The TechMobility Podcast
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The TechMobility Podcast
Tesla's Summon Reality Check, How AI Chases Geese, and Hyundai's Futuristic Windshield Tech
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Can your car truly be smart, or is that just a fantasy? Join us as we unpack Tesla's "Actually Smart Summon" and "Dumb Summon" features, highlighting the potential and pitfalls of autonomous vehicle technology. We'll explore how these features allow Tesla owners to remotely control their cars in complex settings and discuss similar tech from Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis. Amidst the fascination, we tackle the serious safety concerns and ongoing investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that question the future of self-driving vehicles.
Step into the marketing world of Suzuki's Vitara, a small SUV ambitiously aimed at affluent families as a perfect second vehicle. We'll reminisce about Suzuki's notable but underappreciated Kizashi sedan and their eventual departure from the U.S. market. Our conversation takes a creative turn as we delve into the ingenious AI solution crafted by retired engineer Andy Roy to tackle a geese problem at Boston's Riverside Boat Club. Discover how facial recognition was humorously repurposed to manage avian nuisances, showcasing AI's whimsical yet practical applications.
Imagine your windshield becoming a dynamic interface—Hyundai Mobis's holographic display technology might make it a reality. We'll discuss the potential of this cutting-edge innovation, from transforming infotainment systems to concerns regarding safety and practicality. With collaboration from Zeiss, this tech signifies a pivotal change, but not without raising questions about reliability and regulatory needs. As we wrap up, we invite you to explore the Tech Mobility Podcast on your favorite platform, ensuring you stay updated on the latest in technology and mobility.
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Speaker 2:I'm Ken Chester. Last month and it's a little Tesla news Tesla unexpectedly introduced something that they call Actually Smart Summon, and the updated feature allows owners to send a vehicle to a location of their choosing. With this story, it appeared in Automotive dive last month. They gave a link to a youtube posting of a vehicle actually being summoned and driving through a costco parking lot to its destination. To be honest with it was a little creepy To see it work its way around. Cars turn the signals on to make a left turn, stop, see a person navigate around a truck. All of this was happening in real time in a real Costco parking lot somewhere in the United States States.
Speaker 2:Tesla is not necessarily alone, because they have what they call actually smart summon, and that's what that was, where you could instruct the vehicle to go to a location. And then they've got what they call dumb summon, a feature that enables owners to move their Teslas forward or backward with controls in the automaker's app, and both functions lurk with the latest versions of the Tesla mobile app. I'm here to tell you, believe it or not. When it comes to dumb summon, tesla wasn't first. Actually, hyundai Genesis and Kia have something called SmartPak, and if you hear a little Boston accent. It's how they launched it when they introduced it a few years back, with folks using a Bostonian accent. I'm originally from New England, so I was tickled to death to be able to say, instead of SmartPark, which y'all would say, we would say SmahtPak. So it was fun and it's memorable, which is why I remember it, and I've actually used it in a test in various Genesis cars and Hyundai vehicles since it was introduced to pull vehicles out more, almost like a parlor trick to show folks to say, hey, watch this and have the car actually come out of its spot without me in it. I'm out of his spot without me in it.
Speaker 2:But like Tesla's program for their dumb summon the Hyundai and Kia and Genesis, you do have to hold the key. You have to lock it, start it and then hold the key either forward or backward, so the vehicle either comes out or goes in, which is really great If you are in a metropolitan area where you need to park in a very tight spot where opening a vehicle door is a problem. Cool though I'm not sure I would use it, actually use it. Use it because I live in the Midwest and it's less of a problem here, but I could see where it would be an issue. Tesla's smart summon, they claim, should only be used in parking lots or driveways and they said as a safety feature, users have to hold down the button in the app to get their Tesla to move or it will stop. When, if and when they release Smart Summon, that kind of works against Smart Summon to me. Tesla's tested this and the thing is you've actually seen it in a movie already if you watched one of the iron man movies. Richard downey jr's character is tony stark has summoned his audi to come to him from somewhere else. So you've seen the concept, but this supposedly is in real life.
