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Interesting new auto technologies

With the growing number of computer systems in modern cars I rescently attended a couple of I-Car classes to get up to speed.If you consider how rapidly these technologies are being incorporated into motorcycles: ABS,TBW,GPS and the growing number of computer operated systems, it starts to get scarey.

Right now for example,you can purchase a 2010 Infinity that is almost completely keyed to your smart phone.If someone where to back into your vehicle in the parking lott, the car has the ability to sense the impact,take a picture of the culprit and call your phone to notify you.

A 2010 Prius can be purchased with with a solar panelled roof.This roof provides enough power to allow you to park your vehicle on a 100 degree day and leave the a/c running at a comfy 65 degrees without burning a single drop of fuel.

Heres what scared me.The GPS systems are getting so smart they are now talking about governing your vehicle.The systems know what road you are on,they know the posted speed limit.They have the ability to not allow your vehicle to exceed that speed.At this point all it will take is a government official looking to make a name for themself to push for this to happen.

Makes watching an old Star Trek episode almost realistic.
 
We've gone crazy over technology simply for the sake of technology. How much of this stuff do we really need? Can't even get just a cell phone anymore - they all take pictures, play music, search for restaurants, etc. And of course the cost just keeps ratcheting up with each new innovation - initial purchase and cost to fix or replace.
 
How about the Bmw and Lincoln that can park itself wait till we have to work on that system
 
How about the Bmw and Lincoln that can park itself wait till we have to work on that system

Just rescently they ran the Baja 1000 course with a number of unmaned vehicles.Using GPS navigation all but 2 finished the course.The 2 that failed to finish had basic mechanical failures.

The instructor of the I Car class "Future 2012" firmly believed we are alot closer to computer piloted vehicles than we may believe.
 
In the military industry, technology butts up against reality of simplicity...look at how road side bomb simplicity has stymied the high tech (read expensive) tools war fighters were equipped with and the redeployment of new equipment to deal with it. Technology is not necessarily the answer, it is only a tool, and if improperly used, only bad results will occur. Putting critical intellegence into miniaturized but electrically "sensitive" devices in the core of complex machine is NOT improving the MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure) a statistical/calculated measure of reliablity. Increasing component count, putting it in a harsh environment, complexity with no redundancy or backup is a receipe for disaster, especially if we rely on it too much.
 
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Some advances are good and some are just downright ridiculous. Maybe you will all think this is silly but I refuse to use the self checkout at the grocery store. I prefer the personal interaction with another human being and I feel the only real purpose of self checkout is to eliminate jobs that a lot of people could use right now and I don't want to be part of the reason someone doesn't have a job. Okay maybe that was a little off topic. So how about this; my wife bought a 2009 Mazda Tribute last spring. Every time she hits another 3000 miles within the next 50 to 100 miles she will get an e-mail from Mazda telling her she is due an for an oil change. This can't be based a time because sometimes it may take 3 months or more for her to drive 3000 miles sometimes only 4 or 5 weeks. So how do they know?
 
Caterpillar has been using this unmaned vehicle technology for several years to operate their 70 - 100 ton rock trucks. They make the several hour long trip up out of deep quarrys pits and drivers were actually falling asleep and crashing during the climb out.
It works!!
 
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