‘Safer’ Automobile Travel

Following my column last week about technology changing the future of automobile travel, resulting in safer travel, I received an e-mail from a software safety engineer. I’m sure some of you, or maybe many, share his view.

Pardon my cynicism, Erik:

But as a software safety engineer and one who has experienced the “tunnel vision” that arises when driving a car containing all the high-tech gadgetry modern autos have to offer, and…… having a boss that experienced a “runaway” Mercedes due to a computer failure (fortunately nobody was hurt), and…. having followed the Air France Airbus 340 that crashed in the Atlantic Ocean due to a confused computer, pardon me if I don’t share your enthusiasm. Yes, we all love high-tech gadgets but, personally, most people I know don’t want to have to read a 200-page book to figure out how to operate them and can never remember how to operate the lesser used features after a short hiatus. What you are talking about is probably going to be operating in background with little operator intervention, but I get weary [sic] of safety features controlled by software that cannot be disabled by the operator, and we are moving more in that direction. The other thing that bugs me is this Trans Core Gadget for infrastructure-less tolling. I’m all for easier toll paying but, these folks who invent things that ultimately allow big brother (state, local, federal governments) to poke their noses into my business (to see how fast I go and where I go and, ultimately, use that information to conjure up more “safety” laws telling me how, when, where to drive and, confiscating my money when I don’t drive the way the control freaks and politicians want) REALLY IRRITATE ME!  Please thank Trans Core for developing yet another Orwellian black box, and ask them if they could possibly develop something useful that does NOT promote more government intrusion into our lives next time!

True, I do ooze a bit of enthusiasm when seeing how technology can make our lives more efficient. That’s how I roll. But, I do see the points that he makes. I think it’s important to note that on the vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications demonstration that I took part in, it was all about situational awareness without taking any control from the driver. For example. if there is a vehicle in your blind spot, an indicator will illuminate if you activate your turn signal to change lanes in that direction. In another example, if you’re approaching an intersection and the V2V communications senses a vehicle approaching the intersection at such a speed that it’s unable to stop safely, an alarm will sound that gives you a warning. In still another example, one vehicle had an LCD panel on the dashboard that showed potential accidents. Take a look at the Youtube video I shot from the back seat of a car equipped with V2V communications at the ITS World 2011 conference in Orlando, Florida. It’s all about warning the driver of a potential collision, not taking control of the vehicle.

~8:13 minute video I shot from the back seat of a test car (outfitted with V2V communications) driven by a professional driver. You can see the indicator on the side mirrior when there’s a vehicle in the blind spot. You can also make out (sort of) the graphic LCD on the center-top of the dashboard showing the location of vehicles around ours. 

Regarding the smart car I wrote about last week that automatically comes to you when you press a button on the remote, that’s more futuristic. Of course, when you start talking about unmanned vehicles moving around, it better be a fool-proof system with back-ups upon back-ups. But with high-speed laser range-finders and other sensors, it’s possible to have multiple back-ups. I agree, however, that this technology must mature a lot before it is implemented.

Some other photos of the intelligent vehicle demonstration at the Disney World Speedway.

Walt Disney World Speedway is no longer used for racing

One of the “connected vehicles”

The demonstrations were conducted using professional drivers

Big Brother

Ah, yes, I guess I’m a bit more of an optimist. I’m willing to give a little to big brother to reap the benefits of spending less time at the toll booth. That’s just me. I’m of the same opinion when it comes to consumer LBS (location-based services) applications on my smart phone. There’s definitely a risk to using them, but for me there’s enough significant upside that it’s worth the risk. I’m not giving away access to my bank account, but I’m willing to risk giving up my location to my “personal network” in order to benefit from it.

I wrote quite a bit about location privacy quite a few months ago. You may want to take a look at the one I wrote entitled Location Privacy is Heating Up.