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Transportation AI

The Car That Knows When You'll Get In an Accident Before You Do 192

aurtherdent2000 sends word about a system designed to monitor drivers to determine when they're about to do something wrong. "I'm behind the wheel of the car of the future. It's a gray Toyota Camry, but it has a camera pointed at me from the corner of the windshield recording my every eye movement, a GPS tracker, an outside-facing camera and a speed logger. It sees everything I'm doing so it can predict what I'm going to do behind the wheel seconds before I do it. So when my eyes glance to the left, it could warn me there's a car between me and the exit I want to take. A future version of the software will know even more about me; the grad students developing what they’ve dubbed Brains4Cars plan to let drivers connect their fitness trackers to the car. If your health tracker 'knows' you haven’t gotten enough sleep, the car will be more alert to your nodding off."
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The Car That Knows When You'll Get In an Accident Before You Do

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  • Do not want (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16, 2015 @05:43AM (#49483843)

    I will never use a product that monitors me with a camera.

    (Yes I put tape over my laptop's camera, and no I don't own a smart phone.)

    • Re:Do not want (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Rah'Dick ( 976472 ) on Thursday April 16, 2015 @06:04AM (#49483907)

      I will never use a product that monitors me with a camera.

      (Yes I put tape over my laptop's camera, and no I don't own a smart phone.)

      Good for you. However, if at some point in the future all new cars will be equipped with these systems, and they're really helping to reduce accidents, a few things might happen to people who actively manipulate the cameras and sensors:

      1. Insurances will require you to pay significantly more, because you're now a road risk.
      2. Car manufacturers will make their systems more tamper-resistant, so that the car will either refuse to start when the sensors are obstructed or will somehow emit a "tampered" signal to your insurance when obstruction occurs for some time while driving. Continue at point 1.
      3. Cops will look at the system as part of a routine check and will fine you.
      3a. Worse: cops will actively pull you over when they detect the "tampered" signal that your car is emitting while driving by.
      etc

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward

        all new cars will be equipped with these systems IF we all just shut up about it.

        Let's not do that, and see what happens!

        • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

          by Anonymous Coward

          all new cars will be equipped with these systems IF we all just shut up about it.

          Let's not do that, and see what happens!

          It is bad enough the car manufacturers intend to eliminate manual transmission as an option because the poor, coddled generation cannot handle the "complexity' of using the clutch, brake, accelerator, and gear shift. I hate automatic transmission vehicles because I loose fine-grain control over the speed of the vehicle especially on slippery surfaces and in emergency deceleration situations.

          • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

            by Anonymous Coward

            lol, in America this is modded down, but in Europe there is such consensus that most people drive manual.

            It's like genital mutilation being considered a religious throwback everywhere except the USA, where it's performed routinely.

          • My insurance company should offer me a discount for driving a manual then as I could suggest it's an "anti-theft" feature.
            • I fully agree with you about the manual though, I love driving manual. I think it forces the driver to be more aware while driving and less chance of distraction. It's hard to change radio stations or fiddle with GPS when you have to shift gears.
          • by njnnja ( 2833511 )

            I just bought a brand new car last month with 4 doors, performance, reliability, and reasonably priced. It has all sorts of driver aids like backup and blind spot cameras, hill assist, traction and stability control, and an emergency stop brake assist. But it has the best manual shifter I have ever had in 2 decades of driving, which includes everything from American muscle to a turbo import. There is nothing that says that a new automotive technology must necessarily diminish the fun of driving a stick shif

          • by Agripa ( 139780 )

            I hate automatic transmission vehicles because I loose fine-grain control over the speed of the vehicle especially on slippery surfaces and in emergency deceleration situations.

            I hate them because they are less reliable and have a higher cost of ownership. I hate "electronic" transmissions even more. I also hate power anything for the same reason. Car companies are incredibly cheap so any extra complexity adds to the unreliability faster than the convenience. They deliberately go out of their way to obf

            • Car companies are incredibly cheap so any extra complexity adds to the unreliability faster than the convenience.

