Posted on Tuesday 8 April 2008
A new system has been developed that measures driver inputs and determines if they are ‘aggressive’ or not. The system, developed by US company GreenRoad Technologies, works by measuring g-forces acting on a car and compares them to pre-determined ’safe’ driving limits. The software in the system can recognize around 120 driver actions and can determine whether they are aggressive or safe. If an action is deemed too aggressive for the system than a red light flashes to warn the driver.
The technology uses a g-force meter to recognize ‘jerky’ driving, including hard accelerating, sharp turns and hard braking. A profile can then be built up that tells fleet managers which of their cars are driven by ‘aggressive’ or ’safe’ people.
GreenRoad is marketing the technology to parents that want to monitor their teenager’s driving behaviour, as well as companies with large fleets and the military.
According to GreenRoad, their system has met with success in fleets and the figures show that the technology creates a 54% reduction in crashes and an 83% reduction in crash costs - but at a cost of the privacy of the motorist.
do we need another nanny system?
Enjoy your freedoms while you can.
While this is still only for fleets and teens, it makes perfect sense to offer insurance discounts if you’re willing to add it to your car, and then eventually it’ll be everywhere. Maybe not in 5-10 years, but maybe in 10-20…
I agree with Gus and Brian, although it should be noted that almost exactly 20 years ago the Prometheus project had developed technology that would allow drivers to caravan (ie proximity detectors linked to cruise control) that everyone said would kill driving as we knew it, and that has not come to pass.
Hopefully, this will be something like electronic traction control that can be disabled when we feel the need to fully express ourselves with two tons of hurtling metal…
next up: big brother will issue newspeak
Even Winston realized in the end that he loved Big Brother too.
you guys remember the driving scenes in IRobot and Minority Report…..we are heading into a situation where we wont be drivign anymore…just herding like cattle !
You’ll have to take me to Room 101 for me to love this new idiocy.
I just want to know what cars it’s installed on so I don’t buy them.
If I’m angry and agressive, I don’t need some stupid system in my car to tell me. I’m the one who knows best about how I feel.
just the tip of the iceberg.
Here in Sydney they are testing a new system that notes when you accessed a freeway by when you go through the electronic toll gates. you then travel along at your regular speed and when you exit another electronic sensor notes that you have left the freeway. A computer calculates the time it took for you to get from one point to the next. It compares it against already established figures and if you arrived at your destination prior to the spped limit calcualted time you are automatically fined for speeding.
1984 anyone ?