Should technology play a bigger part?

DiG

DiG

DiG

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Joined
16 Mar 2004
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2,257
Ok, so some discussion, should technology play a bigger or smaller part in modern cars?

Now obviously, being able to enjoy a good drive is important to most that post here, I'm talking about everyday boring driving, commuting, motorway trips etc. Are the likes of active cruise control, blind spot monitoring systems a good thing or do they make things more dangerous?

My personal opinion? They are good for certain tasks, a computer will often do a much better job, faster, more accurately and more reliably that a human would. However you must be able to turn it off!
 
They are good up until the point at which stupid people rely on them as a substitute for driving skill.
 
I like to drive my car.

I feel that I won't enjoy driving in 20-30 years unless I can keep driving old cars.

Otherwise, you hit that point where you'd be as well just letting a computer take over.
 
Biohazard said:
I like to drive my car.

I feel that I won't enjoy driving in 20-30 years unless I can keep driving old cars.

Otherwise, you hit that point where you'd be as well just letting a computer take over.
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thats the point though isnt it? if a computer takes over, it completely rules out human error. it only takes a human 2 seconds to not think then move and bang goes your wallet. where as a computer wouldve done thousands of calculations to determine whether its safe or not. obviously im talking well into the future, and no there wouldnt be any fun in it, but logically its a lot safer.

its only because we are used to driving our own way and being excited by it that wed miss it. come 50 or 100 years, people wouldnt know anything different that computers.

so yes, i think EVENTUALLY technology should play a bigger part in it, purely for the safety aspects.
 
Clarkey said:
No, it just makes people more complacent.
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But...does that matter? Take blind spot information systems as an example. If the computer is much better at checking a blind spot and can tell the driver if its clear or not, might that be better than the driver checking themselves?
 
Cruise is lovely, just delightful on an m-way plough.

99% of the time <insert generic TLA for stability control> can only be a good thing. I'll now get loads of man points deducted by internet opposite lock heroes of course...
 
DiG said:
But...does that matter? Take blind spot information systems as an example. If the computer is much better at checking a blind spot and can tell the driver if its clear or not, might that be better than the driver checking themselves?
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Not really, because what else aren't they checking?

This evening on the way home from work I was driving along a normal (30 limit etc) main road, no traffic in the other direction and there were two cars waiting to emerge from a side road on the other side, so I slowed a bit and gave way to them. The first one cautiously (as you'd expect) pulled out. Then the person behind him just sailed out without a care in the world, without even looking to see if their way was clear. And that's the reason why I only give way to people when I know there's no possible complications or accident situations that could arise.

Silly amounts of "driver aids" only make things worse, I fear. The second person who pulled out should not have trusted my judgement, they should have confirmed it was clear before diving out onto the main road.
 
You should be aware of what you are putting yourself and the car through, that's why I don't like intervention normally.

I also don't think its that great for new drivers either, they should be forced to drive old buckets to get the realisation that it is a lump of rattly metal not an impenetrable forcefield they are driving.
 
Howard said:
Not really, because what else aren't they checking?

This evening on the way home from work I was driving along a normal (30 limit etc) main road, no traffic in the other direction and there were two cars waiting to emerge from a side road on the other side, so I slowed a bit and gave way to them. The first one cautiously (as you'd expect) pulled out. Then the person behind him just sailed out without a care in the world, without even looking to see if their way was clear. And that's the reason why I only give way to people when I know there's no possible complications or accident situations that could arise.

Silly amounts of "driver aids" only make things worse, I fear. The second person who pulled out should not have trusted my judgement, they should have confirmed it was clear before diving out onto the main road.
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I see the point, however I'm not convinced this would be the case. I think:
1) People who do as you describe would continue to pay as little attention as the currently do, in which case a warning beep or light might just stop them doing something stupid.

2) Other drivers would start to use the technology instead of checking there blind spot, but pay just as much (or more) attention to other driving tasks as the used too.

3) Still others would probably ignore the system and carry on driving as they otherwise would.

If this happened, road safety in the area the technology covered would undoubtedly improve.

Problem I can't point to any evidence to back up my thinking!
 
Jonny69 said:
This and this. Plus it makes people drive like idiots because they think they are indestuctible.
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Totally this. Same with morons crossing the road and slowing down instead of getting out of the way... if the local yoof wants a ton of Fiesta surgically removed from his face, he's going the right way about it.
 
For those that don't want technology to be a part of their car, at which point in history are you going to stop development?

Stability control?
ABS?
Airbags?
Power assisted brakes?
Power assisted steering?
A key to start the engine?
 
Ring Peace said:
For those that don't want technology to be a part of their car, at which point in history are you going to stop development?

Stability control?
ABS?
Airbags?
Power assisted brakes?
Power assisted steering?
A key to start the engine?
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Good question, an answer to which I don't really know. As a very vague generalisation, I dont mind technology which assists (slightly, not in an overbearing fashion) rather than controls.
 
Ring Peace said:
For those that don't want technology to be a part of their car, at which point in history are you going to stop development?

Stability control?
ABS?
Airbags?
Power assisted brakes?
Power assisted steering?
A key to start the engine?
Click to expand...

The car is technology though?

We are talking about driving aids technology, not just driving 'technology'.

Different things.

I have PAS and who doesn't have vacuum assisted braking?

Key to start the engine? Well, its nice to have but not required etc
 
Ring Peace said:
For those that don't want technology to be a part of their car, at which point in history are you going to stop development?

Stability control?
ABS?
Airbags?
Power assisted brakes?
Power assisted steering?
A key to start the engine?
Click to expand...

This reminds me of a study they did in Japan in the 90's, a lot of JDM cars don't come with ABS as standard even when its standard on the export models. They don't seem to view it as importantly as we do. They did a test where they gave test subjects the non ABS car and tested their stopping distanced in everyday driving. Then they gave them the ABS one and retested and the results showed that stopping distances had been reduced. They then let them keep the cars for a week then retested them and they found that the stopping points had returned to the non ABS standard, the drivers had simply grown accustomed to the ABS and started braking later.
 
I predict that we will see fully automated cars within our lifetime and - not many years later - manual operation banned.
 
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