Online traffic light

[JB400]

http://news.yahoo.com/audi-wants-stopping-red-lights-thing-past-154550207.html

[myk]

Imagine the scene. Your car pulls on to a road and in the distance is a set of traffic lights. But that's okay because the car already knows and is showing on its display the optimum speed to adopt in order to cruise right through them before they change from green to red.

However, it's not always possible to beat the lights -- without breaking the speed limits and other rules of the road  -- so the system can also count down the time until the lights will change and use that time to automatically shut down the engine and then fire it up again five seconds before it's time to pull off again.

Why are we wasting time with this add-on nonsense?  Let's just take away the privelage to drive altogether RIGHT NOW.  After all, this is where this is headed, isn't it?  We, the common citizens can't be counted on to operate our vehicles safely so we're going to keep seeing these "smart safety" systems until we're gliding along in those self-guided pods that we've been talking about in another thread...

[MoParJW]

I would like to control my own vehicle please 

[tan top]

worlds going insane !!  all the computer aided crap on todays cars & totally unnecessary !!   

[Dino]

Welcome to the world of the millennials where your smart phone tells you when it's time to take a leak...

[Troy]

There's a new Mercedes commercial bragging about it being able to determine if you need to slow down or stop "for safety". It gives the impression that it won't let you move until the situation is deemed safe.

Troy

[Cooter]

 

[ws23rt]

Who pays people to dream up this stuff?

So on a street that has a traffic light every block for many blocks.--And the lights are timed together in a speed program. --I can see this as doing something to smooth the flow but we do that as we apply the brakes   It would however be another distraction for the driver that has control of their car or not.  Would this help in any practical way?

If those of the green persuasion were to apply the thinking energy they use (while expiring co-2) to dream up this stuff were to retreat into their accommodations and use a co-2 scrubber to capture their breath and reduce it to a solid.  They could stop the ocean from drowning us.

If they all did it it could be enough by their way of thinking to save the rest of us hapless victims from our disgusting selves.

I think I ranted--

[Mike DC]

   
I'll tell you who pays people to dream up this stuff:  Tens of millions of car buyers.  Eagerly.


Self-driving cars are the future.  When they come, I have no doubt I will be listening to interminable rants from car-guys all over the country about who is forcing them on us.  The nanny-govt, Democracts, liberals, millennials, Big Brother, the Illuminati, or whoever else can be dreamed up to hate on.  But that's all frustration-fantasy. 

This stuff happens because tens of millions of people want it.  The culture is changing along with technology.  We are not the majority.  The majority hates spending hours a day driving in suburbia-world to get around.  They would love to be doing something else with that time besides focusing attention on the road.  Its not a single age group or any other sinister force, it's the whole country.

[TUFCAT]

This is why high speed modern commuter rails are needed.     The basic car should be left alone, its not the answer to this problem.

[Ghoste]

It'd still come, people don't want to drive they want to be delivered.

[JB400]

The joy of motoring is becoming a thing of the past

[TUFCAT]

The joy of motoring is becoming a thing of the past

F-ing Tree Huggers!

[JB400]

The joy of motoring is becoming a thing of the past

F-ing Tree Huggers!

Can you really blame them for this, or society?  Who wants to drive the same roads and visit the same hangouts?  Whose got time for that anymore?

[Ghoste]

Its society.  People are lazy and want it all now, the chore of driving is wasted time.

[ws23rt]

As I remember my driving past---the days that started my passion for cars----I recall much fun in just driving and fun with cars.

The driving experience today is different and that may be just my perception because where I live has grown clogged with traffic. The fun of driving is lost when we wait for those around us to make their way to their destination.

This country is big and their must be many communities that don't have the traffic that takes the fun of driving from them like it has for me.

I'm thinking that we can still have fun with our cars on short notice but if we live in a metropolis we will have to drive a while to get to the open road.

A nice driving experience may need to be planned like a vacation instead of a short notice jump in the car and go.