Speaker 2:My concern Tesla's full autonomous, full service autonomous or FSD is what they're calling it. Ah, full self-driving. Their self-driving tech has been under investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That autopilot really poor choice of words, I mean from a marketing standpoint it's genius. Unfortunately, it gives people, and has given people, a self-sense of oh, this is really autonomous, when, oh, no, really it's not autonomous and there's been accidents and issues with that where people who needed to be paying attention didn't pay attention. The thing hiccuped, an accident was caused and in a few cases, lives were lost. The release of Actually, smart Summon and Dumb Summon is one step closer to the most vision of unsupervised full self-driving, or what they call FSD. With version 12.5 beginning rollout, we think customers would experience a step change, improvement in how well supervised full self-driving works, he said, and the transition to unsupervised FSD can unlock massive potential.
Speaker 2:Somehow, I think that the federal regulators are going to step in before he gets to do that, particularly since supposedly supervised has been a problem, and not one or two. They've been investigating Tesla now for a few years because of incidents and accidents One people thinking it was totally autonomous when it wasn't, and two where, even engaged, there was an accident caused. The question was did the semi-autonomous system cause the accident, either because of an oversight, or didn't recognize something, or thought it recognized something and freaked out? We're heading this way. But what's going to be the real issue for autonomous driving as a personal, private vehicle not the robo taxis, but a personal vehicle that you're going to park in your driveway or have parked in your driveway maybe someday will be federal and state regulations. Right now, there is a patchwork of state regulations that's not going to work for auto manufacturers and their lawyers and their accountants that's absolutely not going to work. Their accountants that's absolutely not going to work. So you can expect, as they get closer to working out the kinks with a personal vehicle having full autonomous capability, look for increasing pressure from the industry to develop federal guidelines as to safety, performance, minimum standards of what it will and will not do, what it will do if it's hacked. There's just a bunch of little things they need to spell out so that people know what to expect, what insurance companies know what to expect, because when these roll out and it's been said, it goes more from an accident-based, user-based system to a product problem system or product deficiency or failure system where the automakers will be liable directly if their autonomous system fails, as opposed to a customer getting into an accident. So we'll see how that works out. But I wanted to share that with you. But no, tesla was not first. That was Hyundai, Kia and Genesis. The Hyundai group with SmartPark. That was first in terms of their dumb summon. No, Elon, you got beat that time. Somebody else actually came out with it before you did. Time for me to rage a little bit in the time we have before the break.
Speaker 2:Chrysler line up to grow with three new EVs Acknowledge that Stellantis has been starving Chrysler for years and FCA before that. They're down to one vehicle now and I wonder seriously, with everybody coming into the market with all sorts of amazing product, is this too little, too late? And then the bigger question did Stellantis and Fiat Chrysler squander all the goodwill and all the definition of what the Chrysler brand used to mean? People coming into the marketplace now have very little knowledge of what Chrysler is. They're going to have to spend a lot of money to even build a brand, build brand awareness, try to define what it is, and I don't believe that the new EVs will have that connection to the past necessary, where there are people still around that remember what Chrysler was. But they expect to bring three new EVs to market between now and 2028.
Speaker 2:An electric crossover, some kind of conversion of Pacifica or a renamed minivan, which will still be in the mix. My question is with them being out of the market for so long, is there any room for them? It's a question I've been asking a lot lately of automakers who are spending way more money and still have product in the market and they're going to have challenges. I don't know if there's going to be any room for Chrysler? I really don't, because the dealers don't have anything to do right now. Oh well, ai is being used in almost everything. Learn how it's being used to chase away geese.
Speaker 3:You are listening to the Tech Mobility Show. With AON Meetings, you can effortlessly communicate with clients, host virtual meetings and webinars and stay in touch with family and friends, all in one place and for one price. Here's the best part you can endure a 30-day free trial. It's time to simplify your life and boost your productivity. Aonmeetings. com, where innovation meets connection.
