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Posted on 05/26/2010 8:28:35 AM PDT by decimon
IBM patent goes Big Brother
Running red lights and failure to stop leads to untold numbers of traffic accidents around the world. Sitting at a red light with cars idling also burns fuel that really isn’t needed.
IBM has filed a patent application that outlines a system that would turn the motors of a car off at a traffic light to conserve fuel. Few will take issue with green technology that conserves fuel, saves them money, and reduces pollution. However, there is a dark side to the patent application that privacy advocates will not like.
The system IBM is proposing has to have access to the engine of the vehicles at the light to stop the engine. With access to the engine, the traffic lights can not only stop the engine of a driver's car, but it can also determine the duration that the engine is stopped and then when the light is over it can start the motors of the cars up in sequential order so the first cars at the light get to go first. The system would use GPS data to know where vehicles were located at the light.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailytech.com ...
Excellent point. That’s always been the one reason I liked roundabouts (in England where people knew how to drive them, at least 20 yrs ago they did). If nobody else was there you cruised right through.
FORD also stood for “Found On Road Dead” too, but since the early-mid 1990s when they entered into joint ventures with Mazda, their electrical systems really improved and they developed a couple really good cars and trucks into great vehicles and solid sellers.
I DESPISE IBM and here is why: http://www.amazon.com/IBM-Holocaust-Strategic-Alliance-Corporation/dp/0914153102/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274891097&sr=1-1
The market for former police cars will dramaticly rise.
Resulting in rear end collisions caused by those drivers out of range of the light.
It isn't failure to stop that causes accidents. It's failure to yield right of way.
I’ve actually had really good luck with my current Ford. 150,000 plus miles, no major repairs (I did do my clutch last year, but it was the slave cylinder that went out, not the clutch itself).
On the other hand, this is the fourth Ford I’ve owned with that basic V-6 engine (mustang, bronco II, another ranger, this ranger) and none of the earlier vehicles were as reliable. None of the others made it to 100,000 before I got tired of messing with them and got rid of them.
The real purpose of all this crap is to make us give up automobiles.
BINGO
The new “micromini” cars are part of the weening process.
Shorter distances, smaller payloads.
Truly...a giant pain in the A$%!...
Tasers for cars?
I see a vast fortune for the person clever enough to invent a shielding device for this. And fast enough to outrun Big Bother’s wolves when he does.
Stop the cars: then what if some of those old clunkers won't restart?, some of them are just holding on when they are at a light.
Talk about the delays in traffic with this system, old clunker won't restart, everyone is in a traffic jam, nah! that won't waste gas, nah!!!!
What is needed is for everyone to stop using the right lane to sit and go straight. Use it for RIGHT TURNS only, then make ALL stops a RIGHT TURN intersection. Some aren't, and that alone wastes fuel.
Fine the jerks who won't turn right, get the hell out of that lane.
Also for all the jerks who think Interstate driving in the left lane is cool, you are a jerk. That is a passing lane/or a faster traffic lane ONLY, then get the hell back in the right lane. Where the heck did you learn to drive, and by whom?
Cleanup on Main Street.
Carjacking and air conditioning. Within minutes, two FReepers come up with real reasons this type of technology is all wrong (in addition to the other issues of gov’t control). You would think the brains at IBM would’ve thought it through, too.
Coincidentally, I was just telling this story to my kids last night: I was at a stoplight in Philly once when a police car came speeding up the other way and stopped; a cop jumped out, drew his gun, and aimed it at the second car behind me. I went screeching through the red light to get away with the driver right behind me in tow. Imagine drivers in the same situation unable to go through the red light to get away.
I fell your pain FRiend!! Those are my pet peaves too. When I drive is about the only time I consider taking up smoking weed.
I think you might have heard that it wears on the engine more than driving it a couple of miles. Let a warm engine sit for for a few minutes and then start it up the oil has mostly drained down to the pan, for the first second or two there is much less lubrication on the hot moving parts.
And I’ll do the same with my ‘71 F100.
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