And another look.

[Jeff]

http://biertijd.com/mediaplayer/?itemid=39089

[jleyton]

Hi Jeff,

Are you having a lazy day at home today then ?

Did you notice, about 1.00 in, when the car first starts off, it's definitely on a collision course for the kerb before the camera cuts to another shot

Whilst nothing like as sophisticated, I remember sitting with one of our senior, female, engineers at Citroen and her 'driving' me round a track without touching anything - that was in a Citroen BX (like yours !) about 20 years ago.

Cheers

Julian

[Bob Heritage]

I wonder if they could be programmed to take me back home from the pub? No D&D

[Stagdad]

So who takes the penalty fine when it parks in a disable bay by mistake and how do you find it in a large multistory when your smart phone goes flat?

[jakesmig]

Is there some reason Yoko Ono is fronting a praking aid for a female driver
John.

[Bob Heritage]

Is there some reason Yoko Ono is fronting a praking aid for a female driver
John.

What's that then?

[jakesmig]

oops

[dasadrew]

Why's it called piloted driving when it's pilotless driving?

Why does the car reverse out of its parking lot on the smartphone and drive out in reality?

Quite a clumsily put together publicity clip, non?

I heard BMW are putting a system together which enables the car to maintain a 36" distance to the car ahead at very impressive speeds too. Apparently there are a few test vehicles driving about already with this system but, for certification purposes, there still has to be a driver behind the wheel.

[jleyton]

I heard BMW are putting a system together which enables the car to maintain a 36" distance to the car ahead at very impressive speeds too. Apparently there are a few test vehicles driving about already with this system but, for certification purposes, there still has to be a driver behind the wheel.

Look what I said in a post back in Oct 2011 !

The driver in me totally agrees with you and I dread the day when our cars drive us. However I spent the whole of my life in the car industry and I've had the opportunity to drive various prototypes with some amazing systems and, sadly perhaps, there is something to be said for them. Please just bear with me while I put the case for them.

1) Sadly, I think we have to accept that the heyday of driving has gone. For many of us it was a wonderful era (even though we probably didn't realise it at the time) but draconian speed limits (with a growing number of 20mph limits in towns), traffic volumes reducing the chances to truly enjoy our driving, safety concerns (even though the UK has one of the lowest number of road deaths and the figures are at or close to an all time low), the fact that we'll probably never see a significant new road building programme as well as environmental concerns, all mean that we will never again be able to enjoy the roads like we did in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s

2) Next, look at motorways. Circumstances mean that few (me included) always obey the two second rule (or one car length for each 10mph). However, even as things are, on a busy (but flowing) motorway (and how many aren't?), less than 20% of the actual road surface is being used at any one time. Were it possible to 'link' cars together to effectively create a 'road train' then the usage of the road surface could be massively improved. I know it's utopian, but were that possible then congestion could be eliminated, journeys would be far quicker and safety could be improved.

3) Ok, I said it's utopian, however over 20 years ago I had a female engineer drive me around a race track at pretty high speed and then she removed her hands from the wheel before we completed another couple of miles with the car totally steering itself. I drove a car with a lane departure warning over a decade ago and it worked perfectly. Put these, and many other, technologies together and that motorway 'road train', with its concomitant reduced congestion, is not total fantasy. And just think, were it to work then all that time when you're sitting behind the wheel on a motorway could be used to better effect - planning a business meeting or even talking to your family.

4) The technology exists today to make it work but there are three major stumbling blocks: 1) Setting up the infrastructure and getting political agreement to do it 2) Getting sufficient cars suitably equipped on to the roads to make it a viable proposition 3) the psychological factor - to work most effectively the cars could be just a few feet apart but who would feel comfortable about that?

Well, all in all, it ain't going to happen, at least not in my lifetime. But, Orwellian though it may sound, I find the prospect of faster journeys with less congestion pretty appealing - after all, the cars could be linked at 100 mph

Cheers

Julian

[Rincewind]

I was wondering why that control panel pops out when there is no one in the car, and who knicked all the parking barriers?

Keith

[flying farmer]

I was wondering why that control panel pops out when there is no one in the car, and who knicked all the parking barriers?

Keith

They probably hadn't got a sensor that would pick up the barrier and the results would be bad publicity!

And what happens in the event of an accident of some kind, who is held responsible?

Neil

[dasadrew]

'twas irony, Julian; irony!

[73stagman]

Firstly where the XXXX did they find all those empty parking spaces? and secondly why did the daft car park between two cars when there was loads of room to park elsewhere.....

Road train saga....

The trouble is that the guy who is the last car in the "road train" wants to be the first guy in the road train so he pulls out and accelerates.... that causes the guy who is at the head of the road train already to also accelerate because "there is no way this up squirt is going to be the head of this road train and in front of me" so the guy in the overtaking car gets going even faster .... and then we have a road race rather than a road train.

Maybe those who want to be ahead have to pay a higher road tax? or maybe those with better breeding get to be the head of the queue? Could there be a type of "royal blood" line so you earn the right to be at the head of the queue at birth ..... just thinking out loud.... What do you mean just stand in line and take your turn.... what happened to the rights of the queue jumper? <~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ all spoken in jest and with my tongue firmly pushed in cheek