Speaker 2:Get started today and revolutionize the way you communicate. Social media is the main place to be these days, and we are no exception. I'm Ken Chester of the Tech Mobility Show. If you enjoy my program, then you will also enjoy my weekly Facebook videos, from my latest vehicle reviews to timely commentary of a variety of mobility and technology-related topics. These short features are designed to inform and delight you. Be sure to watch, like and follow us on Facebook. You can find us by typing the Tech Mobility Show in the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to our Facebook page.
Speaker 2:Social media is the place to be these days, and we're no exception. I'm Ken Chester of the Tech Mobility Show. If you enjoy my program, then you will also enjoy my weekly Instagram videos, from the latest vehicle reviews to timely commentary on a variety of mobility and technology-related topics. These short features are designed to inform and delight you. Be sure to watch, like and follow us on Instagram. You can find us by typing the Tech Mobility Show in the search bar. For those of you that listen to podcasts, we have just the one for you. Hi, I'm Ken Chester. Tech Mobility Topics is a podcast where I upload topic-specific videos each week. Shorter than a full show, these bite-sized programs are just the thing, particularly if you're interested in a particular topic covered on the weekly radio show. From Apple Podcasts to iHeartRadio and many podcast platforms in between, we got you covered.
Speaker 5:Just enter Tech Mobility Topics in the search bar, wherever you listen to podcasts. The new generation four-wheel drive Suzuki Vitara is the ideal first choice for your other car. It'll go with your Mercedes, It'll go with your Porsche or Volvo. It has power windows and power steering like your Audi. It's a cabriolet like your BMW. It even goes with your Jaguar.
Speaker 2:Suzuki Vitara like no other it's your ideal other car, yeah, the second car that you take to get groceries or to run errands when you don't want to take the luxury car into town. Interesting that Suzuki, a second-tier Japanese automaker, would market this as a second car for an affluent family. Interesting choice of marketing and positioning. Hard to say if they were successful or not, but I will tell you this as you well know, Suzuki does not sell vehicles in America anymore. The last vehicle they did was actually a rebadged Nissan Frontier and they gave that up now, 12 years ago, in 2012. Year and they gave that up now, 12 years ago, in 2012,. They threw the towel in. They actually made towards the end of their sales run in America. They actually built a pretty cool sedan called the Kizashi, I believe is the proper name. I've driven one. It was amazing car, but too little, too late. They didn't have the marketing money, they didn't have the ability to ramp it up and I would be surprised if anybody even owns one now. I haven't seen one in years. But they didn't sell that many, which is really too bad because it was a really great car. So much for Suzuki.
Speaker 2:The Riverside Boat Club is a rowing club with a dock on the Charles River in the heart of Boston. In recent years the organization has been in a battle to prevent local waterfowl from besmirching its docks with their droppings. A retired engineer came up with a low-cost AI system to solve the problem. This is topic A Artificial intelligence. It's everywhere. Folks are putting it in everything. We've talked at length about how AI is being infused, some everywhere. A group of researchers it is a guy who rows, who belongs to a rowing club. If you've been in New England, you've been in Boston. Rowing up and down the Charles River, which is a major river that separates Boston and Cambridge, is a big deal. Mit has a team, harvard has a rowing team and this is a group of private citizens the Charles River Rowing Club, the Riverside Bow Club, in fact, I know right where it is. Off of Sturrow Drive up on the Cambridge side Used to pass it all the time when my dad used to drive into work down very narrow four lane Sturrow Drive, which was a white knuckle ride for other reasons that I will get into with you sometime.
Speaker 2:However, Canadian Geese, they are a filthy bird. Let me tell you they're a filthy bird. Now I know some of y'all, some friends of mine even would say well, why don't you just shoot the birds and the misery trap, poison them, do all that stuff? Well, you know, that would be great, except for one little problem. Did you know about the Migratory Bird Act of 1918? I bet you didn't Guess what?
