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Toys

Souped Up Mods for a Souped Up Vehicle? 55

Posted by Cliff from the as-if-the-driver-needed-more-distractions dept.
carambola5 asks: "Because we all know the world needs more inattentive drivers... I am a member of the champion UW-Madison FutureTruck team, which was the subject of this Slashdot report from June. Well, we're gearing up for next year and I'm on the sub-group that puts in all the cool interior stuff. Besides the Clarion joyride unit already in there, we're looking for other ideas (for example: a CF card that could act as both a key and remote access device for use in a handheld). What kind of little toys would you want in a car?"
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Souped Up Mods for a Souped Up Vehicle? More

Souped Up Mods for a Souped Up Vehicle?

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  • I want... (Score:2, Funny)

    by hitzroth ( 60178 )
    a full-featured car I can fold up and carry away in my pocket -- or briefcase a la Jetsons -- so I won't have to worry about finding a place to park.

  • Smart-Card or CF Card (Score:3, Interesting)

    by man_ls ( 248470 ) on Thursday September 12, 2002 @09:30PM (#4248719)
    I like that idea very much. A CF-card that contains a file, encrypted of course, that is read by the engine computer and enables a "start" button on the dash.

    More high-tech than a key, and probably more secure too.
    • Mercedes does something very like this. A little key-fob like thing that opens door locks, lets you start the car etc. Since you can stuff a lot of data on a CF card of reasonable size, why not have it carry all kinds of electronic data. Say, chair and mirror position, radio presets, destinations for the GPS... Or just use a smart-card to do the simple function of unlocking the car and activating settings. Or even integrate it into the key like GM did with that resistor security thing a few years back.

      The other big thing I want (besides the parking solution in my other post -- which I solve by taking the bus) is an auto-pilot function. I know it's already being worked on but being able to plug a destination into my GPS dohickey and sit back and relax until I get where I want to go, and to be able to do it whenever I want would be great.

      I've heard civil engineer friends say that traffic jams and slowdowns happen even when a road is at a quarter of its capacity. It seems to me this is because people generally aren't very good drivers (me, too; that's another reason I take the bus) and panic at things that wouldn't be a threat to a better trained driver. If we can't get better trainded drivers, how 'bout better behaved cars?
      • It's already being developed--intelligent cruise control that can adjust your cruise speed to match that of a car in front of you, colission detection systems for backing up and getting in/out of tight spots, etc. These things + GPS would give an engine computer total control over your car's engine. A couple servos for the steering wheel, and you've got a computer that can drive the car.

        What you don't have is a car that can respond to traffic control devices (stop lights/signs, emergency personel, toll booths) because it wouldn't have any idea they existed. Until such devices transmit GPS coordinates of themselves, and instructions, in some standardized form, autodrive simply won't work.

        The technology for a self-piloting car exists, but a self-driving car is a little ways off. Doable, yes. Feasible, no.
  • Hover Conversion

  • Direction Finder (Score:3, Interesting)

    by grent246 ( 600606 ) on Thursday September 12, 2002 @09:46PM (#4248783)
    I want a device to track my car down when I cant remember where I parked it in a large parking complex. Possibly a gps location sent to mobile phone though that relies on owner carrying an accurate GPS and phone. In my ideal world it would be a small device which triggers an ultrasonic or other beacon. The device can then act like a compass and points towards the car.
    • I want a device to track my car down when I cant remember where I parked it in a large parking complex. Possibly a gps location sent to mobile phone though that relies on owner carrying an accurate GPS and phone. In my ideal world it would be a small device which triggers an ultrasonic or other beacon. The device can then act like a compass and points towards the car.

      OnStar [onstar.com] does something similar; if you forget where your car is parked, you can call OnStar and they'll make the lights flash or sound the horn, as well as unlocking the car remotely (great if you lock yourself out!)

      It's not quite on the same level as Bond's car (anyone remember his remote-control BMW?!) but still pretty neat, IMHO...

  • A Gravel Cannon for Tailgaters (Score:3, Interesting)

    by SN74S181 ( 581549 ) on Thursday September 12, 2002 @10:14PM (#4248867)
    I remember reading a few years back in a tech journal column about a guy who had installed a 'gravel cannon' in the trunk of his car. All it would do is spill out a little bit of gravel under driver control when someone was tailgating him. I've often thought such a feature would be a good thing, if done in such a way that it could seem like regular gravel off the road spraying upward. Just a rock or two. Voila. We'd all know who the obnoxious tailgaters were by their chipped windshield.