              Which explains why today's wildly more complex cars are also wildly more reliable than the much simpler cars of yesteryear.

              Oh, wait, it doesn't.

              http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03... [nytimes.com]

          • It's bad enough that car manufacturers intent to install synchros into transmissions because the poor, coddled generation cannot handle the "complexity" of double-clutching and rev. matching. I hate modern manual transmission vehicles because I lose nothing of value, except the ability to feel superior to everyone who hasn't used one.
      • Re:Do not want (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16, 2015 @06:57AM (#49484063)

        3. Cops will look at the system as part of a routine check and will fine you.

        Last week at approximately 11AM, there was a road block on this side road by Georgia State troopers. They were stopping everyone.

        When I rolled my window down, I asked what is going on?

        They told me that they were checking to see if people were wearing their seat belts and their licenses were not expired. He took my license looked at it and walked around the car. And then handed it back.

        Now, electronic safety devices are not given away by manufacturers. That backup camera system and this will cost way more to the consumer than necessary. For an example, compare the OEM GPS systems with what you can buy on your own - this whole integrated in dash stuff making it cost more is bullshit. And having to take it to the dealer ($$$$) to update it?!

        And we all know that when the warranty runs out on the electronics (cars are only 1 -3 years) they are going to break. And that means a trip to the dealer ($$$$) to fix a mandatory safety device.

        The price of cars is getting ridiculous compared to wages as it is. My wife is shopping for a car and you know what the standard financing is now? 60 months! And some people go out to 72 and even 92months! All to keep the payments affordable. In the meantime, the finance companies are raking it in at the expense of us.

        Not have a car? In the USA without having to live in an obscenely expensive part of town?

        This country is set up to put us into debt - one way or another. And in the meantime, jobs are going overseas and are not being created fast enough here.

        • I could agree with you about setting us up to put us in debt but I'd also like to point out there is no one twisting your arm to purchase a new vehicle you can find decent used older vehicles that will cost 1/4th what a new car will.
        • Debt financing (Score:4, Interesting)

          by sjbe ( 173966 ) on Thursday April 16, 2015 @10:11AM (#49485133)

          The price of cars is getting ridiculous compared to wages as it is. My wife is shopping for a car and you know what the standard financing is now? 60 months! And some people go out to 72 and even 92months! All to keep the payments affordable. In the meantime, the finance companies are raking it in at the expense of us.

          That mostly means that people are buying high priced cars that they cannot actually afford and probably don't actually need. There is seldom any reason for most people to actually buy a new car. They depreciate like milk and mostly what you get for a new car is pride of new ownership. 60 months financing? That means you should be buying something else. Personally I haven't financed a car purchase in the last 15 years and baring economic catastrophe I don't plan to start. Financing a car (new or used) should be a last resort. It's a terrible use of money. Anyone who finances a car with 60+ month terms is almost certainly making a dumb financial decision.

          That backup camera system and this will cost way more to the consumer than necessary. For an example, compare the OEM GPS systems with what you can buy on your own - this whole integrated in dash stuff making it cost more is bullshit.

          The reason car electronics cost so much is that they don't sell very many of them, relatively speaking. Even cars that sell very well will only sell a few hundred thousand units per year and the design cycles are at least for a 4-8 year production run minimum. Electronics advances WAY faster than car companies can keep up with. The GPS in my truck (a 2009 model) is laughably obsolete albeit still useful. My company makes a part for a backup camera for one of the big US auto makers and the volumes simply aren't enough to get huge economies of scale even at a few hundred thousand a year. Plus they often do stupid stuff like design the parts to use custom connectors instead of off the shelf ones that would cost far less.

