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Is it time for all motor vehicles to be fitted with a black box?

A news item caught my eye a few days ago.

Tesla owners couldn’t access the Tesla app, and therefore couldn’t use their cars.

So… Police chases. Could the rozzers contact the app owner and request that the car being chased is disabled at a safe moment? Same with stolen cars.
 
How distracting are the large touch screen centre consoles in the new electric cars? It’s not as if you can feel your way to the correct button as you can in a normal vehicle. Are they more distracting than a standard style dash?
They're awful - if using a phone in a car is distracting (and it is) then I have no idea how touchscreens have been allowed to creep in. More so when it comes to basic car functionality; in addition to the touch-sensitive buttons for HVAC, cars like Teslas require you to have to dive several layers into touch-screen menus to do simple things like adjust the intermittent wiper speed etc. There's no good reason for it and basic car interfaces for things should be physical buttons at the very least.

My BMW has a large touchscreen but I dislike using it - for now I'm grateful that it still has the iDrive controller by the gear stick which allows me to control it all from there. And crucially it still has buttons for the AC etc.
 
I think half the issue with touchscreens is they have been designed by right-handed engineers, who drive LHD vehicles. I’m nothing like as dextrous (sic) with my left hand, when driving a UK model.
The haptic feedback does help though.
 
On topic, I'd have a recorder that also has video. Now, whether that's both front facing and also what's happening in the cab is another debate.

(ducks for cover).

On a (semi) serious note ... given that camera technology and recording devices has allowed the development of ultra small lightweight units nowadays - would you also make them mandatory wear for cyclists, horse-riders, pedestrians and all other road users ?
 
On a (semi) serious note ... given that camera technology and recording devices has allowed the development of ultra small lightweight units nowadays - would you also make them mandatory wear for cyclists, horse-riders, pedestrians and all other road users ?

It’s all a bit Orwellian, isn’t it? :D
 
A news item caught my eye a few days ago.

Tesla owners couldn’t access the Tesla app, and therefore couldn’t use their cars.

So… Police chases. Could the rozzers contact the app owner and request that the car being chased is disabled at a safe moment? Same with stolen cars.

It only affected folks who rely on their phones alone to access the cars. You are recommended to also carry the credit card sized key card as backup access.

Base question, yet I am sure it is possible.
 
They're awful - if using a phone in a car is distracting (and it is) then I have no idea how touchscreens have been allowed to creep in. More so when it comes to basic car functionality; in addition to the touch-sensitive buttons for HVAC, cars like Teslas require you to have to dive several layers into touch-screen menus to do simple things like adjust the intermittent wiper speed etc. There's no good reason for it and basic car interfaces for things should be physical buttons at the very least.

My BMW has a large touchscreen but I dislike using it - for now I'm grateful that it still has the iDrive controller by the gear stick which allows me to control it all from there. And crucially it still has buttons for the AC etc.
Although I've had a few BMWs with the iDrive, I've never really liked it. However, my latest car's speech recognition seems to work very well, even though I do feel a bit of a fool talking to it.
 
It’s all a bit Orwellian, isn’t it? :D

Yup - attempting to lead the witness I think you could call that. Nicely ducked :)

That is very obviously the thing with 'black boxes', cameras and other monitoring though - once you start installing cameras to assess day=to-day compliance with parts of the law, where do you stop, and who's call is it/should it be.
 
They don’t make any sense. Who wants a 7 litre V8 engine? What for?
They are fortunately absent from our roads.

that's dangerous territory... If you're not a petrolhead it's easy to say that. But what people spend their money on after tax is their business. I mean - who needs Valve amps or Krells etc? As for the planet, would it be ok i fI drove a Telsa but my weekend hobby was flying helicopters for example?;)
 
Although I've had a few BMWs with the iDrive, I've never really liked it. However, my latest car's speech recognition seems to work very well, even though I do feel a bit of a fool talking to it.

Makes life so easy and safe; only problem i have is in the Suzuki where i have to put on some weird American accent to be understood.
 
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Sorry this is unreferenced, it was presented at a conference on speeding organised by Edinburgh City Council in October. The rule of thumb I had heard previously was that at 30mph the majority of pedestrians survive, at 40mph the majority die.
I presume the speeds here are at the point of impact. So in many circumstances, even on built up roads, drivers will have had an opportunity to brake before impact and we might hope that if travelling at 30mph, even a few moments' braking would reduce actual impact speed to around 20mph. If there are interruptions to sight lines, and other obstacles that mean people stepping out into the carriageway might be without warning, the conditions are probably such that you should not be travelling at 30 anyway. If you drive to the conditions (which implicitly means you're paying attention, too), rather than to the legally permissible limits, you're probably safer than somebody who thinks that because they're at or below the limit, they're a safe driver.
 
that's dangerous territory... If you're not a petrolhead it's easy to say that. But what people spend their money on after tax is their business. I mean - who needs Valve amps or Krells etc? As for the planet, would it be ok i fI drove a Telsa but my weekend hobby was flying helicopters for example?;)
Such vehicles do impinge upon the well-being of others & are generally driven by idiots
 
Everything we do impinges on others in some way or another. It's probably a question of proportionality. Would a (hypothetical) 2000 miles a year in a Ferrari V8/V12 impinge more than a (hypothetical) 2000 mile a year school runs in a diesel SUV? Both are probably unnecessary when you get right down to it, but how many of the former, compared to the latter, do we experience?

And if we're talking about idiot drivers, don't get me started on yummy mummies in Range Rovers or Cayennes.
 


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