    An alternative would be a brake fluid squirter. It would just spray out little droplets of brake fluid once in awhile. Hey, brake fluid is an ordinary hazard of the road (also, it dissolves paint on cars) and if tailgaiters end up having the shittiest paint job on the road, that's their problem. Various other ordinary automotive fluids could be dispersed as well. Key is for it to be something that's ordinarily in the car. Acetone wouldn't seem innocent enough.
    • I always thought that one of those LED message boards (as seen in shops etc.) and a proximity sensor whould make a fine tailgater-scarer. You could get it to flash up 'Police - Stop' or something if they got too close (better switch it off if being followed by real police though). Actually you could get it to display any choice message you felt like.
      The same idea could be used to fire up the brake/hazard lights instead. (We aren't allowed cannons/guns in the UK). :-)
    • While the gravel would work, I'd like to encourage you to spray brake fluid out the back of your moving car. I think it would only do good for you...

      On another note, ever notice how much oil residue is stuck to the back of smoking beaters? You'd think that an exhaust pipe firing oily air out the back of the car wouldn't stick to the car itself. Moving vehicles have a low pressure area behind them, so air tends to sit behind the car and swirl around. Wagons and hatchbacks are worst, but many sedans do this as well. Same goes for vans and suvs. Next time you're on the highway in the rain, look at cars going the other way and you'll be able to see the mist of rain water swirling about behind the car.
  • on dash, have a lcd computer, with either a wireless keyboard, or jet-style buttons around frame with an easy to use interface, to do anything with the car you want, you could easily add features, like, preferable, stats from all the engine sensors, and the ability to tweak each one to get better results than the car's computer can offer. Im working on that for my car....each sensor will go through the main computer, and then to the car computer...from there i can modify the output to the car computer, effectivly tricking it into thinking whatever i want...that would be cool
    • True, but that's what the competition is: FutureTruck. In the mid- to late-90's, we were in the FutureCar competition, but the organizers of that event decided to go with SUVs one of the years. I wouldn't complain, though. Half the new automobiles purchased in the US are SUVs, and we can't force people to stop buying them. The best we can do is make the cars they buy better.

  • HAN (Score:2)

    by Perdo ( 151843 )
    Create a Highway Area Network. Not only should individual vehicles be smart enough to drive themselves, they should communicate and cooperate with each other to get everyone where they need to go as safely as possible. Just as a train is linked by physical means, vehicles should link wirelessly to achieve the same end - bumper to bumper at 100 mph, but safely.

    Exactly what human nature cannot do for itself.

    Driving is a repetitive, monotonous task. That is exactly what computers are good at.
    .

    • Driving is not monotonus! (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Driving is a repetitive, monotonous task.

      BBBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ Wrong.

      Only if you drive on a boring freeway.
      Try driving on the back roads

      Better still take the windshild out of your car

      You want a better driving experiance.... become a biker, dont fill your car with distracting toys.

      Any computerised crap in a car such as automatic speed limiters etc just take responsability away from the driver and encourage them to fall asleep more. Driving properly is demanding. Not monotonous

    • Driving....monotonous?????? Get yourself a Mustang GT and learn how to drive it. You're missing a great part of being alive....but if you don't care for drving, fine with me, just keep off the road so i can enjoy it.

    • Re:HAN (Score:1)

      by Kyril ( 1097 )
      And to join this HAN, all you have to do is accelerate to 100 MPH, and if there's a collision you just back off and try again!

  • ideas in the making (Score:3, Interesting)

    by carambola5 ( 456983 ) on Friday September 13, 2002 @02:03AM (#4249673) Homepage
    Seeing as I didn't have much room to put all our current ideas in the submission, here's what's been thought up so far:
    • Automated Distance Closure Braking System: Basically, if something's coming close at either sudden acceleration or high velocity, the braking system will automatically engage.
    • CF Ignition: Not only could the car start up via CF card, but other features could be included. ie: Driving style data logged to the card for future use (mashing the gas pedal/seat position/etc); Remote access via PDA that would allow GPS locating or remote starting. Privacy concerns with this would require that only the last person who used the car could do this.
    • Heads up display: Cool stuff. Nuff said.
    That last one was suggested to me after I posted and hasn't really been brought up with the other guys yet. Anything else you'd like to see in this prototype? I mean, if we build it, there's an outside chance it'll be implemented in most cars in the future.
    • >Automated Distance Closure Braking System:
      >Basically, if something's coming close at
      >either sudden acceleration or high velocity,
      >the braking system will automatically engage.

