[HN Gopher] Intelligent speed assistance: everything you need to...
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       Intelligent speed assistance: everything you need to know
        
       Author : SQL2219
       Score  : 19 points
       Date   : 2022-05-03 11:48 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.autocar.co.uk)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.autocar.co.uk)
        
       | jaywalk wrote:
       | What a bunch of absolute trash. Especially when it's inevitably
       | mandated to be permanently enabled in a few years. Amazing how
       | the EU constantly finds new ways to run their subjects lives.
        
       | Terry_Roll wrote:
       | This is why I plan to move to Germany where the autobahns are
       | unrestricted!
        
       | donclark wrote:
       | TLDR - Associated with cars - "tech that can automatically curb
       | your car's speed to the prevailing limit"
        
       | esteth wrote:
       | Lots of crying in the comments over an EU mandate which says in
       | its opening pages that the limiter must be able to be disabled by
       | the driver. If you don't like it, just turn it off.
        
         | maxander wrote:
         | There's no sign that you'll be able to turn it off in the car
         | ahead of you, though.
        
         | bob1029 wrote:
         | Lots of "optional" things one would have to explicitly disable
         | these days. It's never a persistent setting either. You are
         | universally forced to turn these things off every time you get
         | into the car and start it.
        
         | mwint wrote:
         | Lots of things start optional before becoming mandates.
         | 
         | The slippery slope is real.
        
       | metacritic12 wrote:
       | Autocar here starts by complaining that the "intelligent speed
       | assistance" has been maligned as "speed limiters". But upon
       | reading the article further, that's exactly what it is.
       | 
       | When a neutral party says "speed limiter" to me, I immediately
       | think of the actual technology here.
       | 
       | When the article started out with "intelligent speed assistance",
       | I thought this might be a cool feature that let my car go
       | _faster_ safely. At most, I thought the tech might be something
       | that does increase safety by warning about sharp turns, but at
       | least could give the car ability to handle faster speeds.
       | 
       | But on reading the article, it seems like there's nothing
       | intelligent about it other than it's ability to read road signs
       | and force you to slow down.
       | 
       | "Intelligent speed assistance" is indeed the Orwellian term. If
       | the article wasn't written with such earnestness I would have
       | thought it to be a parody.
        
         | toast0 wrote:
         | Yeah, intelligent speed assistance would include things like:
         | 
         | Determine the speed limit, and: a) highlight the limit on the
         | speedometer, b) allow cruise control to be set as an offset of
         | the posted limit, c) notify when over the limit by some amount,
         | d) coordinate with existing optional speed limits (sometimes
         | tied to specific keys)
         | 
         | Also, intellegent speed assistance might help with surveying
         | the actual speeds to get a better idea of safe speeds than
         | posted limits.
         | 
         | This is just limiting speed by cutting the fuel.
        
           | mwint wrote:
           | It's already each to survey actual speeds; a couple of those
           | air-filled sensor lines stretched across the roadway at
           | different intervals works fine.
        
       | victor106 wrote:
       | While we are at it, how about equipping all cars with a
       | breathalyzer so if you have above normal alcohol levels the car
       | won't start?
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | ghostpepper wrote:
       | I have a feature in my car (2020 mazda) that attempts to read
       | signs as you pass and determine the current speed limit, and I'd
       | say that it's accurate 60-70% of the time but nowhere near 100%.
       | Even if the technology was there, I'm not sure this would be a
       | good idea, but until it is - it's definitely a bad idea.
        
         | milkey_mouse wrote:
         | That's pretty cool. Are you sure it's trying to read the signs,
         | as opposed to consulting a pre-made map of speed limits at the
         | current GPS location?
        
           | Closi wrote:
           | Most cars do this from cameras - mobileye has been selling
           | this capability for a while as an OEM.
        
       | konschubert wrote:
       | If the speed limits are too low in places, they should be raised.
       | 
       | But many times my life has been endangered by a speeding car.
       | There is always a trade off between too much policing and too
       | little policing. I think that speeding has been tolerated for far
       | too long. I think the world will be a better place if a scalable
       | technical solution is implemented.
        
       | mwint wrote:
       | They may get better responses, and compliance, if this was
       | instead billed as a pedal detent for "current speed limit
       | please". The current name just sounds Orwellian.
       | 
       | Basically like cruise control, but only when the gas pedal is in
       | a certain position.
       | 
       | Bonus points if you have a dial for "speed limit + n" in the US,
       | because if I tried to drive the speed limit all the time in my
       | state I'd get run over.
        
       | pedrovhb wrote:
       | I've seen "unofficial" speed limit signs put up by residents of a
       | given location. They look exactly like official signs, and I
       | imagine it's tricky to properly police this. I wonder if this
       | system opens up an attack surface for bad actors to intentionally
       | modify speed limits to either lower or higher than official ones.
       | 
       | Reminds me of the guy who managed to make Google Maps report a
       | traffic jam by pushing a cart full of smartphones around [0],
       | except this one affects your hardware by automatically cutting
       | off throttle and doesn't require drivers to rely on an app.
       | 
       | Also, from the article:
       | 
       | > "How will I enjoy my recreational driving when ISA systems come
       | into force? Same way I do right now: in slow old sheds that would
       | only break the national speed limit if you pushed them off a
       | cliff."
       | 
       | So it's pushing people who drive for fun to do so in older
       | vehicles with correspondingly older safety technology.
       | Interesting.
       | 
       | [0] https://www.businessinsider.com/google-maps-traffic-
       | jam-99-s...
        
         | joosters wrote:
         | The attack surface was already there: people put up real-
         | looking speed limit signs and it fools drivers. No extra
         | technology is needed.
        
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       (page generated 2022-05-04 23:01 UTC)