Black Boxes and the future

[WhoseGeneration]

I'm fairly heavily involved in future technology for cars for the day job. I've just bought a Caterham while I still can Another colleague continues to run a Porsche 944 in preference to anything more modern.



Meanwhile, what could possibly go wrong with ever growing amounts of software written by the lowest bidder....
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/07/15 ... re_glitch/

It's all because the politicians have become involved in the specifications of many products, driven by the so called environmental concerns.
The truth is, the products have a short lifespan and need regular replacing, meaning the environmental cost is greater.

[akirk]

I'm fairly heavily involved in future technology for cars for the day job. I've just bought a Caterham while I still can Another colleague continues to run a Porsche 944 in preference to anything more modern.

Meanwhile, what could possibly go wrong with ever growing amounts of software written by the lowest bidder....
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/07/15 ... re_glitch/

well put...
I am in the process of starting to find some older cars - main criteria in discussion with my mechanic is lack of computers less to go wrong, all easily fixable with a lump hammer, nothing which won't be able to be repaired for the next 50 years

Alasdair

[jont]

Oh look, another one....
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/07/08 ... _analysis/

Maybe I should have gone for a Caterham running on carbs?

[Garrison]

Oh look, another one....
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/07/08 ... _analysis/

Maybe I should have gone for a Caterham running on carbs?

Oh, is yours not a Ford CrossFlow or Pinto ?

[Mike H]

I see that Aviva are now offering 'tailored discount' of up to 20% on car insurance for drivers who download their (smartphone) app, drive 200 miles, and then report the score to Aviva, the score being reportedly based on Braking, Acceleration and Cornering....

http://www.aviva.co.uk/drive/

[Pyrolol]

I see that Aviva are now offering 'tailored discount' of up to 20% on car insurance for drivers who download their (smartphone) app, drive 200 miles, and then report the score to Aviva, the score being reportedly based on Braking, Acceleration and Cornering....

http://www.aviva.co.uk/drive/

I actually used one of those apps (Admiral's one - AppyDriver) for my insurance this year.

I drove 250 miles with it on, trying throughout to minimize G force and avoid other things I thought they might penalize (for example: no night driving, no rural driving, no speeding). I ended up getting about 10% off (*).

I probably wouldn't do it again (it's just not justifyable now I'm into the <£500 bracket), but I could see it being a good idea for younger drivers who are paying £1000+.

--

*: Yes, I was annoyed with that. Obviously it can't have been incompetence... - I think I blame bad road surfaces bouncing my phone around (I don't have a proper cradle) and everybody else also trying to game the system (since it's still early days).

[Kimosabe]

I see Garmin have brought out a satnav with a built in dashcam. It's also possible to use googlemaps and street view on some satnavs, so how long before it's possible to track (and possibly even control) cars via their satnavs and built-in radar guidance tech? Or even read the information remotely and catch drivers eg.speeding without even needing to see them do it?

My mind is a terrible place sometimes

The problem about your postulations is that there would need to be common, approved, technical standards laid down by a governmental authority, or probably these days, EU authority.
Those standards "should" ensure no possibility of error and therein lies the problem and cost.

That said, all this stuff is, like much other in the digital arena, wet dreams for politicians.
However, remember, it tends to only control those who are prepared to be controlled but that's all politicians need, to control the majority.
Oh, Huxley and Orwell how prescient you both were.

I feel it's simply a matter of time before drivers are remotely observed, not to mention requiring a username and password to drive a car and remote telemetry will be de rigeur. And so the iCar (with its own app.) came to be.... sometimes I think motorised road travel is still in it's infancy in many ways.

[Horse]

I see that Aviva are now offering 'tailored discount' of up to 20% on car insurance for drivers who download their (smartphone) app, drive 200 miles, and then report the score to Aviva, the score being reportedly based on Braking, Acceleration and Cornering....

*: Yes, I was annoyed with that. Obviously it can't have been incompetence... - I think I blame bad road surfaces bouncing my phone around (I don't have a proper cradle) and everybody else also trying to game the system (since it's still early days).

Hmmm . . . how long before someone markets a cheap gyro-stabilised cradle . . . ?

[Garrison]

I see that Aviva are now offering 'tailored discount' of up to 20% on car insurance for drivers who download their (smartphone) app, drive 200 miles, and then report the score to Aviva, the score being reportedly based on Braking, Acceleration and Cornering....

http://www.aviva.co.uk/drive/

+1. We are with Aviva but I have not done. We have 2 cars with them but as the insurance is low now (£219 on the MR2 and £471 on the 911 Turbo, both fully comp), we did not participate.

[WhoseGeneration]

I feel it's simply a matter of time before drivers are remotely observed,

Chip implanted at birth, it's the only way forward.

[jont]

I see that Aviva are now offering 'tailored discount' of up to 20% on car insurance for drivers who download their (smartphone) app, drive 200 miles, and then report the score to Aviva, the score being reportedly based on Braking, Acceleration and Cornering....

*: Yes, I was annoyed with that. Obviously it can't have been incompetence... - I think I blame bad road surfaces bouncing my phone around (I don't have a proper cradle) and everybody else also trying to game the system (since it's still early days).

Hmmm . . . how long before someone markets a cheap gyro-stabilised cradle . . . ?

Wouldn't just heavily fluid damped do an almost as good job?

[revian]

I feel it's simply a matter of time before drivers are remotely observed,

Chip implanted at birth, it's the only way forward.

That's just your stored programme control speaking...

[akirk]

I see that Aviva are now offering 'tailored discount' of up to 20% on car insurance for drivers who download their (smartphone) app, drive 200 miles, and then report the score to Aviva, the score being reportedly based on Braking, Acceleration and Cornering....

*: Yes, I was annoyed with that. Obviously it can't have been incompetence... - I think I blame bad road surfaces bouncing my phone around (I don't have a proper cradle) and everybody else also trying to game the system (since it's still early days).

Hmmm . . . how long before someone markets a cheap gyro-stabilised cradle . . . ?

that will be one of these:


just search on gimbal phone holder - used to steady the phone when shooting movies - should iron out a few bumps won't affect gps measured metrics, only gyro measured ones...

Alasdair

[Garrison]

AIUI the phone apps are primarily GPS ...

So no point for me to participate then given I am mostly in high risk areas of Tower Hamlets, City of London, ...

[akirk]

how does GPS measure g-force? is it accurate enough to really detect different types of cornering?

camera gimbal heads are expensive - but you could pick up a gimbal bearing for c. £60 - or pop along to a yachty boot sale on the south coast and get one for a few pounds - build your own stand...