      and possibly kills you...if YOU are in control, are you going to brake? I'm not sure I'll do it all the time.

      important decisions like this should be handled by the driver instead of the car.
      • This technology is made purely as an aid. We aren't suggesting people stop paying attention. Also, just because the brakes are being automatically engaged, doesn't mean the driver can't further engage them. In fact, that's what would probably happen every time the system kicks in.
        • >just because the brakes are being automatically
          >engaged, doesn't mean the driver can't further
          >engage them

          This is not the issue.

          The real question is: when the system decides to automatically engage the brake, can the driver _override_ the decision and say "NO"? Applying the brakes at the wrong moment can kill too.
    • Apparently Jaguar have a heads-up display that overlays the view of the road ahead as seen by an infra-red night-vision camera. Handy in the dark - and lets dangerous people drive at night without headlamps.

  • A moving map monitor for passengers (Score:3, Interesting)

    by faster ( 21765 ) on Friday September 13, 2002 @03:18AM (#4249849)
    No more "are we there yet?"

  • No I'm not trolling... but if you want a better driving experiance then take the windshield out of your car (or become a biker) that will keep you more occupied than any distracting toys.

    Devices such as automatic braking systems will encorage drivers to pay even less attention to waht they are doing.

    If memory serves, when BMW poped TV sets into the dash of some of there high end cars they would only turn on when the parking brake was engaged...

  • I'm getting fed-up with people who don't bother to use their direction indicators - it really isn't any effort. But for people who can't be bothered, an automatic direction indicator would be handy.

    A few years ago, I also had an idea to stop those motorway 'standing waves' of traffic - you know the inexplicable stoppages on highways caused by people driving too close to each other. The idea was to add a *variable* time delay to the brake lights, so that they continue to be lit for a *speed related* amount of time after the driver has lifted their foot off the brakes- higher speed, longer delay. This would have the effect of spacing-out the traffic a bit. I know that fixed delays have been tried, but these would cause, rather than prevent the stoppages. Anyone doing this? - Or have I just blown away the possibility of riches beyond my wildest dreams?
    • Interesting idea, but it may not really work. In my case, while driving, I find myself watching the speed of the car in front of me and not the brake lights. That could be because I tend to slow down by taking my foot off the accelerator and hitting the brakes only if I need to come to a full stop. Really annoys those impatient gits who see me slow down half a block away from the red lights :).
      • You're the person who prevented me from using Arthur Dent as my uid! :-) There's a Slartibartfast in there too! In fact all the major characters are accounted for - serves me right for only being 552807th (or is it ...8th?) in the queue...
        A few people have pointed out the brake-lights flaw to me before. I guess it depends on people's driving style. I was thinking that it might be more effective when people are already driving close together as (I do this anyway) tend to be more attentive to brake lights when queues have already started forming and cars are driving closer (probabably more than they should) to each other. And certainly at night.

        On another note, one of the biggest problems I can see is with our (at least in Europe) slow lane, medium lane, fast lane system. It's not the system really (and I suppose you need a system like that especially at sliproads), but the way people interpret it.
        You often see massively inefficient use of the 'road bandwidth' because people tend to sit in the centre lane(s), this causes queues of people in the fast lane trying to get past. Often there is nothing in the slow lane! It does my head-in. I guess people either don't like changing lanes, or they get hypnotised by the repetitive nature of motorway driving. Any thoughts? Any gadgets that could help with this?
        • :)

          I'd actually wanted Ford Prefect and had to settle for Arthur Dent when I found that it was taken.

          And as for those center lane hogs, I'm dreaming about fitting the front and rear bumpers of my car with a hydraulic ram. And then drive up so that you are level with the center lane hog, push a button, and voila, out comes the ram and pushes the offending car over to the right.

          Probably illegal as hell everywhere in the world, but hey, I can dream, can't I?

