Flutterby™! : Cars knowing speed limit 2008-07-03 21:26:07.472907+00

Cars knowing speed limit

2008-07-03 21:26:07.472907+00 by Dan Lyke 8 comments

Aha! I mentioned wanting this feature: British Vauxhall cars have new camera that scans signs and displays the current speed limit

"Pardon, misuer. Dis is Quebec. De speedleemeet is 75 keelo-meeters per hour - not 75 meeles per hour"

Grin. Yeah, I was also wondering why you couldn't just build that sort of feature into GPS nav systems, but then I also realized that the chain of liability gets pretty big when you do that, whereas a fairly fallible camera system has a much smaller liability chain.

I have issues with my gps keeping accurate speed at times. It seems to be off by 10~ mph at times. Unless the technology improves for speed tracking, I'll just stick to looking for signs and using cruise control.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-07-04 04:33:45.378631+00 by: Dan Lyke [edit history]

My original application for this was out in Utah, where trying to keep track of the 65MPH/25MPH speed traps while enjoying the scenery was tough, but even now I find myself on stretches of road that aren't well signed where I don't know what the speed limit is. An additional system to help me there would be cool.

Don't need GPS to tell me how fast I'm going, but if that information is in the maps, it'd be nice if the computer would tell me how fast I shouldn't be going.

I'd imagine the liability would be quite an undertaking if you were in a zone which was 65, but speed-trapped to 25, then you had an accident. I'm sure the gps company would be in quite a predicament even with proper electronic agreements if you were traveling at a speed deemed unsafe by local authorities.

Reading the current street signs would probably be more accurate.

Many GPS navigation systems already can alert you of known speed limits. And the GPS companies deal with liability here the same as they do when they send you the wrong way down a one-way street: "GPS Navigation cannot replace common sense". Ultimately, the driver is responsible for the ton of steel they are carting around.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-07-06 23:54:28.917734+00 by: Dan Lyke [edit history]

Eric, haven't seen that feature yet in our TomTom One 3rd Edition, but that'd be worth paying for in our next one.

Relatedly, I was hoping that the "play a sound when you're near a school or church" (it can't differentiate between the two) would be a more useful reminder than it is, mostly it ends up telling me that there's a church beside the freeway, and the database isn't complete, but I've left it turned on just because I giggle every time I drive past a house of worship and my nav computer says "Cuckoo!".