BBC - Volvo unveils cyclist alert-and-brake car system
- Thread starter Kioshk
- Start date
Great! More technology to try to make cars idiot proof. What's wrong with teaching drivers to put down the phone and drive the car? I can remember when they had 'Driver Education' in high school that taught you more than how to turn a key and select a forward gear.
I remember a poster in the driver's ed class room. It was a big stern Highway Patrol officer, pointing at you and the caption said, "Driving, it's a full time job". That image has always stuck with me because it was so true.
Tom
I remember a poster in the driver's ed class room. It was a big stern Highway Patrol officer, pointing at you and the caption said, "Driving, it's a full time job". That image has always stuck with me because it was so true.
Tom
Allen_Wrench
Resident Mad Scientist
Call me an old fogey, but I'm right there with you, Tom. Cars can be dangerous, therefor - driving is a big responsibility. VERY big. Teach these people how to drive. Teach 'em to be responsible. Hold them accountable for how they operate their vehicle!
I don't think I'm bragging when I say I'm a good driver. I have to be. I have kids. I feel the weight of my responsibility. In a day when the 2013 Lincoln MKZ drives itself and parks itself, and there's another one out there that can start itself and pull out and pick you up, I will at least be able to boast that I can drive as well if not better than any car out there.
Dan
Staff
I love it. I have a courier business and spend (well, used to) more time in my car then in bed. People space out, and/or just do dumb things. Just the human experience thing. Last summer I got stuck on a country road that was backed up. When I finally got close to the cause, a little girl was laying on the grass, face down. The woman who hit her was crying hysterically, talking to the trooper. Don't know how it happened and really don't want to. The vision stuck in my head well enough already.
Advances like this are great. If it saves one kid or dog or even an insurance claim, cool.
That being said, I am in total agreement with you, Tom and Allen. The first and best safety device in a car is the operator.
Cool read and thanks for posting Kioshk!
Advances like this are great. If it saves one kid or dog or even an insurance claim, cool.
That being said, I am in total agreement with you, Tom and Allen. The first and best safety device in a car is the operator.
Cool read and thanks for posting Kioshk!
bigbutterbean
Active Member
I think it sounds dangerous. What if instead of braking, you should be making an evasive maneuver, and braking actually CAUSES an accident instead of preventing one? This is even more likely if the driver is on their phone instead of watching the road.
Allen_Wrench
Resident Mad Scientist
This is a big part of what I'm worried about. I really do understand that automakers are trying to contribute on their end to the cause of safety by building cars that electronically sense their environment and try not to hit anything in it. And I do understand that there seems to be a need to compensate for the bad drivers on the road.
But I confess to being very worried that technological advances like this will cause willfully distracted (or otherwise incompetent) drivers to rely on them too much and in too many situations, for which such technology was not intended. In a way, even I am happy to see such advanced technology. But, right now at this stage of advancement, I would pit such technology against an experienced human driver any time. And that human would surely show up the robot.