          Frankly the auto makers should let the consumer electronics firms integrate their stuff into cars to handle the GPS, entertainment, telephony, etc. The car should provide the screen and an interface but let people bring their own electronics to the party. The auto makers just aren't good at it and don't do enough of it to ever realize economies of scale AND their design/production cycles are far too long. What should happen is that I should be able to take my phone into any car and have to car and the phone work together seamlessly.

          This country is set up to put us into debt - one way or another.

          Debt is a bit like nuclear power. It can be a powerful force for good or evil and you don't want to get any on you if you can avoid it. Some debt is fine and potentially very useful but that doesn't mean one should use debt financing just because one can. I could go out and finance a Tesla Model S tomorrow but that doesn't make it a good idea. Debt is a powerful tool and like most powerful tools if you don't know how to handle it then you are likely to get yourself in trouble.

          And in the meantime, jobs are going overseas and are not being created fast enough here.

          The data isn't backing you up on a macro-economic level. Unemployment right now is around 5-6% in most of the US which is historically a pretty normal amount. While there is some nuance to that number the facts don't bear out your assertion that "jobs are going oversease" any more than they ever have. As for jobs not being created fast enough here, that's a reasonable assertion to a degree but how fast is "fast enough" for you?

          • by Agripa ( 139780 )

            The reason car electronics cost so much is that they don't sell very many of them, relatively speaking. Even cars that sell very well will only sell a few hundred thousand units per year and the design cycles are at least for a 4-8 year production run minimum. Electronics advances WAY faster than car companies can keep up with. The GPS in my truck (a 2009 model) is laughably obsolete albeit still useful. My company makes a part for a backup camera for one of the big US auto makers and the volumes simply are

          • by tepples ( 727027 )

            Financing a car (new or used) should be a last resort.

            So where should someone entering the workforce for the first time find the money to buy his first car to get him back and forth to his first job?

        • They told me that they were checking to see if people were wearing their seat belts and their licenses were not expired.

          Funny...

          I remember when they were putting in the mandatory "wear your seatbelt" laws, in order to get them passed in many states, they said specifically that you could NOT get pulled over for not wearing one, that it could not be a primary offense for stopping you.

          Now, of course..it is.

          And people wonder why I tend to be hesitant to grant the police/govt any new powers over me and new

        • The price of cars is getting ridiculous compared to wages as it is. My wife is shopping for a car and you know what the standard financing is now? 60 months! And some people go out to 72 and even 92months! All to keep the payments affordable. In the meantime, the finance companies are raking it in at the expense of us.

          I was with you up to this point. There's almost never a good reason to finance a car (plus most exceptions involve having enough money banked that you could buy it outright if necessary), and a decent new car should still run you under 20k. If you can't save up enough for that in a few years, then learn some basic maintenance skills and buy a used one. A lot of cars depreciate several thousand dollars after just a year or two.

          It's all a matter of optimizing your financial decisions. If you want to drive aro

        • 3. Cops will look at the system as part of a routine check and will fine you.

          Last week at approximately 11AM, there was a road block on this side road by Georgia State troopers. They were stopping everyone.

          When I rolled my window down, I asked what is going on?

          They told me that they were checking to see if people were wearing their seat belts and their licenses were not expired. He took my license looked at it and walked around the car. And then handed it back.

          Now, electronic safety devices are not given away by manufacturers. That backup camera system and this will cost way more to the consumer than necessary. For an example, compare the OEM GPS systems with what you can buy on your own - this whole integrated in dash stuff making it cost more is bullshit. And having to take it to the dealer ($$$$) to update it?!

          And we all know that when the warranty runs out on the electronics (cars are only 1 -3 years) they are going to break. And that means a trip to the dealer ($$$$) to fix a mandatory safety device.

          The price of cars is getting ridiculous compared to wages as it is. My wife is shopping for a car and you know what the standard financing is now? 60 months! And some people go out to 72 and even 92months! All to keep the payments affordable. In the meantime, the finance companies are raking it in at the expense of us.

