless cars mean safer motoring”.. “Prof Lowson believes the risk and chaos of real-world roads means human drivers should retain ultimate control, at least for now”

There’s a lot of equipment in the boot but no doubt it’s only a matter of time before it’s scaled down into something the size of a glove compartment.

It goes on to say, “Imaginative designers Mike and Maaike Inc have developed an imaginative and radical proposal for a future of driverless cars”.

I remember Jeremy Clarkson sitting in a BMW some time ago which did something similar but that was GPS controlled. It did, however, avoid hitting any cones.

After reading the article, when it comes to driverless vehicles I'm convinced more than ever it's a question of when - not if.

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/18908/ is interesting on the same topic.

The other interesting idea is that of linking cars into trains on Motorways.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

None of this is new guys.... i have video of one of our chaps in the driver seat reading a paper (*ahem* on a motorway) dating from the 80s (long before i worked here i hasten to add!).
technology has now moved on such that its much much easier to produce & package for a production vehicle.

That main challenge at present is not the implementation but the liability and safety... which is why we're seeing various cut down limited authority systems currently filtering into the market (e.g. lane departure warning, collision mitigation) to test the water.
A range of issues are gradually being addressed by various academic, EU and government research projects which i've provided links to in the past.

When you consider the technology used in air travel, looking after 600+ people, it doesn’t seem like much more of a leap of faith even though, like aeroplanes, it's bound to sometimes go wrong.

I’m sure it could also be fitted with thermal cameras to ‘watch’ for mammals running out in front from a forest or detect the smaller human variety on pavements. So it has the potential to outwit even the best driver one day.

You’re right of course ed, it’s nothing new and one link I read said this has been under research for some 30 years. It’s getting very close to workable science fact now though I think.

Interesting link dcb but I think they’re wrong to say “As we all know, cars are unsafe," I would say it’s the driver which is unsafe and this technology is about removing the weakest link. I just hope they don’t use MS as an OS

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

M$ will do as they always did: blame the 'driver' for crashes

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Views expressed are personal opinions and are not necessarily shared by the Safe Speed campaign

Now you have got me thinking about the similarities between IT and road transport. It's no co-incidence that all these terms are related.

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

Your post just hit me like a wet fish in the face Malcolm! If I understand you correctly, imagine removing ALL road technology so drivers can go back to signs and good driving out of necessity instead of being told what to do and when to do it…

No cameras to worry about monitoring and rounding transport into lanes which 'it' thinks is best like sheep through a dip

No faulty traffic lights, just good road design and clear markings.

Concentration needed at all times, thereby placing the emphasis back on the driver to pay attention and give way etc.

I’m sure there are a million more benefits like these.

Of course that may be not what you meant, in which case I just woffled for nothing. (Not for the first time I hear people say )

(I bet you’ve got an inside top secret scoop on this Mole? One of those “I could tell you but then I’d have to shoot you” type of things )

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

Reminds me of the joke about if MS made cars ( it's somewhere on Honest John ).
Looking at BT's post -"Give way " - ---in this town ,you take it ,or sit waiting for hours

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

You must live in London Botach? Come up to Brum where good driving manners haven't completely disappeared. You'd find it a different experience, apart from the few Londoners visiting who act like troglodytes.

(I am so going to get roasted in a munute )

No offence to any Londoners here but come on - you have to admit it's a different dog-eat-dog mentality down there. I know, I was that soldier. The last time I went to The Ace Cafe I thought I was on the dodgems once I'd got sucked into the M25 inner circle of death where every second counts; every frog leap matters.

I'd better look through all the members' profiles now and start apologising in advance

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

Tone - I live in what certain Midlander call "Treacle Town " -Just north of M6/J3 ,go past Bedrock( on the A444) and you'll find the natives (as well as being hostile) are also thick and slow to change ( hence the nick name by those from Bedrock) . Only having resided in this neck of the woods for twenty years ,i don't consider myself a native -nor are even my grand kids - true natives of the council estates round here need a "Stella sectomy" at birth .( remove mini can of Stella from right mitt ,to enable mother to give natural birth -then replace in infant bottle ) -that's from observations of local teenagers /adults.

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

I have seen a few programs over the recent years showing how these developments are progressing.
What they all fail to consider are those that actually enjoy the fun and skill of driving.
I would never dream of owning such a wheeled robot, it could never make me smile.

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

I suspect that that is exactly what enthusiastic carriage drivers said about the motor car a hundred odd years ago

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

That and "One day those cars will be going slower than us".

I'm with Claire; I can't think of anything more disheartening.

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

you'll be pleased to know there's no chance of any microsoft operating system passing automotive safety requirements for real time embedded control systems any time soon.

Ironically, the OS that Windows is based on (or "copied from") is called VMS, written by the same person, Dave Cutler, and it was often used as a real time operating system. In fact, if you take the letters VMS, and add 1 to each, you get WNT, i.e. Windows NT. Weird...

I'm not so sure ed

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

This section is the real problem - programs that should never have been accepted in the first place !
This 'work around' is unacceptable - they need to solve the problem not circumvent it !
Matthew Broersma | Techworld
Published: 16:42 GMT, 21 September 04Here

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

ISO26262

Ed - the bit about MS ,was the jokey bit -no way could I believe that MS would be allowed into car systems .
Now the bit i was talking about --

"In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating: If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull over to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive, but would run on only five percent of the roads.

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation" warning light.

7. The airbag system would ask "Are you sure?" before deploying.

8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

9. Every time a new car was introduced, car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again, because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

10. Oh yeah, and last but not least . . . you'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off!" -

Now that last bit -scary or what - anyone driven a Ford Mondeo Titanium TDCI lately -------- --the START button does exactly that .

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

yeh ive seen that quote before.... frighteningly various windows version are infiltrating as interfaces for in car entartainment and other configurable bits.

keyless entry systems and start/stop buttons are a bit of a nightmare in terms of relating back to traditional ignition states and introduce a whole load more hazards to mitigate.