Souped Up Mods for a Souped Up Vehicle? 55
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?"
I want... (Score:2, Funny)
Smart-Card or CF Card (Score:3, Interesting)
More high-tech than a key, and probably more secure too.
Re:Smart-Card or CF Card (Score:2, Interesting)
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?
Re:Smart-Card or CF Card (Score:2)
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.
Re:Smart-Card or CF Card (Score:2)
Two Words (Score:1)
How about an integrated spell checker? (Score:2)
Subarban?!
These are college students?
Re: How about an integrated spell checker? (Score:1)
Re:How about an integrated spell checker? (Score:2)
Yeah, we're college students. But we're also engineers who spend a lot more time working on a truck than a website. (emphasis on the "engineers" part) No English majors in the garage, I'll tell you that.
Direction Finder (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Direction Finder (Score:2)
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)
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.
Re:A Gravel Cannon for Tailgaters (Score:2, Interesting)
The same idea could be used to fire up the brake/hazard lights instead. (We aren't allowed cannons/guns in the UK).
Re:A Gravel Cannon for Tailgaters (Score:2)
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.
lcd computer (Score:1)
But it's still an SUV (Score:1)
Nuf said
Re:But it's still an SUV (Score:2)
HAN (Score:2)
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)
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
Re:Driving is not monotonus! (Score:2)
The human driver had to deal with gas stations only.
Re:HAN (Score:1)
Re:HAN (Score:1)
ideas in the making (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:ideas in the making (Score:2)
>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.
Re:ideas in the making (Score:2)
Re:ideas in the making (Score:2)
>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.
Re:ideas in the making (Score:1)
A moving map monitor for passengers (Score:3, Interesting)
Do we need more destracting toys when driving? (Score:1)
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...
Brake light delay and auto indicators (Score:1)
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?
Re:Brake light delay and auto indicators (Score:1)
Re:Brake light delay and auto indicators (Score:1)
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?
Re:Brake light delay and auto indicators (Score:1)
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?
Re:Brake light delay and auto indicators (Score:1)
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.
Startup sequence (Score:2)
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.
Forced warmup... (Score:2)
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.
Re:Startup sequence (Score:2)
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.)
an OFF button (Score:1)
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.
Re:an OFF button (Score:2)
Keg taps (Score:3, Funny)
--trb
Dream option (Score:2)
SD
Wish list (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Re:Wish list (Score:1)
Re:Wish list (Score:2)
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)
i was really bored at work so i did a quick workup in ps what is could be like here [geocities.com]
Re:heads up dsiplay (Score:2)
Intellegent lighting (Score:1)
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
DRACO-
My A4 does this... (Score:1)
Multi-Function Displays (Score:1)
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.
Re:Multi-Function Displays (Score:2)