Smart Intersection

[my gt]

Newer technology like GPS and Wi-Fi have given us easy access to directions, and soon, in-car Internet. Ford is working with the federal government and other automakers to use that same technology to improve safety on our roadways as well. Since 40% of all accidents and 20% of automotive fatalities occur at intersections, stop signs and stop lights were the smart place to start.

The new "Smart Intersection" uses Wi-Fi and GPS to find the exact location of your vehicle and determine if a warning is needed to help you stop. When driving through an intersection, an on-site black box and two wireless antennae communicate with your vehicle. If the light is red and it's determined that your vehicle isn't stopping, a wireless signal will be sent to your car, alerting you with a visual and audible warning signal in a fraction of a second. A series of red LEDs will flash, a noise will sound, and a voice will say "stop sign" or "stop light". With drivers preoccupied with cell phones, in-car eating and sipping on java, the warning quickly refocuses his or her attention back to the road. We tried it ourselves, and we can tell you firsthand that the warnings quickly got us to stop the car.

The move towards active safety comes as most automakers are getting four or five stars in NHTSA crash testing, making the next focus of their efforts the avoidance od accidents altogether. The Smart Intersection could help save thousands of lives per year, while also cutting back the three billion gallons of fuel wasted each year in accident-related traffic jams. Honda, Toyota, GM, and Daimler are also working on smart intersections, and Ford collaborated with Michigan's Oakland County to set up a couple of real-world techno-intersections for testing. Unfortunately, it could take 20 years to get smart intersection technology in every traffic stop and vehicle, but at least much of the technology needed to accomplish this goal is already here.

[Falcon_Phill]

If it malfunctions at an intersection and distracts you, it sounds like it could also be more trouble then its worth. Its not up to technology to teach us how to drive, or make us more complacent.

[Rodp]

Have to side with Phill on this one. A driver should be relying on their own keen senses when they're driving. A device to tell you what to do creates a crutch that now can cause an accident if it malfunctions.

Try using a GPS in a built up city. Mine goes haywire if I keep it on in Sydney due to the tall buildings blocking satellites.

Teach drivers to drive properly, better than any 'smart intersection'.

[05MkIIFutura]

How about using this technology to make traffic lights smart. i.e 2 am in the morning, it should be green for whatever direction has approching cars, instead of stoppping for 3 minutes without another car in sight.

[JMO]

^I'm all for that idea

[SB076]

Originally Posted by 05MkIIFutura

How about using this technology to make traffic lights smart. i.e 2 am in the morning, it should be green for whatever direction has approching cars, instead of stoppping for 3 minutes without another car in sight.

Good idea - and why the cant they sequence traffic lights : Ie you are driving down a main road doing the speed limit you get stopped every couple hundred of meters with a red light. Surely they can sequence the things so once you hit one red light from there on in, every light will be green. We could save fuel and congestion

[ILLaViTaR]

Originally Posted by SB076

Good idea - and why the cant they sequence traffic lights : Ie you are driving down a main road doing the speed limit you get stopped every couple hundred of meters with a red light. Surely they can sequence the things so once you hit one red light from there on in, every light will be green. We could save fuel and congestion

Most lights are also use sensors. And change with a car on a sensor, so that would throw out the sequence every time.

The ones outside my estate are sensored, and run on a time sequence only sometmes at night (not with other lights just themselves).

[SB076]

Originally Posted by ILLaViTaR

Most lights are also use sensors. And change with a car on a sensor, so that would throw out the sequence every time.

The ones outside my estate are sensored, and run on a time sequence only sometmes at night (not with other lights just themselves).

Yes but you could run sensors and still sequence the lights (I am not refering to a time sequence, but more if you were drivinge on to a major road and you stopped at a red light, then after that light turned green you could rest assured that every light would be green until you hit a bigger major road) This is dependent on you driving at the speed limit.

[ayeyew]

If people are educated on the technology, then it could be useful

If people are not educated on the technology then it may be more harmful than useful

[Charliewool]

On a similar vein, a company we do a bit of work for, at present install zone based speed control using RFID and GPS technology on forklifts in large warehouse situations. This basically means that the maximum speed of the forklift is controlled depending where in the facility the fork is operating, even preset to that driver's experience. This system is already operating in Woolworths, Nestle, Coca-cola, GMH, Smorgons, and many others.
See attached link.. http://www.speedshield.com.au/
Now the scary bit is that they are presently trialling this in Victoria on CARS!!
In other words... Using GPS technology Speedshield ISA is able to pin point the exact location of the vehicle and either alert the driver or control the speed if they are speeding in that particular zone..... :
This ain't science fiction, it is REAL!... "George Orwell", take a bow!

[05MkIIFutura]

Originally Posted by charliewool

On a similar vein, a company we do a bit of work for, at present install zone based speed control using RFID and GPS technology on forklifts in large warehouse situations. This basically means that the maximum speed of the forklift is controlled depending where in the facility the fork is operating, even preset to that driver's experience. This system is already operating in Woolworths, Nestle, Coca-cola, GMH, Smorgons, and many others.
See attached link.. http://www.speedshield.com.au/
Now the scary bit is that they are presently trialling this in Victoria on CARS!!
In other words... Using GPS technology Speedshield ISA is able to pin point the exact location of the vehicle and either alert the driver or control the speed if they are speeding in that particular zone..... :
This ain't science fiction, it is REAL!... "George Orwell", take a bow!

I can see the merits of this, even as far as saving me on speeding tickets. But surely you would have to have an override button so that you could, in extreme situartions, push it a little.. I have had trips to the hospital where a speeding fine wasnt the highest of my priorities. So you press this button, get a ticket, and the justify it later to state revenue that you were suffering a heart attack, a dismembered leg and your wife was giving birth, so no fine!!