Cool articles and a rant about cars.
FUCK the RIAA!
ROTFLMMFAO!!!! $85,000 cell phone bill. lolz!
I WANT ONE!!!
Nintendo and Toyota to Develop Car for Elderly
Wed Dec 19, 2007 8:07PM EST
Hopefully, cars that drive themselves will be available by the time I'm deemed too old to drive, but until then, we can look forward to senior-friendly cars that will assist the elderly when behind the wheel. Toyota teamed up with Prof. Ryuta Kawashima, creator of Nintendo's Brain Age games, to develop a special car for aging drivers.
This smart car, according to Kawashima, will be able to monitor brain and emotional activity to determine driving patterns, then adjust its settings to help drivers avoid dangerous situations. For example, if the car senses that the gas pedal is being hit too many times for no reason, it will automatically start slowing down. Kawashima hopes these adjustments will stimulate brain activity and turn driving itself into a form of brain training.
A navigation system and temperature controls that self-adjust to keep drivers awake are some of the features likely to be added. Prof. Kawashima says Toyota and Tohoku University are ready to start making the car, although they're not ready to share specific details of the technologies. If we're lucky, we'll see this car on the road in the next five years.
Toyota to develop cars for seniors (Associated Press)
My Thoughts:
"Kawashima hopes these adjustments will stimulate brain activity and turn driving itself into a form of brain training."
Senior-Friendly Cars? Brain Training? I'm sorry, but if you're elderly, isn't it very likely that you've been driving for longer then most other people on the road? What needs to be trained?
Overall, I think that this is an absolutely terrible idea. It's just one more way for people to stop paying attention while driving. When you're driving a car, you're essentially controlling a multi-thousand pound death-machine. Yes, that's right, automobiles are weapons - very dangerous ones at that. The idea of taking control of it away from people so that there's less to think about is then, NOT a good idea. A lot of people have a hard time thinking on the road as it is; cell-phoners, elderly, etc... Taking away the thought process involved in driving won't help anyone, it will just pave the way for more BAD drivers to be on the road.
What needs to be done, is to increase the restrictions on who gets to drive. There are too many people on the road. A better solution to this would be to force everyone to take a driving test every 10 years. If you don't pass, you don't get to drive. Maybe get a free or discounted public-transit pass. Any 16 yr old is clever enough to pass a driving test, and mostly agile enough to survive the open road. Let's put a 75 yr old behind the wheel and find out what happens at 35 mph when an animal forces an oncoming car into their lane. Better yet, how about a 35 yr old on a cellphone 30' away from a kid chasing a runaway soccer ball? Will we be able to program safety procedures for these situations? What about wet/icy roads? can we program those? Getting a flat tire? Drunk drivers? THIS PRODUCT WILL HELP DRUNK DRIVERS DRIVE!!! Is this seriously what we're going for here?
There are too many variables in too many environments to be able to create this product effectively. Besides, if the car thinks you're stepping on the gas too much, and refuses to accelerate, what's going to happen when Mr(s). Elderly needs to borrow a neighbour's car and suddenly finds they've developed a lead-foot and winds up running a red light because they were going too fast to stop? They, and anyone else involved is going to resemble a 30' Jackson Pollock on the sidewalk is what.
A neat theory, but hardly anything I'd like to see come into fruition anytime soon. Please, wait 'till I'm dead to develop this one.
ROTFLMMFAO!!!! $85,000 cell phone bill. lolz!
I WANT ONE!!!
Nintendo and Toyota to Develop Car for Elderly
Wed Dec 19, 2007 8:07PM EST
Hopefully, cars that drive themselves will be available by the time I'm deemed too old to drive, but until then, we can look forward to senior-friendly cars that will assist the elderly when behind the wheel. Toyota teamed up with Prof. Ryuta Kawashima, creator of Nintendo's Brain Age games, to develop a special car for aging drivers.
This smart car, according to Kawashima, will be able to monitor brain and emotional activity to determine driving patterns, then adjust its settings to help drivers avoid dangerous situations. For example, if the car senses that the gas pedal is being hit too many times for no reason, it will automatically start slowing down. Kawashima hopes these adjustments will stimulate brain activity and turn driving itself into a form of brain training.
A navigation system and temperature controls that self-adjust to keep drivers awake are some of the features likely to be added. Prof. Kawashima says Toyota and Tohoku University are ready to start making the car, although they're not ready to share specific details of the technologies. If we're lucky, we'll see this car on the road in the next five years.
Toyota to develop cars for seniors (Associated Press)
My Thoughts:
"Kawashima hopes these adjustments will stimulate brain activity and turn driving itself into a form of brain training."
Senior-Friendly Cars? Brain Training? I'm sorry, but if you're elderly, isn't it very likely that you've been driving for longer then most other people on the road? What needs to be trained?
Overall, I think that this is an absolutely terrible idea. It's just one more way for people to stop paying attention while driving. When you're driving a car, you're essentially controlling a multi-thousand pound death-machine. Yes, that's right, automobiles are weapons - very dangerous ones at that. The idea of taking control of it away from people so that there's less to think about is then, NOT a good idea. A lot of people have a hard time thinking on the road as it is; cell-phoners, elderly, etc... Taking away the thought process involved in driving won't help anyone, it will just pave the way for more BAD drivers to be on the road.
What needs to be done, is to increase the restrictions on who gets to drive. There are too many people on the road. A better solution to this would be to force everyone to take a driving test every 10 years. If you don't pass, you don't get to drive. Maybe get a free or discounted public-transit pass. Any 16 yr old is clever enough to pass a driving test, and mostly agile enough to survive the open road. Let's put a 75 yr old behind the wheel and find out what happens at 35 mph when an animal forces an oncoming car into their lane. Better yet, how about a 35 yr old on a cellphone 30' away from a kid chasing a runaway soccer ball? Will we be able to program safety procedures for these situations? What about wet/icy roads? can we program those? Getting a flat tire? Drunk drivers? THIS PRODUCT WILL HELP DRUNK DRIVERS DRIVE!!! Is this seriously what we're going for here?
There are too many variables in too many environments to be able to create this product effectively. Besides, if the car thinks you're stepping on the gas too much, and refuses to accelerate, what's going to happen when Mr(s). Elderly needs to borrow a neighbour's car and suddenly finds they've developed a lead-foot and winds up running a red light because they were going too fast to stop? They, and anyone else involved is going to resemble a 30' Jackson Pollock on the sidewalk is what.
A neat theory, but hardly anything I'd like to see come into fruition anytime soon. Please, wait 'till I'm dead to develop this one.