Fifth Gear - Crash avoidance systems

[Magic Johnson]

Anyone see this last night? Really, really interesting!

They had a Volvo on it which detected the distance of the car in front, calculated it's speed and compared it to your speed and if it goes over a certain threshold it starts to brake. At 60mph, the car in front was doing 25mph, Tiff didn't brake and maintained 60mph and it managed to avoid it! Amazing stuff. Would be really beneficial for those bellshiners that don't pay attention.

 

[Ziggy122]

Anyone see this last night? Really, really interesting!

They had a Volvo on it which detected the distance of the car in front, calculated it's speed and compared it to your speed and if it goes over a certain threshold it starts to brake. At 60mph, the car in front was doing 25mph, Tiff didn't brake and maintained 60mph and it managed to avoid it! Amazing stuff. Would be really beneficial for those bellshiners that don't pay attention.

i think volvo are hitting the nail on the head with crash avoidance systems

its like the wagons sytem that stops a lorry with some brutal effort! okay its Soooo close

But a wagon hitting a car at 60mph? or a wagon hitting a car at 10mph
Take your pick

Ziggy

 

[Magic Johnson]

i think volvo are hitting the nail on the head with crash avoidance systems

its like the wagons sytem that stops a lorry with some brutal effort! okay its Soooo close

But a wagon hitting a car at 60mph? or a wagon hitting a car at 10mph
Take your pick

Ziggy

Yes! Even though the Volvo tapped the car when it was upped to 65mph it hit the car at something like 30mph, so there was only a 5mph hit.

Even if it was called crash reduction instead of avoidance it's still an amazingly useful feature that could save a lot of lives. The guy from Thatcham said it would be mandatory on new cars from 2014 and should be mandatory on vans and lorries from now and backdate it too.

 

[sludgeguts]

It's a good idea - but I think the downside is that it will make some bad drivers even worse.
There are way too many out there who are lulled into a false sense of security what with assisted braking, ABS & all those tyre adverts that tell you theirs is the best thing since sliced bread when it comes to stopping in the wet/dry/snow etc.
All these things combined & maybe, just maybe, you stand a chance - in a perfect world.
But let's face it, it isn't a perfect world. There's always those pools of oil & grease from the thousands of vehicles that rarely see a spanner. there's the drivers who are busy 'fine tuning' their hair/makeup/music, reading maps, papers etc, making phone calls - heck, I've even witnessed lorry drivers with a foot hanging out of the windeow (shoes off) watching DVDs on their laptops.
I also wonder how long it will be before some bright spark figures out a way to disable this system - or fool it into thinking everything's fine?

Do I think it's a good idea? yes, workable? Hmmm possibly.
I hope it will see and end to those loooong trains of cars in lane 3 doing way over the limit a matter of inches from the car in front.
Perhaps they could combine this system with something that looks at what's around you & decides that you've spent too much time in lane 2 or 3 when the offside is clear?

 

[Magic Johnson]

It's a good idea - but I think the downside is that it will make some bad drivers even worse.
There are way too many out there who are lulled into a false sense of security what with assisted braking, ABS & all those tyre adverts that tell you theirs is the best thing since sliced bread when it comes to stopping in the wet/dry/snow etc.

True story: a girl in my work was talking about how bad the roads were (lol like maybe 1cm of snow?) and at a junction she wasn't going that fast, maybe about 25mph (lol) and braked normally as she would (lol) and was so shocked that she actually went straight on (lol). The jewel in the crown was this statement though:

"Yeah I thought like ABS and all that stuff was supposed to stop that?"

That's when I got up from my desk and bitch slapped her.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

The sooner we take driving out of the hands of imbeciles the better.

The Volvo system capable of monitoring and avoiding accidents with pedestrians has recently been upgraded to monitor and respond to cyclists, there focus is now on animal behaviour and incorporating that into the system to avoid accidents with deer and other wild life, the new Nissan (Datsun) note has loads of driver assisting technology all in what is essentially a budget car.

I'm pretty sure self driving cars are the way of the future plus I get to have a nap on my drive into work

 

[ChrisUK]

That would be cool. Could comute to London from the North-East and just sleep for the whole journey .

 

[Magic Johnson]

It would sort of be like getting the bus except you'd have to pick up a yoof that plays annoying dance music at full whack through his headphones, a couple of junkies, an underage mum with 4 children, an annoying old person that has a ridiculous sense of self-entitlement, someone who doesn't have any spare change and wants to pay with a £50 note, and a middle-aged couple who stay in the car all day just to people watch.

 

[sludgeguts]

... decides that you've spent too much time in lane 2 or 3 when the offside is clear?

I did, of course, mean nearside :doh:

There was once talk of taking the stress out of the commute by allowing drivers to drive onto trains (much like you put a car on the eurostar) in an effort to free up the motorways & reduce driver fatigue.
My guess is that even if this did come about, the train fare would be prohibitive & there'd be too many problems for cars joining/leaving.

On the subject of cars taking over the driving, I remember seeing something on Tomorrow's world (or similar), where cars joining a motorway could join a 'road train' - essentially, a bunch of cars linked together wirelessly and travelling as one - the car in front having ultimate control (they brake & everything following brakes at the same time/rate.
Seems like the crash avoidance system is a huge step in this direction.

Have to say though, that whilst I think this idea could work, tech has to leap forward considerably when I think about the problems I come across with bluetooth & wireless internet.
They would also need to incorporate additional programming to avoid the nobs who insist you pull out to let them join a motorway (rather than speeding up or slowing down to pull into a gap) or those who simply pull out to overtake without so much as a cursory glance in the mirror.

 

[Rawb]

I really enjoyed watching this episode too, enjoyed watching the warm hatch part too

Volvo really have hit the nail on the head with passenger safety. If I wanted to be safe, id buy a Volvo.

They come off fantastic in crashes too