Speaker 2:Those birds that are leaving their droppings all over the place and making it icky poo? In some places it is illegal. It is against federal law to harm them. You can't harm them. You cannot kill them, you cannot poison them. It's against the law. However, you can harass them. They're pretty smart. So if you can't kill them and you can't poison them and you can't otherwise do them in, what do you do to protect yourself from this avian menace?
Speaker 2:Other local boathouses had tried fencing out the geese, scaring them with kites and noisemakers, and even using motion sensors and water hoses to fend them off, mostly with little success. Mostly with little success. Several months now, the docks of the Riverside Club, a nonprofit with about 300 members, has been almost entirely free of goose poop. That makes launching the club's one-to-eight-person shells a simpler and vastly more pleasant operation, particularly in the pre-dawn darkness when many rowers prefer to exercise. So what did they do differently.
Speaker 2:Well, it gets down to a fella, a retired engineer by the name of Andy Roy. He's the one that came up with the low-cost artificial intelligence system to protect the docks at the Riverside Boat Club. Here's what he did First of all. Inspiration. Boat club here's what he did first of all, inspiration. His idea for an automated system came to him while gabbing with friends at the duncan. And that's short, that's new england short, uh, for duncan donuts or, if you're really into it, donkeys. It just is sorry for y'all from new england.
Speaker 2:On memorial drive, which is on on the Cambridge side of the river, complaining about goose poop on the docks was a recurring topic. But Andy Royzer devoted tinkerer and he said one of the inspirations came from the Greg Kinnar movie A Flash of Genius, about this true story of an invention of the intermittent windshield wiper. I was thinking about all the pieces that are out there. The 59-year-old said it's how you combine them Now. A couple of years ago one of the members of his rowing club had installed a motion-activated sprinkler and if a goose hopped on the dock at night, the sensors triggered the sprinklers to chase the birds away with strong jets of water. Problem the rowers didn't like getting sprayed during the day and ended up covering the sprinklers with five-gallon buckets. Well, guess what? When they got done in the evening to go home, they forgot to uncover them and the birds had a field day. So what do you do? Roy recalled that during his career as a biomedical engineer, he once ginned up a facial recognition app to help him learn the names of new employees. He thought he could apply this kind of solution to the goose problem, so he replaced the motion activated sprinklers.
Speaker 2:Get this now with cheap lawn sprinklers and cameras mounted on the second floor of the boathouse facing the docks. The cameras zap still images every few seconds and an app connected on a raspberry pi computer looks for signs of motion. If the app detects motion in the photo and this is the magic part the image is uploaded to amazon web services, where one of the cloud computing giants, ai image recognition program, figures out the source of the motion. If the source was a person or a dog or even other kinds of birds, the app does nothing, although a rower dressed in black and white was once misidentified as a penguin. But if the source was a goose, the app orders up a second picture to be sure and then alerts the system to set off the sprinklers.
Speaker 2:You would think that this is an overly engineered solution. Right, that costs a lot of money and like oh my God, you know you got AI and computers and you're interfacing with Amazon Web Services. It's got to cost a small fortune, would you believe. The cloud service costs fractions of a cent per photo, analyzed and running the whole system for a month. You ready for this? Running this whole system for a month? $20. $20.
Speaker 2:The geese have largely gotten message. Sometimes they'll tempt the system by hopping up on the docks, but as soon as the birds hear the lawn sprinklers' unmistakable chunka-chunka-chunka sound, they depart before getting sprayed. And recently the geese have even tried swimming around the dock, hopping on from the backside. But the sprinklers are still smart enough for that. They still get wet. Ai chases geese for $20 a month. Elegantly simple, horrifically cheap. Welcome to technology and a tinkerer who had an inspiration to just modify a little bit what they were already using. And it works and it's great. The rowers are happy, the birds are not harmed. Could vehicles of the future boast a full windshield video display instead of a dashboard?