          Not have a car? In the USA without having to live in an obscenely expensive part of town?

          This country is set up to put us into debt - one way or another. And in the meantime, jobs are going overseas and are not being created fast enough here.

          1. The cop kept you for longer than necessary to satisfy the reason he claimed was the reason for the stop. He also kept your driver's license during that time, preventing you from leaving. You might be able to sue, because of that whole constitution thing. Ask a lawyer.

          2. 60, 72, or 90 months is actually not unreasonable at least for a new car because you're keeping a car for at least that long, unless you can throw money away or something in your life changes. Shorter may be better depending on inte

      • What about false positives? My car's traction control tries to murder me a couple times each winter. It works great in rain but not snow.

      • 4. they will lock in dealer only service and based on how evil they want to be it can go all the way down to tires and oil changes.

      • Same as with emissions, there is always the opt out of using an older model vehicle not bound by the new restrictions.
    • by tomhath ( 637240 )
      I also tape over the camera on my laptop. But tampering with a safety device on your car is likely to bring on all kinds of legal problems (both criminal and civil) if you get into an accident. Imagine what would happen if you run over a child today after you disabled the camera that let's you see behind the car when you back up...
      • A decent attorney might argue that the client having disabled the camera and run over the child accidentally is no different from a driver doing the same but in a car not equipped with camera which would not have landed the client in trouble.

        Not sure if you'd win but it is a valid point, why prosecute one and not the other.
      • I will never use a product that monitors me with a camera.

        Imagine what would happen if you run over a child today after you disabled the camera that let's you see behind the car when you back up...

        I admit AC was being a pretentious ass that deserves a "good for you" type of response, but your argument doesn't even address the same problem. He hasn't a problem with a camera being used to provide assistance with seeing behind him. He has a problem with being monitored by arbitrary devices pointed at him monitoring his condition even though he'd be extremely likely to make it through the commute even if he wasn't at his 100%.

        "Citizen, you only received 6.5 hours of sleep instead of the minimum requis

    • by Bengie ( 1121981 )
      What's it like being Amish? You're being recoded in many more ways that are much worse than a camera. Why you specifically care about a camera is weird.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Umm, how about getting it developed by people who have quite a number of years driving experience instead. What an inexperienced driver might think is important might not be so to an experienced one and vice verca.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Because for some reason people are strangely defensive about their way of driving and people tend to pick up a lot of bad habits when they have been driving for a long time. It's extremely common that "experienced" drivers don't even look one direction in intersections because "no-one is ever coming from that direction this time of day anyway."
      One of the things that makes experienced drivers seem more stable and less erratic is simply because they have gotten used to many possible situations never happening

    • Because Grad Students have learned less bullshit that they'd have to unlearn before working on such a project. They'll use the science and the statistics and do what actually works, not what they might think is important.

    • Umm, how about getting it developed by people who have quite a number of years driving experience instead. What an inexperienced driver might think is important might not be so to an experienced one and vice verca.

      Its a very good suggestion. I think it is quite funny (and sad) how some responders completely dismiss experience as a useful input.

      • by dave420 ( 699308 )
        It's dismissed because it's arguably the worst source for training. We already have a good enough understanding of physics and human behaviour to take the frequently-skewed understanding of drivers into account. When most drivers think they're above average, it's clear something pretty irrational is happening. It's terribly sad that you think drivers are the best source of understanding of safe driving. Hubris, perhaps?
        • I think proven safe drivers can provide valuable input into an effort to understand safe driving. Safe driving is not a new body of knowledge, it is actually quite thoroughly researched and statistically assessed. The assumption that experienced, proven, trained safe drivers bring nothing to the table and that it can be better done without them may be its own form of hubris....or simple ignorance.
    • by dave420 ( 699308 )
      Judging by the demonstrated amount of illusory superiority exhibited by drivers, that might not be a great idea. The problem is most drivers think they're better than they actually are.
  • Oh Joy. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by thesupraman ( 179040 ) on Thursday April 16, 2015 @06:04AM (#49483911)

    And no doubt when the insurance investigators get access to the data as part of the fine-print on your contract, and decide you were not doing exactly what they believe is correct in a given situation, then you will be at fault.

