
ugh
1. Take the thought out of driving.
2. ???
3. Profit!
Vauxhall has developed an in-car safety system designed to alert drivers to roadside signs, or give them a ticking off when veering out of their lane. Vauxhall_FCS_01 Vauxhall's FCS lets you know when it spots a road sign The Front Camera System (FCS) relies on a wide-angle camera positioned between the windscreen and rear …
Two unrelated articles smushed together...
If the camera/computer systems doesn't require 10% of the engined power then it looks like a sensible system, can you tell it it's wrong as well though - for when some miscreant has turned the speed limit signs round?
For that matter wouldn't GPS with known speed limits work quite well.
Does this mean that the thing will be warning me every time I change lanes as I am weaving in and out of D.C. traffic?
I wonder what it displays for cattle crossing signs? Or for deaf child signs? Or slow children signs?
This sounds like a silly idea as it gives people even more of a reason to drive less aware than they already do.
I have a car with a similar device already. It's called a windscreen! I can look out of this transparent glazed portal, and not only see pertinant roadsigns and markings, but also other road users!
I find it invaluble, along with the dial that allows me to avoid speeding tickets, just make sure the number it points at is the same or below the one on the sign, and you'll never get done! :)
Based on their sign-reading graphic, the camera appears to be angled towards seeing signs on the RIGHT side of the road.
Maybe the target market is Brits who plan to drive somewhere off-island and will need to be reminded of where to look for the road signs...?
Just guessing... It's the only way that their graphic makes sense, unless Vauxhall plans on selling an awful LOT of vehicles overseas...
We have enough brainless drivers as it is, let's not give them an excuse to use even less of their brains.
Though a similar system for BMW, Merc, Lexus and Volvo drivers would be good. When the car detects they've changed lanes or made a turn without indicating, an arm should come out of the dashboard and beat the driver into a bloody pulp.
I think these graphics are taken from documentation for OPEL (GM's European brand for Vauxhall, its Holden in Oz) so that might explain the camera angle.
@ Dave yep probably will happen, think a better system would be one that takes over, drives them into the nearset car park when they start to drive like a dick and disables the engine which can only be re-enabled by your friendly Vauxhall for a couple of grand, that'll stop 'em
If it stops people driving past my house (30mph zone) at 70 to 100 mph then I want it installed in all cars. Either that or I want to have a speed hump, directly in front of my house ... one about 100 feet high will do me.
Will stop them thoughtless and witless pillocks from doing stupid speeds past my house ...
What's next is, cars that limit using these systems.
Children that put up fake signs randomly.
Fun... (I wish I was young, in the future).
Or that sign that is covered over by 10 years of bush growth.
Soon though, we are going to have generations learning in these cars, passing a test, and then, being able to drive any car without these features and stuff in them. So, will we have a new licence band? One for people who learnt to drive in cars for regards? and One for people who are actually able to? (bit like the Manual vs Automatic now :p)
@Solomon Grundy
The previous systems that did this (but I don't know if ALL did), would shut up if you are indicating, so if you indicate to change lanes, it won't warn you.
... a slight improvment:
a) go from looking at the dash to a HUD overlay that would highlight such things along
with other traffic etc and calculate their vectors of movement etc...
b) provide an audio warning: "approaching 30 mph zone" "approaching traffic lights"
c) detect traffic around the car and warn on a HUD overlay with a warning for that area
Yes I am a driver, I have been one for 3 years(I belive exactly to the day) and yes I would find such a tool helpful even though I drive more carefully than most.
I recall years back there was a show called "Beyond 2000" and they had a segment about the original work done by Lotus engineering The woman presenting the segment was driving around on a country lane in the smallest, meanest little econobox I had seen in a long time. It had the Lotus testbed car and it had a high-powered amplifier, microphones, speakers, and a few sensors to pick up throttle position and engine RPM.
She twisted a knob on a little box under the dash and switched the system from "Normal" to "Porsche" to "Ferrari" to "Mustang" and magically, the auditory experience within this little s**tbox of a car became that of the high-dollar, high performance automobile the knob selected. It was an instant "I WANT IT!" experience.
It was also hilarious seeing the car from the outside as the sound from the inside of the car was heard on the soundtrack.
"Yes I am a driver, I have been one for 3 years...and yes I would find such a tool helpful..."
Seriously? You need help in spotting and responding to large, (mostly) obvious signs? And you think that you should still be driving a 1 tonne lump of metal (and glass and plastic) around? Seriously?