    • The problem with any modification of the behavior of brake lights is that they will be by default non-intuitive. It would also be neat if you were approaching an intersection and could tell if vehicles in the crossing lanes had their opposite-side turn signal on, but it also would diminish the intuitiveness of the system.
      A problem with this entire discussion is the notion that cars need any "gadgets". There is nothing wrong with the smooth driving and responsive handling of most modern cars, but it seems to give people a false sense of security. When something wrong happens, either to the car, or in the road near the car, 100% attention is needed; it is at these times that the simple, intuitive, indicators on cars prove most valuable. At 60 miles per hour you are approaching a stopped (or immobile) object at almost 9 feet per tenth second, you don't have time to decide if light X is on because of situation Y, or situation Z.

  • Much of the ware on the power train comes during and because of startup. I would like the car to start pumping oil and coolant before the engine is started. I would also like a forced warmup.

    You would press start and the oil pump would start as well as other subsystems. When the oil and coolant are moving and in place (as well as worm if you live in a cold climate and have oil and coolant heaters) then the engine would start. Once the engine was wormed up you would then be cleared to drive.

    THIS COULD BE OVERRIDDEN for an emergency start button in the glove box.

    This would increase the lifespan of the car's engine and could be extended to things like setting up the radio, mirrors, seat and other comfort and safety items as well.
    • While this is somewhat different than what you describe...

      Most cars have a "heater door" in the intake airbox that is temperature-controlled. If the intake air temperature is below a certain point, the door opens up, recycling warmer air that has been heated by the engine rather than using cold intake air.

      This allows the car to warm up MUCH more quickly. (At the expense of performanc - Cold air is denser than warm air, which means more air mass can be fit into the cylinders.)

      As to oil flow - The engine is filled with oil, what more can you ask for as long as it's circulating while the engine is running? Oil filters and other parts of the oil system have check valves to prevent the engine parts from draining out their oil when the car is turned off. The system you propose is just a crutch for people who can't properly maintain their car. (i.e. change the oil filter, which contains the primary check valve, often enough)

      Of course, the fact that this is an HEV system makes most of your comments relatively irrelevant.
    • If you're so worried about such things, why not have a block heater installed on your engine?

      Just plug it in when you park for the night. When you start it in the morning, things are already nice and warm - just turn the key and start it up.

      It also reduces/eliminates the time it takes to warm up the coolant enough to produce heat inside the cabin in the wintertime.

      And it won't kill your car battery. The last thing I need on a -30F morning, as I'm trying to start the car before I get out and begin laboriously clearing ice and snow from the roof, windows, and hood, is for the car to do me the favor of automatically removing some of the battery's preciously-limited current reserve to push some oil/sludge around, before I even get a chance to start it.

      Yep, I turn the radio off and avoid the rear defroster, too, on such days until I'm sure that the car is going to live unaided.

      (and before you say anything: the car currently has 123,000 hard miles on it, and continues to run strong with minimal maintenance, free any problems with any portion of the drivetrain. If it causes some small amount of harm for the few seconds before the important parts warm up enough to function, I guess I don't care much.)
  • I didn't really learn to drive in adverse conditions until I got my '65 Lincoln Contiental. I got it as a daily driver, in the middle of an icy ohio winter. After driving her for years, I learned how to brake properly in slick conditions WITHOUT ABS, that I damn well better have my seatbelt on or the steering wheel was going thru my chest, and rear-wheel drive is fun and safer if you know how to handle it. I actually have some difficulty driving newer cars, such as my beater ('87 Buick), and the '95+ cars most of my friends drive.

    The computerization and saftey systems are good for drivers that are used to them. There have been a few times when I would have preferred to speed up and slide a little to avoid a situation rather than braking, but because of traction control systems I couldn't.

    The gist of this is that I'd like to see some means for a driver who would prefer not to have all the electronic crap to turn it off. Wether its a big red button or a tiny keyswitch buried in some hard to reach corner of the engine compartment. Make it clear that your new toys are there to supplement driver skills not substitute.

  • Keg taps (Score:3, Funny)

    by (trb001) ( 224998 ) on Friday September 13, 2002 @10:04AM (#4250873) Homepage
    ...but I'd settle for it dispensing soda.

    --trb
  • I have always wanted a automated roof turrent with a flame thrower and a couple of 50cal machine guns. Add buttons to the steering wheel and a Blue Thunder style eyetracking system and we are all set. This would actually give the oppurtunity to eliminate distrations.