Speaker 2:This is the Tech Mobility Show. Do you listen to podcasts? Seems that most people do. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. If you've missed any of our weekly episodes on the radio, our podcast is a great way to listen. You can find the Tech Mobility Podcast just about anywhere you can enjoy podcasts. Be sure to follow us from Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio and many platforms in between. We are there. Just enter the Tech Mobility Podcast in the search bar. Wherever you listen to podcasts.
Speaker 2:Social media it's the place to be. We're no exception. Social media it's the place to be. We're no exception. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. Several times a week I post to TikTok several of the topics that I cover on my weekly radio show. It's another way to keep up on mobility, technology, news and information. I've built quite a library of short videos for your viewing pleasure, so be sure to watch, like and subscribe. That's the Tech Mobility Show on TikTok. Check it out.
Speaker 2:Hyundai Mobis, the mega supplier to Hyundai, Kia and Genesis, wants to bring the big screen to the front seat with a full-width head-up display that stretches across the entire windshield. My question is that a good idea? Is there any safety concerns? You know I got questions. This is topic B. Let me paint the picture for you. They're looking at a day when you will have all this information line of sight. Think of it as head up display on steroids, only it's across all the lower part of the windshield. The immediate advantage is line of sight. Another advantage is way lower cost because they're moving displays to the windshield, they're removing them from the dashboard, and I'm thinking the more I think about this. The controls that you do need to do. You can either speak to the computer or it would be steering wheel mounted, at least for now, until those days when you get to full automation. But I mean, I'm looking at it and it's a great idea, on the one hand. Let me read a little bit about this.
Speaker 2:The technology lets passengers watch movies, take video calls or play games on the full front glass, while the vehicle data appears in the driver's line of sight. They call it the holographic windshield display and is being developed by Hyundai Mobius in conjunction with German optical company Zeiss. The technology, which is already being demonstrated to customers, turns the entire windshield into a transparent infotainment and driving data display. They consider it the next generation evolution of today's head-up displays. The breakthrough comes from pairing a micro-thin windshield film developed by Zeiss with a downside projector system from Hyundai Mobis. The combination enables holographic images and video to be rendered on the front glass. The film's special properties also allow the system to shed the bulky lenses and mirrors used in traditional head-up displays. It also allows the automaker to do away, basically, with an infotainment screen in your center console and pretty much everything that is considered today's dashboard that you currently have in front of you, in front of the driver, speed, tech messages, settings all of that stuff will now transition to the windshield.
Speaker 2:I got questions. For example, you heard the term special glass. You heard that I know you did. So let's talk about the obvious.
Speaker 2:What about a rock crack? What about a damaged windshield? What happens when this windshield has to be replaced? What does that look like from an insurance standpoint? Are we talking now a windshield which will run you five $600 now might run you 1500 to $2,000 now, where, today, considered comprehensive, they will replace the windshield? Worst case, depending on your plan, you may have a deductible. Is that deductible now a thousand dollars? And then who's going to install it and who's going to calibrate it? Is it still safe flight repairs, safe flight replace? Or are we going to need a whole different group of installers and repairers and replacers to be trained on how to deal with this?
Speaker 2:Because right now, even your sophisticated average windshield now does require some recalibration. If it's got head-up display or if you've got a camera that looks out through the windshield, that has to be recalibrated. So there's a certain amount of that going on right now. But remember this article talked about it's got a special film on the inside of the glass. That means that it is special glass. Special glass means money. The partners want to start mass production as early as 2027.
Speaker 2:And our concept is to use the windshield as a display for vehicles, and I'm looking at all kinds of stuff and I haven't even started to talk about. Okay, what is the take from the National Traffic Highway Safety Administration? What is the take from the IIHS, which is the safety organization, that evaluates all this stuff? Is it safer? Does it present safety issues? What happens in case of I don't know, inclement weather, all kinds of other things? What does this do to it? And what happens if it malfunctions? You have no information at all. Will the vehicle even run if it does not have this information transmitted to the screen so you can make decisions?
