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Cars to face automated speed capping system |
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Government
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Written by Peter Warren
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Sunday, 14 November 1999 |
Bought and published by Scotland on Sunday, November 14, 1999
By Peter Warren
His car is big, massively exceeding the speed limit and furiously
flashing its lights as it looms up behind you but soon, if a speed
limiting device being tested by the Government is adopted, he could
just be a bad memory as what many would view as Big Brother takes over
your car.
For the satellite based box of tricks, known as the Intelligent Speed
Adaption System would automatically force cars to keep to the speed
limit by cross referencing positioning information taken from an
orbiting satellite with computerised maps and speed limit information
held on a laptop computer currently housed in the boot of the car.
Information from the computer is then passed on to the brakes and the
engine management system.
Technology that eventually can be built into powerful internal
electronic systems planned for the next generation of cars which will
offer internet access and a whole range of electronic add-ons such as
in car entertainment, windscreen data display and traffic and weather
reports.
Part of a European initiative to cut road accidents and reduce
pollution, the car management technology could spawn a radical new
change to car culture.
Its makers claim the system is so sophisticated that it will even allow
the police to slow down specific cars by matching unique ID numbers
from a particular car and matching them to a number plate so that
motorway speed police will only have to enter the number of a car they
are chasing for it to be slowed to a crawl.
Indeed it’s control is so absolute that it can even force your car to
comply with environmental restrictions because ISAS is capable of not
only slowing you down but also completely take over you car according
to Samantha Comte, a Leeds University psychologist working on the joint
project between the university and Coventry-based Motor Industry
Research Association.
“It is possible with some of the systems that we have been looking at
for the engine management system to be changed so that we can control
the amount of pollution in places like cities.
“If necessary we could even introduce restrictions in particular areas
like accident black-spots and bends near schools to cut a vehicles
speed,” said Comte, whose has involved gauging the reaction of the
general public to the scheme.
“In general people don’t seem to particularly like the system but that
is more because it makes them feel odd because they said it felt
strange to be the only person on the road keeping to the speed limit.”
According to Comte, it’s most compelling argument is the ability to
reduce accidents by around 35% as any reduction in speed reduces the
lethality of a vehicle.
“All it does is remove the ability of a driver to break the law.”
If introduced the system would use a central computer to broadcast
rules relating to particular areas to the satellite which would then
pass that information onto a cars on-board computer meaning that all of
the instructions are really carried out by the car itself, the only
information being passed back being a pulse to the satellite so the
car’s position can be updated.
The moment a car enters a restricted area a light on the dashboard
flashes a warning to the driver. If they take no notice, signals sent
from the technological equivalent of the back-seat driver decrease
power to the engine and gently activate the brakes to bring the car in
line with the law.
But it is the technology’s ability to precisely pinpoint an
individual’s whereabouts that is likely to raise even greater concerns.
Transponders already being included with most new cars that make
possible internet hook-ups and in-car map and positioning information
also have to send unique driver ID data back up to the satellite,
information that can let the police
Currently being tested in and around Leeds and in a 6,000 car pilot in
Sweden, according to a spokesman for the Department of the Environment
Transport and the Regions, the initial results from a specially
equipped Ford Escort and a virtual reality computer simulation have
proved encouraging with the DETR expected to announce that the findings
from the trial have shown that most people are prepared to embrace the
technology so long as it is in all cars
Introducing such a system onto the UK’s roads would be remarkably easy
as many new cars are already equipped with transponders that provide
positioning and map information to drivers and allow them to be
directly linked to the internet, linking these transponders to purpose
made systems in a car’s engine management system requiring very little
alteration if any to the current design.
A prospect that has not been welcomed by everyone.
According to Motor Cycle News, which is appalled at the thought the
system could begin to make its appearance on motorbikes within five
years, “the ability to move quickly is one of the greatest defences we
have when another road user is acting like an idiot.
“In certain circumstances it could impair a rider’s ability to avoid an accident.”
While a spokeswoman for the RAC commented that “while there was a place
for technology the biggest tool we have is education so that drivers
can taught to use safe and appropriate speeds for road conditions.
Anything that reduces speed is a good but it should not be done at the
expense of freedom.”
Though the technology was branded as dangerous and absurd by privacy campaigners.
“Anything that takes away our anonymity on the open road is absurd,”
said Simon Davies, Director of Privacy International. “This shows a
great faith in technology – what happens if you slow down and another
car following you doesn’t, although the driver is expecting his car
too?”
And for those opposed to the system turning it off may not be an option
as cars controlled by people will become extremely noticeable according
to those working on the system.
Though there is one compensation for the impatient car driver the
system still gives control of the headlights to the car’s driver.
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