Device stops speeders from inside car

[ECH1969]

Canadian auto regulators are testing a system that would enforce speed limits by making it harder to push down the car's gas pedal once the speed limit is passed, according to a newspaper report.

The system being tested by Transport Canada, the Canadian equivalent of the U.S. Department of Transportation, uses a global positioning satellite device installed in the car to monitor the car's speed and position. If the car begins to significantly exceed the speed limit for the road on which it's travelling the system responds by making it harder to depress the gas pedal, according to a story posted on the Toronto Globe and Mail's Website.

The pilot test, using 10 cars driven by volunteers, is believed to be the first in North America, although similar systems have been tested in several European countries, according to the newspaper.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/AUTOS/12/01/canada_gps_speed/index.html

[Nicole]

1. Sounds like a bad idea to me

There are times you have to gas it to get out of the way of danger.

[MADem]

2. To say nothing of the fact that it will spawn the invention of aftermarket

devices, like a huge metal shoe called THE LEADFOOT!

[tridim]

3. Yep, sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen

It's horribly Big-Brother-ish too.

[gristy]

5. Can't the driver just push on the gas pedal harder in that case?

I don't see the problem.

[ECH1969]

6. Its supposed to make it alot harder to go up in speed

I don't know what 'alot' is, but its supposed to be more then pushing a bit harder.

[gristy]

13. But the article doesn't say that at all.

It says this:

If the car begins to significantly exceed the speed limit for the road on which it's travelling the system responds by making it harder to depress the gas pedal

[ECH1969]

14. That is exactly what I said

But, from what I heard on CTV News it makes it quite a bit harder to speed up.

[CatholicEdHead]

10. Exactly, it is too dangerous that sometimes you do have to floor it

[dweller]

4. sounds like a good idea to me

let's test market in SUVs.

dp

[IDemo]

7. A rev-limiter would work much better

A stiffened up gas pedal would have too varied of responses between a 110 lb. teen and a 250 lb. football player...

[Xithras]

19. Rev limiters don't work

What happens if the person lives in a hilly area and needs to downshift? With a rev limiter in place, they won't get the RPM's they need to climb the hill. I won't even mention what rev limiters do to towing ability.

[IDemo]

21. Virtually every new vehicle uses an onboard computer

If not a 'rev limiter' per-se, a MPH limiter, encompassing current speed/engine rpm/throttle input. The stiffened gas pedal concept is straight out of a 'Roadrunner' cartoon; it's the latest Acme product guaranteed to get Wile E. Coyote (and American motorists) splattered onto a desert highway.

[FloridaPat]

8. Oh, goodie. A computer in charge of the gas pedal. And if you happen

to be hurrying away from a potential accident, it's just too bad.

[Spinzonner]

9. And a whole new possible meaning to Blue Screen of Death

[Skink]

11. In the meantime while you are flooring it your license and reg download

Speeding ticket then conveniently mailed to your last known address and fines double with each additional second you didn't slow down.

[ECH1969]

12. After 5 seconds of speeding

you accumulated 5 tickets and your license is revoked and your car comes to an immediate stop on the interstate.

[Xithras]

17. Your car is already computer controlled.

Every car you can buy today is already run by the computer, with an electronic brain controlling everything from your engines torque to the amount of fuel it gets. There are actually cars on the market that even have electronic pedals, so the computer runs 100% of the show.

The computerization of cars has been going on for 25 years, and it's so advanced now that many cars simply won't run if the computer doesn't work. Modern traction control and antilock breaking systems also routinely override the driver to put a computer in charge when needed.

The technology is nothing new, it's just an interesting application of it.

[Xithras]

15. There's a much, much simpler way to do this.

The computer already controls the cars engine, right? So all you really need to do is limit the amount of fuel injected into the engine once the national speed limit has been passed. If it's 120KPH, for instance, the computer can simply flatten the acceleration curve so that accelerating any faster would take a while. It would even be relatively simple to write in a "pass mode" to allow a brief bit of acceleration for passing or emergency maneuvers. If you were going 120KPH, perhaps it might give you acceleration to 150KPH for 15 or so seconds before returning to its standard flat curve. That mode wouldn't be usable again until the car dropped back beneath the speed limit.

From a technological perspective, this is dead simple. It could actually be done today with zero hardware changes on new cars...it's simply a software change to the cars computer.

[northzax]

16. I prefer the method I once saw in Japan

once the national speed limit was reached (I think it was 100 km/hr) a dinging started, like the door ajar dinging. If you needed to exceed the limit, you dealt with the dinging for a bit.

I would support installing that at say 75 miles an hour on cars. It is very rare that you need to exceed 75 miles an hour, and it exceeds the speed limit on every road in the country by at least five miles an hour, no tracking, simply a constant reminder.

[Xithras]

18. People will just disconnect the chime.

I know people who refuse to wear seatbelts who have disconnected their chimes for the very same reason. It's trivial, and the only result will be highways packed full of chime-free speeders.

Attacking speeding from the computer angle is the better way IMO.

[northzax]

22. the computer situation doesn't address the potential for emergencies

where you may have a good reason to need to accelerate from 30-45 on a residential street.

[Nicole]

20. Not so

It is very rare that you need to exceed 75 miles an hour, and it exceeds the speed limit on every road in the country by at least five miles an hour

The speed limit on most Oklahoma Turnpikes is 75 mph.