This follows on in a way from Artangel’s thread about automatic cars.
Was out for the day with friends yesterday. They have an expensive new car - please, don’t ask me what - it is a silver grey metal box with a wheel at each corner. If it were mine - it would drive me insane because - it never stopped arguing!
One long bleeep = too near the curb.
Two short bleeps = too near the white line in the centre of the road.
Three short bleeps = going too fast.
In the car parks it was even worse - it whistled!!
One long whistle = too near the car beside you - not enough room to open your door.
Two long whistles = approaching an obstacle/bollard/another car etc.,
Three long whistles = same as above but moving in reverse.
The windscreen wipers start working at the merest hint of rain. The headlights dip themselves whenever another car approaches.
It doesn’t need keys - either to lock it or to start it - and it parrots ’ fasten seat belt’ until everyone has done!
Surely this cannot be wholly good?
It is taking all the skill out of driving and does little to keep the driver’s reflexes working as they should.
Just remember one thing: the more bells and whistles a car has, the more there is to go wrong.
Another ‘advantage’ of modern cars is that they are designed to prevent you getting to the engine or other internals. It is often almost impossible even to change a light bulb.
Above all, steer well clear of any car which is ‘keyless’. They are just asking to be stolen by your local lowlifes.
I agree. I think car designers and governments ignore these facts when they are trying to push the latest fad. Just imagine what the yobs will get up to when there are electric charging points everywhere. :shock:
All this technology in cars is just a taste of things to come, it’s all trialling the new tech for the eventual introduction of driverless cars, everything is being tried so it will be foolproof for the car and systems needed to drive cars automatically,
I hate them…
My cars about ten year old now and I’ve turned off the wipers that come on when it rains and the headlights that come on when it’s dark, like the captain of a ship, I decide when it’s time operate stuff…
I’m not looking forward to buying a new car, which will be probably next year and I’ll keep the next one until we are both too old to be let loose on the roads…Don’t want any fancy stuff though, if I can’t reverse into a space or avoid other cars and pedestrians it’s time to quit driving…But that’s a long way off yet…
Will there be any point in having all the different makes and models? If everything is done automatically, there will be no personality left; no good driving, no bad driving, no courtesy, no road craft. Perhaps all cars should be the same to fit the society we are headed for. We will all be numbers eventually (Cue the big white ball) :-p
Unfortunately no, the driver will still have to follow the rules, by being ready to take control in the event of something happening, although by the time cars are truly driverless, someone will have invented transporters, by then…:
Cars tend to be quipped with many gadgets that can actually be overridden and turned off if you go into the vehicle’s settings.
Tabby, I would let your friends know that they could probably do this if they wanted. Their garage would sort it out for them if they can’t get their head around it all.
I also wonder whether there will be different types of charge, the faster being more expensive of course. Will we still be able to pull into a ‘garage’ and instantly charge the car or will we have to wait three hours? All I know is that my extension cable will not reach the car park.