Speaker 2:As the automakers look to save money, which it will do for all the wiring and harnesses and readouts and displays that they no longer need to build into the dashboard because they could just bring that stuff to the inside of the windshield. I mean it looks really cool, but I have all these questions that worry me in terms of maintenance and cost. And we know I mean, if you own a vehicle in the last 10 years, you have probably had at least one electrical challenge where you've had to take it to the dealer. It either gets something reprogrammed, replaced or otherwise updated. What's this going to look like if this thing goes on the fritz, because now all the information you need to run the car or SUV is in the windshield, but the windshield's on the fritz, so I don't know, I don't have a backup plan. Finally, what happens in case of an accident? Again, information which would also include your infotainment system. Right now, if they're going that way, it's not on star, but they do have emergency situations. What's that default look like? You know, I mean, it's a great idea. Again, it looks really cool.
Speaker 2:What they say, what they claim, is that this technology brings big safety, design and convenience advantages over current systems. I see design, I see convenience Safety. I'm I see design, I see convenience Safety. I'm not sure yet. I'm not really sure yet. They claim it improves safety by enabling the driver to see all critical information without averting their eyes from the road ahead. Maybe, but again, is the driver literally going to really see the road, or are they actually reading what's in front of them? That's a question.
Speaker 2:Here's something that you may not realize Video projected onto the passenger side is not visible to the driver. Okay, I'll accept that they talk about a 90% transmittance, the images approaching complete transparency you can see through. It is what they're talking about. They've alluded to this. I've alluded to this. The holographic display also allows for more creative, open packaging of the cockpit by eliminating the need to install certain gauges or meters in the dashboard, because they can be projected into a natural line of sight position. Also, a point that they make all this stuff in your dashboard causes the dashboard to be so wide. Going to this cuts the width of the dashboard, the depth of it in half, so theoretically you're even closer to the windshield. What does that do for safety in the case of an accident? Because now you're closer, because they don't need all that space. So you know they're talking 15 liters of volume as opposed to new system seven liters, which roughly half. I just don't know. I've got concerns about insurance, I've got concerns about safety and we'll just have to see in crash tests and in evaluations that will come as this stuff starts to roll out. But I'm certainly hoping that NHTSA will weigh in before they even get built, because, again, it's a great idea. But I see more concerns than I see advantages right now, until the first ones get out, and it'd probably be three or four years before I even end up in a vehicle that has this From what they're projecting right now, because they're talking the latter part of this decade, should your car actively warn you that you're speeding?
Speaker 2:We are the Tech Mobility Show. To learn more about the Tech Mobility Show, start by visiting our website. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. The website is a treasure trove of information about me and the show, as well as where to find it on the radio across the country. Keep up with the happenings at the Tech Mobility Show by visiting techmobility. show. That's techmobility. show. You can also drop us a line at talk at techmobility. show. Did you know that TechMobility has a YouTube channel? Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the TechMobility Show. Each week I upload a few short videos of some of the hot topics that I cover during my weekly radio program. I've designed these videos to be informative and entertaining. It's another way to keep up on current mobility and technology news and information. Be sure to watch, like and subscribe to my channel.
Speaker 3:That's the TechMobility Show on YouTube. Check it out. You can effortlessly communicate with clients, host virtual meetings and webinars and stay in touch with family and friends all in one place and for one price. Here's the best part you can endure a 30-day free trial. It's time to simplify your life and boost your productivity. Aonmeetings. com, where innovation meets connection. Get started today and revolutionize the way you communicate.
Speaker 2:Social media is the place to be these days, and we're no exception. I'm Ken Chester of the Tech Mobility Show. If you enjoy my program, then you will also enjoy my weekly Instagram videos From the latest vehicle reviews to timely commentary on a variety of mobility and technology-related topics. These short features are designed to inform and delight you. Be sure to watch, like and follow us on Instagram. You can find us by typing the Tech Mobility Show in the search bar.
