Mrs C and I were talking about autonomous cars as an actual reality for consumers this very morning, and saying "never gonna happen in our lifetimes".
Lo and behold, last night this article was published, from which the first paragraph says...
“Never gonna happen” just got a lot closer. According to Ford the self-driving car will be here within five years, using technologies available today. The smart car will take over your morning commute on clogged freeways, improving your speed and reducing fuel consumption. The technology concept, known as Traffic Jam Assist, uses adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, and the sensors from its active park assist.
www.extremetech.com/extreme/132147-ford-self-driving-cars-2017
Even if by five years they mean fifteen, we might still see it.
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I suspect some on this forum would rather walk - especially if the car driving them to work in the future has the new efficient, compact but allegedly underpowered 1.0 engine!
;-}
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The only joy of a small compact engine is wringing its neck, not sure this mode exists in driver free operation.
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Yes indeed, all those things are already in various models from various manufacturers.
Ford seem to see it as a combination of existing technology with a few tweaks, making it viable in that timespan.
There's also news today of a new headlight system that predicts where individual raindrops are going to be in the driver's field of view, and "shuts off" part of the headlight so they aren't illuminated, all in real time. It means that glare from snow and rain is significantly reduced.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Wed 4 Jul 12 at 13:36
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"There's also news today of a new headlight system that predicts where individual raindrops are going to be in the driver's field of view, and "shuts off" part of the headlight so they aren't illuminated, all in real time. It means that glare from snow and rain is significantly reduced."
Whilst blinding oncoming drivers more efficiently than ever !
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Individual raindrops: And how many do you think you will take in with that story?
Last edited by: busbee on Wed 4 Jul 12 at 14:06
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They'll be making cars with eyelids next
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>> They'll be making cars with eyelids next
>>
They have been around for a while - Origianl MX5 as an example.
You can even get eyelashes now!!!
Last edited by: IJWS14 on Thu 5 Jul 12 at 07:48
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I reckon the M3 every morning would send it la la. ;-)
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Coming to a Ford near you? - John H
