Monday, May 01, 2006

in the news.....

Posted by Sickboy at 9:00 PM
Leave the driving to the car
Cruise control? How very 90s. These cars can brake -- even park -- themselves.
May 1, 2006; Posted: 7:16 p.m. EDT (2316 GMT)


Expensive? Certainly. Wasteful? Perhaps. Tempting? Oh, yes. Find out what it's like to drive the car that practically drives itself.
NEW YORK (FORTUNE) - Spotting an opening in traffic, my Mercedes-Benz surges forward, then settles in at a 60-mph cruise. When we hit a patch of cars, the S-Class sedan eases off the gas, slowing to 20 mph, and finally brakes to a stop in the rush-hour snarl.

Sounds like another day, another dull commute. Except that, to borrow from the Greyhound slogan, I've been leaving the driving to Mercedes. In 60 minutes at the wheel - including traversing Manhattan's traffic-choked FDR Highway - my right foot never touches the gas or brakes. A flick of a lever, and my computerized copilot does everything but steer.

It's called adaptive cruise control. And while it sounds like something out of "Minority Report," it's available today on a range of luxury models - for an extra charge. The systems scan the road with radar or lasers to maintain a safe gap between cars, while drivers can set the ideal following distance.

This thing would be perfect for people like PJ and Frank who can fall asleep anywhere.

3 comments:

dad-e~O said...

I for one have gotten to the point where I just dont like to drive. and being suronded by a car thats doing the thinking for me is a bit creepy.
But speaking of luxury cars... here's a short story, Friday I rode in Chicago's Critical Mass. http://www.chicagocriticalmass.org/
And it ended in the whicker park neighborhood where we took over a major intersection for about 20 minutes, for good or bad that's the way it sorta palyed out, but the kicker was in the middle of the intersection was a new maserati. but the driver was unbelivbly cool, got out of the car and Kinda partied with us all. but then there was the driver of a big black truck who insted of getting in the spirit of the thing got really pissy, and ran into and over a couple bikes.
not sure what the point of the story is, just sharing a life experience.

11:07 PM CDT
Scott said...

This technology was available on the mini van P and I just bought. Unfortunately it was part of a package that raised the price of the vehicle an additional 10k.

11:27 AM CDT
dad-e~O said...

10 grand, fuck.
did it come with a blow job?
Well, I suppose if yo can st it and forget it.... pretend I didn't say that.

12:30 AM CDT

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