A connected, smart-car epiphany

I have been reading about "connected" cars lately, the idea is intriguing to me. The Cliff's Notes version is that all cars in the future will be connected through a wireless communication network and "talk" to each other without our knowledge. I hear the big brother complaints, but the idea is that cars up ahead can warn oncoming cars of an accident, even around a blind bend or over a rise.  They could also "see" a car coming up from behind too fast to stop and automatically move you out of harms way. 

But today I had an epiphany about one potential use that I am sure the eggheads at CMU (I can say that, I pay the tuition for one of them) are not working on.  When I leave my neighborhood, I often take a nice winding road where the speed can be stretched a bit. The trouble is, I have to make a LEFT to get on it and often have to yield to another car that gets there milliseconds before me. Then I am stuck behind grandma who insists on driving 10 under the limit. UGH. 

But what if my car was talking to her car? It would tell her tan Buick that a Fiesta ST is faster and, based on recorded performance, I am a faster driver. Her car would automatically slow, flash a yellow light on the dash, bong a chime, and then let me turn first. Granny is happy because she avoided having to inconvenience someone, and I am happy because I get to drive at a reasonable, prudent speed.  Seamless nirvana. 

Here is another epiphany

YOU probably wont wont be driving. And neither will Granny Buick.

The cars will all respond to a time distance algorithm with some limits tossed on to control top speed of the envelope.

Pete

The unfortunate reality of your nirvana is that for every polite granny there is going to be a shiny happy gramps (of any age) who will automatically punch the inevitable override button to cancel the yield, because "those maniacs can obey the speed limit just like the rest of us instead of tearing up the roads and causing accidents."

See also:  5-under left lane Prius fartsniffers.

Epiphany?  More like self-indulgent twaddle.

There will be no override, you will gain priority based on your track times, autocross results, etc. It all feeds into the system, if you can't drive, you're on the bus. I am regularly buying beer for the comp sci majors at CMU to ensure the vehicular future of my choosing! 

pinchvalve said:

There will be no override, you will gain priority based on your track times, autocross results, etc. It all feeds into the system, if you can't drive, you're on the bus. I am regularly buying beer for the comp sci majors at CMU to ensure the vehicular future of my choosing! 

Sesame Times, the hotshoe credit system for social harmony?

When every car is a smart, connected, self-driving car, there will be no faster or slower ones. You'll get the generic gray blob that everyone else gets, and you'll like it. 

pinchvalve said:

Granny is happy because she avoided having to inconvenience someone

I think Granny would be happy holding people up because then someone would be giving her attention, unlike her relatives who only call every other month.

It's probably more useful to think of a truly "smart" car as not really a car.  Think of them more as pods you get in that take you where you want to go.

"1984" Hear we come baby....

when everybody actually maintains their cars to exactly the specification that they shipped with then maybe in 30 years. In a world where the average car on the road is 17 years old and in horrible shape it's never going o happen. Short of a mesh network where there are only a very small number of players who also do the service and legal support for the lifespan of the car. 

In the utopian world of smart interconnected cars, if by some miracle you still have any input into how you drive them, that same interconnectivity that speaks to grannies Buick will also be directly connected to local law enforcement. Your social credit fine will show up neatly on your hud. Further misbehaving will result in your car camly pulling over, locking you inside and awaiting the local leo to come and collect you for being a bad bad boy.

Perhaps the only way it could work would be if you're a renegade in a dumb car. Smart car senses a non connective car and gives you a wide berth because "crazy unpredictable human controlled hazard" is approaching.

daeman said:

In the utopian world of smart interconnected cars, if by some miracle you still have any input into how you drive them, that same interconnectivity that speaks to grannies Buick will also be directly connected to local law enforcement. Your social credit fine will show up neatly on your hud. Further misbehaving will result in your car camly pulling over, locking you inside and awaiting the local leo to come and collect you for being a bad bad boy.

Aw crap, I hadn't thought of that. 

pinchvalve said:

daeman said:

In the utopian world of smart interconnected cars, if by some miracle you still have any input into how you drive them, that same interconnectivity that speaks to grannies Buick will also be directly connected to local law enforcement. Your social credit fine will show up neatly on your hud. Further misbehaving will result in your car camly pulling over, locking you inside and awaiting the local leo to come and collect you for being a bad bad boy.

Aw crap, I hadn't thought of that. 

Pinchvalve, you are fined one credit. 

By then we'd have abolished speed limits anyway. 

That part will come as soon as we realize we can vote for them to go away. 

first thought:

ah, yes... but das system est sprechen zie Deutsche?

Vhy ist you not calculating in meters!?!?!?

RealMiniNoMore said:

pinchvalve said:

daeman said:

In the utopian world of smart interconnected cars, if by some miracle you still have any input into how you drive them, that same interconnectivity that speaks to grannies Buick will also be directly connected to local law enforcement. Your social credit fine will show up neatly on your hud. Further misbehaving will result in your car camly pulling over, locking you inside and awaiting the local leo to come and collect you for being a bad bad boy.

Aw crap, I hadn't thought of that. 

Pinchvalve, you are fined one credit. 

Had to burst the bubble didn't i, sorry pinchvalve.

Thanks for picking up on that demolition man reference 

thought the second:

there's no reason the technology to communicate between cars can't also be provided to "non-autonomous" road-users... cars/motorcycles/bicyclists/horse-drawn carriages.

It's in effect 'synthetic vision', which properly developed will provide a much more informative and helpful version of the 'skill reducing' current implimentations of lane-departure/blindspot-warning.