Re: Billy Monger crash and GPS
AlanJones
25 May, 2017 19:35
The stationary car, according to other forum replies, just spun and went to the safe side of the track to get back up to speed. It is an unfortunate series of events that caused little Billy to lose his feet. But I dont think that a GPS locator could ever change this. The slow car never left the track to begin with. Plus I dont think cars travelling at speeds in excess of 100mph will ever be located withing that 1cm gap that you say Ozzy.
Slow stationary objects can be located with GPS to the centimeter. But running cars? I have my doubts.
The idea is good. And I sincerely think that the tech one day will be ready for stuff like this. But there is a good reason why everyone is so hesistant towards fully autonomous cars in general. Im a computer programmer and I have my serious doubts to begin with. The Tesla autopilot system sounds great. But it depends on so many factors to even work remotely the way that Tesla wants it to. Radar, GPS, hundreds of sensors.. all need to comply withing one single program to function. And if one aspect is damaged or giving wrong readings, it is a disaster waiting to happen.
Im in no illusion that fully autonomous cars will never hit the road. Ofcourse they will. On motorways/highways to begin with it would be perfect. The systems combined of all the cars, for example on the M25, could cooperate. So if youre going from Slough to Gravesend and the cars coming on at Epsom detect that the speed is 30mph there because of it being busy on the road, your car at Slough adjusts its speed. Even though you could drive 70mph since there is no traffic, the system works to make sure that you dont get stuck in a traffic jam miles away from where you are now. That will be the future. Im sure of this. But for now, I would have my doubts. There are too many factors of interest that are a liability to the safety of the passengers that such systems are not ready yet to be road worthy. Not on the road nor on track. And it will be morally wrong to let racing drivers become test dummies for a safety feature thats not even safe yet.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 25/05/2017 19:37 by AlanJones.