Some of you I'm sure have seen the commercial with the car that parallel parks itself. Most if not all new cars will soon be able to do this. Some cars also now come with obstacle avoiding radar and automatic braking that won't allow you to rear end another vehicle or crash into a stationary object. They have the technology to do more such as swerving but I don't think they have implemented that yet due to potential legal ramifications of a self crashing car. Assuming they overcome that it's a very small step to my idea. Using the existing car radar and self steering capabilities you just need a the ability to precisely locate on the road. This can be done with low tech radar reflectors positioned every so far on each lane line (GPS isn't accurate enough). Each reflector can send information passively (link coded radar) this can tell the car its exact location. These reflectors are cheap and robust and they could be encased in plastic or something else that's radar transparent. That's the idea most if this is just background.
-- pydor, Jan 30 2007

coded radar http://ieeexplore.i...jsp?arnumber=270468
[pydor, Jan 30 2007]

magnetic marker guidance systems http://images.googl...%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG
[BJS, Jan 30 2007]

Evil Knievel Intersections Evel_20Knievel_20Intersections
Not driving wouldn't be so bad... [trimothien, Jan 31 2007]

Have you heard of the system that uses magnets which are embedded into a road every few feet and the car senses the magnetic fields and corrects itself. Just wondering...
-- BJS, Jan 30 2007


BJS no i haven't however this will work with what the cars will already have on board and radar reflectors are really cheap.
-- pydor, Jan 30 2007


//ramifications of a self crashing car//

Love the pun ;-)

//Have you heard of the system that uses magnets which are embedded into a road every few feet and the car senses the magnetic fields and corrects itself.//

I've seen this done with electric wheelchairs at a school for disabled children. It's called a track-following system and I beleive it was pioneered by an engineer at the same school.
-- webfishrune, Jan 30 2007


Treon, I think these are cheap enough to put on any paved road, and like I said above new cars will come with the ability to use them. The linked passive data transfer can give more than just location and the radar can avoid pedestrians or any other obstacles. Locating to just under a meter isn't acceptable when driving and GPS has dead spots due to terrain and buildings. I believe these things could be dealt with but a car would need additional components.
-- pydor, Jan 31 2007


I'd rather just drive.

Having said that, if I could get in my car after drinking and it not be illegal if I was in auto auto mode, that would be great, no more trains and cabs when you're really not in the state to deal with it.

The European positioning system you are referring to is called Galileo and will be much more advanced and accurate than it's US counterpart. The US government have become upset and nervous about this because it won't be in their control.
-- webfishrune, Jan 31 2007


GPS would need some additional systems for bridges, tunnels, and around tall buildings. Somehow, I think I would prefer triple redundancy including a steel strip in the road as just one of them. I would hate to get a warning buzzer to take over manually when I was busy in the back seat.
-- Ling, Feb 01 2007


I watched the video of the Mercedes full auto stop feature when they tried to introduce it: very funny, how German engineering can make a car crash with such precision.

Hands at 10 and 2, eyes ahead, light jazz and plenty of following distance.

Besides, I can't retrofit this mess into my 20-yr-old truck. I'd have to add power steering.
-- elhigh, Feb 02 2007



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