So... you've just bought your brand new BMW 7-series and are understandably proud of this new shiny vehicular behemoth. Or vehemoth, if you will. You gingerly take it out onto the road for the first time, making sure to leave a wide enough gap either side of the wing mirrors when passing other cars, whilst you attempt to get used to the sheer size of your new personal transportation solution. You arrive at the pub and attempt to parallel park in a space with mere inches to spare to the front and rear. This causes you no problems however, much to the dismay of the slack-jawed pub regulars who marvel at your ability to navigate such a large item into such a small space. Little do they know that you have specified ultra-sonic parking sensors as an optional extra, thus allowing you to accurately determine how close you are to the other vehicles as you steer yourself into place.

You go into the pub, buy yourself an orange juice, grab a seat by the window and prepare to bask in the reflected light from the deep gloss paint of your new acquisition. But horrors! The owner of the hitherto-barely-noticed rusty 4wd pickup truck parked in front of your car returns from the supermarket. He jumps into the pickup, starts the engine and attempts to extricate himself from the space (which is now considerably smaller due to the presence of a large, shiny BMW behind his truck). He backs up slowly, but (perhaps distracted by the thoughts of dinner, cold beer and his wife all waiting at home for him) fails to accurately judge the distance and... and...

What I propose is parking sensors that work in "passive" mode. If they sense something large looming closer, they beep the horn briefly, and perhaps flash the indicators. This would warn whoever was backing into you to back off, as it were. If they came any closer then perhaps two beeps on the horn or two flashes of the indicators could, umm, indicate that situation. In this way, bumper dents and smashed headlamps may be prevented, plus all drivers would eventually become better able to judge the length of their cars, even if they didn't have sensors fitted themselves.

Thank you, I'm new here.
-- potatan, Mar 18 2004

Perimeter Scanners http://www.autotoys...st/home.php?cat=170
Use radar, mostly. [oxen crossing, Oct 04 2004]

I like the style. Welcome. Have a bun.
-- PeterSilly, Mar 18 2004


Good idea, but from a university lecture i seem to remember that there are certain limitations in the shape of object detectable
-- engineer1, Mar 18 2004


Yes would work. Have to have a (simple) processor thinking

'Thats a car simply driving past me slowely -- no need to beep'

'Thats just a traffic warden come to give me a ticket .. send 3000 volts through the car now'

etc.

But -- with a bit of experimentation .. yep -- could see it working. (+)
-- britboy, Mar 18 2004


I like it. Welcome to the bakery.
-- krelnik, Mar 18 2004


Nah, don't like it. I predict a future with endless hours of fun for annoying street urchins. Also, it's bad enough having car alarms going off every now and then without a chorus of hooting everytime somebody parks close to another car. I'm for a quiet life me so it's a fishbone for you I'm afraid.
-- DrBob, Mar 18 2004


Surely this is what bumpers are for?
-- stupop, Mar 18 2004


Nice work. My little Corsa could do with this..

<bad film reference>"Cease your advance. You have 5 seconds to comply" </bad film reference>
-- Jinbish, Mar 18 2004


Well it would need to be able to tell the difference between a human and a car, otherwise it would go off everytime someone went to cross the road between the parked cars. (even if Tufty advised against it everyone still does it)
-- nichpo, Mar 18 2004


There are alarm systems with proximity detectors that function exactly as described. I've encountered them on expensive cars, as I park near them. They usually beep the horn or alarm, with a flash of the lights if you pass within 6 inches or so. [link]
-- oxen crossing, Mar 18 2004


If you're parking next to an unattended car, and it suddenly starts beeping and flashing, there's a good chance that you'll jump with surprise, lift your foot off the clutch or brake, and go smashing into the car.

It's one thing to have a parking sensor in your own car that you expect to beep, it's quite another thing to go startling other motorists.
-- kropotkin, Mar 18 2004



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