|
About twenty years ago i remember reading something in a motoring magazine that "electronic ignition in cars will never be possible,since the reliability required will not be technologicaly possible" Well,well,were there.Who knows what wonders will be possible in the near future? What would a person from the fifties make of our computers,calculators etc. Technology does not stand still,-on the contrary, it is snowballing.
|
|
|
There's already a car convoy I can use, that allows me to sleep, read, eat, whatever I want while travelling the same way to the same place as ten or more other people, and with a a presumably professional driver up front.
It's called a bus.
The tech may be around, but I don't think anyone in current generations would give over driving for this. I'm sure the research and development leads to some purposeful application of said technology, but something like this would only be sufficient on a motorway without pedestrians jumping between spaced out cars, and lets face it we already sit in a long stream of moving traffic, but at least I have the option of overtaking or making my own free decision.
So a no from me!
|
|
I don't trust other drivers if I see they have satnav fitted so the thought of countless thousands of them blindly trusting another black box makes me shudder.
|
|
|
Virtually all aircraft crashes are caused by human error.
You mean commercial aircraft of course, a number are caused by other factors such as birds, lightening, some kind of system failure etc. In the Air Force other factors are causes, such as being shot down or crashed into whilst in combat etc. All the pilots are highly trained & skilled and have responses far faster than the average road user and yet they can still be involved in an incident which may be fatal. Sometimes it's equipment malfunction whilst other times it's pilot errror, albeit they fly a lot faster than the average car moves along a road, however, whatever the cause the outcome can be the same.
If even highly sophisticated aircraft & skilled pilots can't prevent incidents then what chance has the average motorist with a selection of vehicles fitted with an autopilot system that has a countless number of random variables to process at any given moment ?
Expect the unexpected, it will happen sooner or later. For example, what would happen if the leading car was hit by a missile/bomb. With the close proxity of the following cars it's likely the whole convoy would go up in smoke, if they were driving at a safer distance apart most would survive. There are countless other similar scenarios to consider which would all result in a similar outcome. Compute that lot !
Edited by MikeTorque on 24/06/2009 at 00:00
|
Aircraft fly fast, but usually in vast volumes of empty sky; they turn gently and have time and space to come at their landing runways at the right angle and speed. The possibility of a collision, in the road sense, is extremely rare. If two planes pass within a few hundred yards of each other everyone has kittens and autopilot is brutally overridden.
Need I go into detail on the essential differences between aircraft flying between airports and cars, almost touching each other, wriggling through an organic road system, as they affect this question of autopilot?
It's an amusing science fiction idea. We won't be seeing it on the roads on any scale, and if we do see it at all, in shopping malls and so on, I certainly won't like it.
|
I was thinking more along the lines of fighter aircraft whose pilots are use to flying in close formation. However, when the action starts they fan out, engage in fast turns, go in any direction, fly upsidedown, at times only a few feet separate them and they're traveling at several 100's mph, there hardly seems like enough air space at times due to the distance they quickly cover, autopilot in such situations is useless.
At times whilst driving a car it feels a bit like the above description, only with a higher density of vehicles doing lots of unexpected things at slower speeds, an autopilot system would be disengaged more times than not.
|
Remember that it is not that long ago that all cars had a man with a flag walking in front. Autoguided personal transport WILL come to pass. it is not a matter of if, just a matter of when!
The question of 'Would you trust it?' is only applicable at this point in time with currently available technology. Life will be VERY different in 50 or 100 years time!
p
|
|
I wonder how long it will be untill we are all using fully electical brake systems controlled by an ECU, and hydraulic systems are as rare as full cable brake systems? Steering is going from hydraulic to electrical asistance, OK, with manual back up, but cars have a secondary brake, known as a hand brake.
Edited by Old Navy on 25/06/2009 at 11:04
|
if cars have to travel 3m apart to stay in contact and a car pulls off the motorway from the middle does that mean that the car behind them suddenly becomes the lead driver because they would then be a cars lenght plus 6m from the vehicle in front of them.
and if he does become lead driver what happens if he happened to be taking 40 winks when the car pulls out of the convoy?????????????????
|
|
just occured to me that the same applies for the end of journey if the system automatically disengages and the driver is asleep he has to wake up yawn, stretch and have a good scratch all before hurtling forward the 3ft 'safety distance'!!! and becoming an uninvited passenger in the car in front :-)
|
|
|
|
