Posted on 03/18/2018 11:07:18 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Such storms only occur occasionally but result in a massive spike in geomagnetic activity and radiation. For driverless vehicles which rely heavily on GPS, this could cause mayhem as the connection between a GPS system and the satellites could be cut off. In theory, disaster could follow on the roads.
According to Scott McIntosh, director of the high-altitude observatory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, using GPS heavily in programming a driverless car from Point A to Point B is an issue.
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Fortunately, there are systems in place to avoid truly disastrous scenarios. In fact, a satellite currently sits 1 million miles from Earth and acts as a warning point for when solar storms are coming. It typically provides notice back to Earth 30 to 60 minutes before the storm hits the planet.
(Excerpt) Read more at carscoops.com ...
Russia will be blamed.
Maybe we should decide to keep a human on board, if for no other reason to than to be a backup driver.
Driverless vehicles would coast to a stop.
OSHA will require a backup backseat drive who will loudly criticize everything the computer is doing. The computer generated voice will sound like your mother-in-law!
“Maybe we should decide to keep a human on board, if for no other reason to than to be a backup driver.”
At this point, if GPS were to be cut off, half the drivers in the United States wouldn’t be able to make it home from work.
Betting they can also be hacked....and easily.
"A car only needs gas air and electricity. It don't need no stupid computer!"
He was a pretty wise man.
Not only that, you need electricity to handle key engine functions such as compression, fuel injection, etc. Can’t they make EMP insulated cars?
I would not get into a self driving vehicle of any type until the equipment is triple redundant and failsafe.
I can only imagine have a vehicle that suddenly begins to operate erraticly while in heavy traffic.People are going to die.Even the operators of normally driven cars as a result of the collisions.
Well, Dad’s old yellow International truck seemed to function perfectly enough during solar storms, snow storms, hurricanes, droughts... :-D
I hate GPS anyway. ALWAYS gives you wrong information.
I use this thing called a *map*. Works wonders and never have to worry about the batteries dying.
needs to be regulated ...
Amen. It needs points, rotor, and a single coil!
But I have to admit. It’s nice that they always start, hardly ever stall, and engine “flooding,” a “choke” and air filled with unburied gasoline fumes are relics of a bygone era.
That should be fun to watch. Another reason to stop trying to make “autonomous” cars which aren’t autonomous or self-driving.
Just remember A.I. Could also be stand for Automatic Ignorance.
The GPS system is much more sensitive to solar storms as the signal will get disrupted as it travels through the atmosphere. It would take a massive storm or burst to fry the electronics in the car - but yes, is still a concern.
I’m guessing that a driverless car doesn’t rely on GPS to stay in the proper lane - just to be able to navigate. So while it probably won’t mean a bunch of crashes, it probably would mean pulling over and stopping somewhere. (Hmm - I wonder if one can program a driverless car to “Go for a Country Drive.”)
In before the resident FR EMP deniers.
There was a solar EMP back in 1840-something. You could see the sparking off the telegraph lines. If something similar happened now we would be using carrier pigeons for awhile.
You might want to put on your fire suite as the ‘No such thing as EMP’ crowd take no prisoners.
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