    SD

  • Wish list (Score:4, Interesting)

    by mosch ( 204 ) on Friday September 13, 2002 @12:42PM (#4251826) Homepage
    In addition to wanting more legroom (I'm 6'5"), I'd like to see tivo-esque functionality in my radio, and a way to snag mp3s off my home network wirelessly from my garage... Better GPS systems, that integrate with local traffic forecasts would be very sweet.

    Other than that, most of the things I'd like (driver adjustable suspension and engine tuning, clutch superchargers and distance-based cruise control come to mind) already exist, just not in anything I drive.

    • I second this, also being 6'5", its ridiculous how tiny cars have gotten, my knees wrap up and around the steering wheel. I think before we go adding fancy features to cars that may or may not be helpful, how about we design them so that people can fit in the damn things.
    • You don't need GPS to get local traffic forecasts. You only need radio stations (particularly all of Clear Channel) to start broadcasting RDS streams which take advantage of the system's features, and a radio that knows how to listen to them - modern, mid-range-and-up Blaupunkt units work fine.

      Just tell the radio that you want to hear the weather, or the news, or traffic, or whatever. When such a program as you desire is being broadcast, the radio will automagically switch frequencies for the duration, and then resume doing whatever it was doing before.

      This exists now - and the end-user hardware is increasingly in place by default. All it needs to work is a network of radio stations that actually fucking use it.

      Other nice things about RDS: In the mountains, the radio will flip-flop between self-discovered simucast frequencies as dictated by receiving conditions, keeping the signal strong. It'll seek out a "Rock" station, or a "Classical" statioon, or "Country" or "Top 40" or whatever you ask, upon command - useful when travelling in unfamiliar areas. It will also identify the format of any RDS-compatible station it is tuned to, so you can have an idea of what 103.5FM plays even if you've never heard it before and they're on a commercial break.

      It all goes back to letting you keep your eyes on the road, and can serve well to automate most of the things people do with their radio.

      Including setting the clock by itself. :)

  • heads up dsiplay (Score:4, Interesting)

    by cpex ( 601202 ) <jvivona&ucsd,edu> on Friday September 13, 2002 @01:05PM (#4251958)
    I know I saw something back in the early 90's on a show called 2000 or something like that a car that used radar to track cars and on a heads up display it would draw a box around the car and outline the lanes on the road for foggy or other hazardous driving conditions. Combine that with your speed, rpm, temperature (engine, outside, iinside) maybe a translucent rearview image, translucent map with driving directions(GPS) let you choose a few engine sensor to display with all controls on the sterring wheel (imagine saying hey I think I want to tweak my air fuel ratio beep-beep. Of course you hsould be able to turn all these off and on at will so you can choose exactly what you want displayed on your HUD at any time

    i was really bored at work so i did a quick workup in ps what is could be like here [geocities.com]

  • I currently drive a toyota corolla 2001. This model incorprates a photo sensor that kicks on the night driving lights a little before dusk and off when it's a little after dawn and on when it's really dark and stormy. I never have to turn on my headlights. But what I hate is having to freaking adjust the dashboard illumination. Driving at dusk into the sun you need the dashboard lit a little brighter, but as it gets darker you dont need as much dashboard lighting.

    I would also like the dashboard lighting to kick on full brightness when parked or when the doors open and interior lights come on.

    Something else I have been thinking about is a technology I saw in pop sci magazine about the sunroofs with built in lcd for automatically shading. Well I think it would be neat to incorprate that into the windshield and side windows with adjustable darkness and adjustable blocking size. This also should shut off at dark.
    I would also like to have the same tinting done for the rear window.

    I wonder if they could get lcd to reflect like those mirror tints, that would be very nice for when the car is parked in the lot under the hot sun, shut off the car set the alarm and all windows go solid chrome! Muahhah! Even cooler, add user definable logos! Mine would be a dragon across all windows :P Anyone for a screensave type option? That would really make the locals go ga ga.

    DRACO-
  • Like in Airplane cockpits , the batmobile, or in space-sim video games, the MFD seems like it would be really useful, especially if there were buttons to control it on the steering wheel.

    One display could show odo, tach and speedo by default, press a steering wheel button to switch to stereo info, or on-board navigation, or a HUD (like an earlier poster suggested), or vehichle diagnostic info (oil pressure, turbocharger controls, fluid levels, engine temp, etc.).

    If you really want to make a "future car", make it run on Hydrogen or BioDiesel or something cool like that.

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