Car technology to look out for.

0patience

Flow battery technology is one of the new technologies that are creating a lot of discussion in the automotive field lately.
These batteries will use electrolyte, neutral water or ionized water to power the batteries.
One company (NanoFlowcell) has one vehicle licensed in Europe that it says is getting 370 miles per charge.

These batteries aren't like regular batteries, where you recharge them, you re-fuel them with new 
The problem is, that the metals (vanadium) used to build the batteries and systems isn't cheap.

But the technology is currently in use in solar applications, so we may see more automotive applications in the near future.

As much as I'd like to be old school and not be a huge supporter of electric powered vehicles, this technology has the capability of producing a huge amount of power and maintain it for quite some time. 

arch72

They sound really cool I watch car shows all the time and it would be neat to see an electric car built 

First_Warrior

I have a friend who visited last summer and he was driving a Tesla. He gets 250 miles between charges and the charges are free. 400 hp and only forty moving parts in his car. We went for a drive and he took his hands off the wheel and the cameras and computers in the car read the road and steered the car. Amazing.

silvermouse

Oh, how I long for the day when I don't have to do anything to get stuff done

--not

TX98Z28

The problems I have with car technology getting so advanced is this…

Drivers getting so used to all the safety sensors they lose common sense. Backing up and expecting the vehicle to alert them of the family, vehicle, or objects behind them and bad things happen.

Now we have vehicles that drive, park, even brake themselves. Again people getting so used to it they slowly lose their reaction time, common sense, ability to safely control a vehicle.

I will never ride in, drive, a vehicle that has this technology, when it fails and it eventually will, very bad things happen.

We still have to account for all the idiots who are on Facebook, Twitter, texting, etc. when driving as well.

Let me put it this way, If I decide to proceed with caution through a yellow light and an 18 wheelers runs the red light and kills me, at least it was my choice to go through that light instead of the computers choice. Even worse the computer fails and goes through on red…   

silvermouse

The Wall Street Journal had an article today on the rise of distracted driving accidents. Tech links to smart phones in cars is part of the problem. Insurance companies are raising the rate for all drivers because of this rise. They claim it is becoming epidemic and surely the more tech in an auto, the less attention a driver is likely to feel the need to afford. Hands-free phone use has been proven to be just as distracting as hands-on....

Wylaff

I think it's worse since I can't raise my console to my field of view, I instead have to look completely away from the road to do anything.

0patience

TX98Z28 said:

Let me put it this way, If I decide to proceed with caution through a yellow light and an 18 wheelers runs the red light and kills me, at least it was my choice to go through that light instead of the computers choice. Even worse the computer fails and goes through on red…   

Boats and planes have been using auto pilot technology for decades.
As with anything, there is and always will be subject to error.
People are stupid, most computerized stuff isn't.

Today, I had a bicycle cross in front of me, running a red light.
I locked them up and almost hit them.
With my truck weighing 30,000 lbs, they would become a speed bump and not a very good one either.

I've run boats (85-150') in the early 80's that pretty much would run themselves with minor corrections for 100's of miles.And that was the old LORAN systems.
Today's GPS, I would imagine they will run with hardly any course corrections.

My point is, I've seen these autonomous vehicles in action. 
I've seen what they can do and we threw all kinds of things into the works to trip them up and they came through it better than most sober people.

Will there be situations where crashes occur?
Yes and in most cases, they will be caused by a person.
No matter how well the computer can brake or swerve, if the stupid person runs out in front of the vehicle, human or computer, they will get run over..

TX98Z28

0patience said:

TX98Z28 said:

Let me put it this way, If I decide to proceed with caution through a yellow light and an 18 wheelers runs the red light and kills me, at least it was my choice to go through that light instead of the computers choice. Even worse the computer fails and goes through on red…   

Boats and planes have been using auto pilot technology for decades.
As with anything, there is and always will be subject to error.
People are stupid, most computerized stuff isn't.

Today, I had a bicycle cross in front of me, running a red light.
I locked them up and almost hit them.
With my truck weighing 30,000 lbs, they would become a speed bump and not a very good one either.

I've run boats (85-150') in the early 80's that pretty much would run themselves with minor corrections for 100's of miles.And that was the old LORAN systems.
Today's GPS, I would imagine they will run with hardly any course corrections.

My point is, I've seen these autonomous vehicles in action. 
I've seen what they can do and we threw all kinds of things into the works to trip them up and they came through it better than most sober people.

Will there be situations where crashes occur?
Yes and in most cases, they will be caused by a person.
No matter how well the computer can brake or swerve, if the stupid person runs out in front of the vehicle, human or computer, they will get run over..

I see your point it does have potential, but the airplanes and boats using auto pilot have way less situations and room for error is also not as strict as a vehicle would be. Planes have to worry about other planes and birds as far as objects, obstacles and of course correcting for turbulence etc. Boats have to worry about other boats, things in the water, wind and wake, choppy water. The chance of a plane or boat having to auto correct is way less than a motor vehicle. And most of the time planes and boats are going in a straight line for the course of their journey.

Vehicles on the other hand have to auto correct for huge amounts of congestion and traffic, their not going in a straight line 95% of the time, there are objects in the roads, shredded tires, boards, metal, idiotic people who run through traffic and across roads, animals, icy roads, hydroplaning situations, strong wind guests etc. All in all way more dangerous conditions to be dealt with.

I will agree with you 100% that the vehicle with auto pilot would be a safer vehicle on the road than a vehicle with an idiot driving it!