Posted on Thursday 7 February 2008
Toyota seems to be doing everything it can to take driving out of the hands of its drivers. Their Lexus brand has been pushing self-parking mechanisms (with varying degrees of success) for several years now. Now the world’s biggest auto seller is tying its brake-assist technology in with satellite navigation technology to make sure its ‘drivers’ don’t fail to stop at intersections.
The system is billed as the first technology in the world that ties the brake system in with satellite navigation. The new system will alert the driver to an upcoming stop sign, and then when it decides the driver has approached at too high a speed or is too close to stop with the currently applied brake force, the computer will take over and stop the vehicle. The stop-sign information is contained in the map data built into the system.
Given the nature of the satellite-based GPS system, inaccuracy can be chased down to within a foot (30cm) on the most high-end systems. For systems more like those installed in cars, however, the inaccuracy can be as much as 50ft (15m), especially when moving in relation to a stationary object. Add in the potential for stop sign locations to change or be converted to stop lights, and the possibility for erroneous brake application seems high enough to make anyone nervous about buying such a system. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time a GPS system had led an overly-reliant driver astray.
Toyota claims the system will be ’smart’ about the use of the brakes, adjusting them based on both the GPS information and the data taken from a rear-mounted camera. The new system will be launched on new models in Japan in the near future, which would indicate Toyota has done its homework and thinks it can safely bring the technology to market.
As drivers and car enthusiasts, we have to wonder how much this sort of technology will actually help drivers avoid accidents and how much it will instead encourage (even further) decreased attention. After all, why bother paying attention to road signs and intersections if the car will stop you anyway? That’s just time wasted that you could be reading the morning news or applying makeup. Or eating. Or talking on the phone. Or all of the above.
Whilst it’s a wonderful technology, how reliable would it be? i don’t want to have be stopped in the middle of the road.
Also like the article, i’m not sure how drivers will respond to such technology, it might make them concentrate less on the road thinking technology will stop the car even if they miss the stop sign
Toyotas are for people who don’t like to drive, so what could be more natural?
You guys are looking at it from the point of the *distracted / careless driver* who will welcome this development and rely on technology to do some of his driving for him.
I look at it from the point of view of a machine deciding for me when the car will stop. If I don’t wish to stop at a traffic light or a stop sign that’s between me and the cop that might be lurking around and I certainly would NEVER IN THE AGE OF THE UNIVERSE buy a car that has the ability to override my commands.
This is a slippery slope of the worst kind. Soon thereafter you’d have cars that simply drive themselves, oblivious to drivers’ input. They will decide at what speed you will drive and how to get to your destination. That is, of course, if they agree that your trip is necessary and not a waste of road space and gasoline.
This will never make it to the mass market. The outcry would be too big. But the fact that they’re even THINKING about it betrays an incredible stupidity on the part of Toyota.
hector, i definitely agree with you about this technology but if you’re young i’d warm up to the idea of cars that drive themselves because i can see that happening. look into DARPA’s driverless competition; there are a lot of universities and companies trying to develop the technology. I think that if a company can come out with a system that is proven to cause fewer fatalities than the driving public as a whole, u’ll be riding in a car and not driving it before long.
….just how they’re going to work on such a complex technology without baby steps like this, I dont know, but i do agree that this system is far too scary. Traffic lights arent always red, and stop signs move,… a lot. If google maps cant even tell me about 2 miles of I75 that are shut down in metro detroit, how the hell is toyota going to know about a stop sign that got taken down on the other side of the planet in the middle of idaho?
I’d lean towrds Chris’ argument here, there is simply no way relying in GPS is going to be accurate enough to make this system 100% bulletproof, which any system that controls the car has to be.
That said, I firmly belive cars will drive themselves someday, even in my lifetime, at least on the freeways, and I welcome it, as long as I can have control back when the road gets interesting…
I really don’t like this. I’m young but I still don’t trust technology as much as people might think. I actually enjoy the act of driving and can’t stand sitting in the passenger seat not being able to control things. I know that cars will drive themselves someday but I sincerely hope that it happens after my lifetime, I don’t want to give up control to a computer. The university I attend is a “laptop based learning facility”, we pay $1500 CDN a year for a laptop with dozens of engineering, math, and programming applications and the laptop are constantly doing something to ruin your day. The worst thing is that being in engineering, leaving my laptop at I.T. just means I have to go a week without it and since all our assignments and quizzes are over the internet, I’d be screwed. If I’ve learned anything over my 18 years, that’s not to trust computers.
Well, I used to run our IT department, and I’d have to agree with you on that one.
But I think it’s inevitable, one of those technologies that just can’t be stopped.
I think you’ll see 1 lane on major freeways in major metropolitan areas that are for self guided cars, then 2, then more.
But I think it will be a LONG time before we see them drive themselves everywhere.
I read about this whole cars driving themselves on highways a couple years ago. The article said that each car will have a computer that communicates with all the others around it. The cars will make sure they are going the same speed and when one needs to change lanes, the ones in front and behind will speed up and slow down to make room. That would make merging onto the highway a lot easier and faster. The article also said that even though the cars wont be going as fast as most people drive now, but since no one will make dumb lane changes and merging will be more efficient trips will actually be faster. Not to mention no one will slow down to look at an accident, which causes most of the traffic jams on the 401. It all sounds good but getting it to work with all cars is a pretty big feat. Not to mention convincing people that it’s safe.