Thursday, March 04, 2004
The Car That Tattles
Would you want a car that monitered your driving habits and adjusted accordingly? For instance, it would give the engine less power if you have a history of speeding, or refuse to turn over at all if your liscense is suspended? That's what this Toyota concept does. It all has some neat fatures based off the same technology. Seat position, mirror angles, etc would change based on the smartcard information in its users key, conforming to their norms. The card also reads speed limit signs and on the spedometer compares your current velocity to the posting limit, letting you know how far over or under you are. Also, it then ties the electronic liscense tag to the smartcard, so driving records and citations would be tied to an individual user rather than the vehicle itself. It wouldn't matter what vehicle you're driving; it would be tied to your driver's liscense instead. Plus, probationary periods for new drivers would not be based on years, but rather on number of hours driving, like a pilot's liscense.
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