cars of the future

i really, really enjoyed the grand challenge piece (noted below) that pbs did. i think it’s fascinating stuff. anyway, i was poking around a bit and found some “real-world” technologies that auto makers are starting to put into cars.

now, normally i’ll tell you that american auto manufacturers aren’t doing a damn thing right. gm had a pretty good idea though..

you see, to make cars “smarter”, they will need to know where other cars are in relationship to them. this allows you to do things like auto navigation, collision avoidance, etc. the thought here has always been that some type of sensory would be used, radar, sonar, whatever.

g.m. is taking a different approach. since sensor technologies are pricey, and don’t give you a lot of information about the nearby object, they aren’t using sensors at all. instead, they are connecting gps to a wireless transmitter. each vehicle will broadcast its position using short-range wireless. thus, your car knows exacly where other cars are in relation to it. the car will know that it’s getting to close to another vehicle by simply noticing that the coordinates of your vehicle and the other vehicle are not far enough apart. and since gps and wireless technology is both cheap and already installed in most vehicles, it’s a no brainer.

one of those “simple” ideas that seems brilliant…

of course, every other car in existance will need to have a compatible technology before it becomes truely useful…..