    Let alone once the police decide that data is theirs also.

    Let the fun times roll.

    • by bondsbw ( 888959 )

      Then perhaps you'll leave the driving to the computer system. The same computer which, by the time these systems are allowed to be sold, will be much safer than the human who cannot perform well when drowsy or distracted by the screaming baby in the back seat while having an argument with the wife.

  • by Alain Williams ( 2972 ) <addw@phcomp.co.uk> on Thursday April 16, 2015 @06:10AM (#49483937) Homepage

    What happens if you are listening to a radio play while driving ... and a scary bit happens so your face reflects this. Will it put the brakes on because it thinks that there is something wrong ?

  • I wonder what kind of warning will it give if a cat jumps into the drivers seat?
  • by kuzb ( 724081 ) on Thursday April 16, 2015 @07:03AM (#49484083)

    Most modern vehicles record telemetry already. That black box data can be used to help determine what the cause of an accident was. This is just an evolutionary step in that technology.

    You could see it as bad, but you could also see it as making it easier to prove you weren't at fault when an accident occurs. I personally wouldn't want it, but it's the sort of thing one should examine from all sides before making a snap judgement. I'd find it particularly interesting to install in police cars. Oh, you were doing 90kph in a 50 zone with your police cruiser with your lights off? The system has just issued you a speeding ticket.

  • or it gets slower and slower as time goes on, as my iPhone seems to do. Or unless someone hacks into it and inserts malware that slows it down.
  • Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday April 16, 2015 @07:37AM (#49484203)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • I would just be happy if they could make a rearview mirror and side mirrors that don't have blind spots how can I trust them with their technology when they can't even do the basic things

    • I would just be happy if they could make a rearview mirror and side mirrors that don't have blind spots how can I trust them with their technology when they can't even do the basic things

      Blind spots don't exist because car design makes for them, blind spots exist because drivers never were taught, or never learned, how to properly set up their car.

      I've had old cars and new cars, and none of them have had blind spots. Including the Miata what with it's "huge" c-pillars when top-up, an Rx-8 that people insist had huge blind spots and bad visibility, and a Mini with a small back window and fat c-pillars. All these criticisms are bogus, but people *hate* being told they're wrong.

      I could spen

  • No doubt research like this is being underwritten by insurance companies, whose lobbying arm will buy the politicians necessary to make this a legal requirement, along with some astroturfing sheeple moms: "Driving a car is a privilege, not a right! Won't someone think of the children!"

    One more of our independencies snuffed out by the tech we thought would free us.
  • Mr Pither! It Works!

  • by Jason Levine ( 196982 ) on Thursday April 16, 2015 @08:57AM (#49484595) Homepage

    A car that knows you'll get in an accident before you do?

    "Honey, should we be worried that the car's CPU just ejected itself from the automobile?"

  • Putting a bajillion flashing and buzzing widgets into a car to make it safer will do the opposite. I recently spent a few days driving my old truck to burn off old gas, since it gets used very little. I was pleasantly surprised how much easier it is to concentrate on the road without an infotainment system flashing maps, and efficiency info at me.

    If we honestly think that driving is dangerous enough to take action on it, I would argue that we should spend the energy making better drivers rather than tryin

  • ...plan to let drivers connect their fitness trackers to the car. If your health tracker 'knows' you haven’t gotten enough sleep, the car will be more alert to your nodding off.

    And when your fitness tracker and car decide you haven't exercised enough, the car refuses to start and tells you, "walk to the store fat, lazy bum" ...

  • I wonder what the car will do when the camera catches me looking at her cleavage...

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