Big Brother Research Plan
Govt backed technology plan targets remote control of your car in years to come...
Microwave, radar and broadband communications are set to transform the future of motoring and a milestone research programme aims to maintain Britain’s lead in this pioneering ‘new wave’ technology.
Satellite navigation, integrated hands-free telephones, electronic parking aids and even on-board e-mail systems are now starting to become commonplace in today’s motor vehicles.
Researchers now claim that this is just the beginning of a new high-tech automotive revolution which will help to reduce accidents, ease congestion, cut journey times and open up a new generation of broadband communication services for motorists.
Over the next three years, a new British initiative, part of the Government-funded, SMMT-led Foresight Vehicle programme, aims to develop and demonstrate a multi-purpose system which will turn many of the potential benefits of this ‘new wave’ technology into low-cost reality for new car buyers.
Also of interest is the potential created by marrying broadband systems with radar to turn new cars into mobile communication centres. The technology will help to transform road systems into new wire-free, hot-spot highways where drivers can access a range of services from traffic congestion information to web browsing.
The joint industry, education and Government research project is called SLIMSENS.
Research partners include automotive and aerospace giants Jaguar Cars and British Aerospace, e2V technologies and L.E.W. Techniques – two British companies with extensive microwave experience – and the University of Birmingham’s Department of Electronic, Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Initially, the new technology will target vehicle-to-vehicle communications and provide road traffic information but the project managers claim that they'd like the combined broadband and radar systems to be able to take control of vehicles joining and leaving major road networks and even allow automated hands-free convoy driving on motorways.
Terrible idea. When you consider how often computer systems crash, including major ones (remember air traffic control?) the chances are that at some time the system controlling this would crash too - quickly followed by half the cars on the road.
"In order to improve automotive safety through better real world data and testing materials, GM introduced enhancements to its vehicles which will enable researchers to retrieve pre-crash data from a vehicle's air bag Sensing and Diagnostic Module (SDM). The enhanced SDM will be installed on the 1999 model year Buick Century, Park Avenue, Regal; Cadillac Eldorado, Deville, Seville; Pontiac Firebird and Chevrolet Camaro and Corvette vehicles."...
"Researchers will have fresh insight into how drivers are reacting to hazards and interacting with their vehicles."...
"The signal to deploy the air bags is also a signal to store data on the four additional parameters taken during the previous five seconds."...
"Ultimately, I found no intrusion, intentional or otherwise, into any person's privacy via the SDM, "black box." It is not a voice recorder, nor does it record anything other than the specific vehicle's operating system as described."
.....the police will also use this info to see how fast you were going prior to the accident that caused the airbag to go off...... This is true and someone in the US complained when the police tried to use this evidence to confict them of speeding, as it violated there civil liberties as GM did not advertise the fact that they could download operating data from the car after an accident.
grahambell said:
[quote] the project managers claim that they'd like the combined broadband and radar systems to be able to take control of vehicles joining and leaving major road networks and even allow automated hands-free convoy driving on motorways.
Terrible idea. When you consider how often computer systems crash, including major ones (remember air traffic control?) the chances are that at some time the system controlling this would crash too - quickly followed by half the cars on the road.[/quote]
IIRC the Americans did actually demonstrate a similar system as far back as the 60's. You'd join a motorway, the system would position you in a convoy of other vehicles (only a few yards apart as I recall) and you could take your hands off until you needed to leave the motorway.
Quite what would happen if any vehicle in the line had a blowout was not demonstrated in the film I saw.
Ian
This just sounds like an over-expensive, over-authoritarian waste of time and money. Oh, and say goodbye to the performance car sector of employment in this country if it's brought in.
Public transport in this country could have been brilliant if previous governments hadn't wiped out most of the local rail systems in the 60's. But I suppose they saw the private motorist as a means of raising more tax and the national rail network as costing money
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