Speaker 2:Okay, show of hands. How many of you, within the sound of my voice, have ever driven above the speed limit Ever? Let me make this even better how many of you have done it in the last 48 hours? Let me ask you this Should your car actively warn you and the key word there is actively warn you if you're speeding? For at least the last 60 years and I remember systems as a kid even automakers have offered various speed monitoring and warning systems off and on. Since the 1950s, my dad had a Pontiac Star Chief that had a literal eye, a pedestal, with an eye pointed at the windshield where you set the cruise, or you set, in fact, I don't think his car had cruise, but you set the speed. And well, in fact, I don't think his car had cruise, but you set the speed and it would actually make a noise, an irritating noise, if you were above the speed limit. Apparently he couldn't shut it off because he tried to tape over it. I remember that and that was a. That was a 59 Pontiac.
Speaker 2:With the global rise and injuries and fatalities attributed to speeding, there's an effort to use the available technology to mitigate the problem. This is topic C. If you're wondering about Europe, let me help you. They already have passed regulations that require new vehicles to do just that Already. Speed assistance systems is what they call them, and the passive speed assistance is mandatory already in Europe. Let me give you an example here. There's active speed monitoring and there's passive speed monitoring. If you've owned a car, mid-range or luxury vehicle that you've bought in the last five, six years, you have a vehicle that probably has a speed limit warning on your dashboard that will passively tell you when you're speeding. The Lexus NX I am test driving right now has such an indicator.
Speaker 2:In the last year I have driven vehicles that have also practiced active speed limiting and I didn't like it. The vehicle was set at a speed. Vehicle was set at a speed when the road that I was driving changed to a lower speed without my intervention. The vehicle slowed down to the new posted maximum. I was not okay with that and most Americans aren't. What they want to do and California again leading the way. They want some sport of speed assistance warning standard in vehicles, in California's case by 2030.
Speaker 2:Originally, the sponsor wanted to go active, and what they mean by active is a vehicle would slow down based on the posted speed limit. Let me help you with that. This is one time I agree with the industry. I can tell you for a fact that most of these are wonky. And why are they wonky? Because speed limit posting is not as consistent as you think it is.
Speaker 2:In the United States I have had vehicles post wrong speeds in areas that were completely different either too slow or too fast, but wrong. And what bothered me is, right now they're not connected to anything. But let's say they pass laws where they connect that information to what you get charged for, insurance or whether or not you are in violation, where it would automatically generate a ticket or something Not okay. And typically it has real problems with on-ramps and off-ramps. It has problems in school zones. Those vehicles that recognize school zones don't recognize the fact of whether or not school is in or out of session, which is a shame, because the vehicle already has time, it identifies time, it can correlate that, but they don't right now. So if I'm going through a school zone at 10 o'clock at night and I have one of these passive speed systems in it, it would register 25 miles an hour, although the active speed when school's not in session for that stretch of road is 35 miles an hour. They're slow to change. They don't always change, because the roads, depending on where you're driving, are not always marked. Will it go to the default? Well, that depends where you're driving are not always marked. Will it go to the default? Well, that depends where you're at.
Speaker 2:So me and the industry are kind of in agreement, but they want to go there, California wants to go there and the fellow who sponsored the bill, he knew he'd get a little pushback. He got a lot of pushback and if they proposed it here they'd hear from me, because the systems are not currently ready for prime time and I've commented about that a lot in my reviews when these vehicles that have these systems generally are not that accurate and the only way they're ever going to get accurate is that cities and towns, states and municipalities are going to have to step up and properly identify speed limits everywhere or agree on what a base speed limit is as a default. All of that is not clear, cut and dry and it really depends on state. Some states are better than others. Some states or counties even are worse than others, and I've noticed that just here in our state, with just directions to towns, designation of highways, let alone speed limits. Now, the roads that I travel regularly. I know what the speed limits are, but there are a lot of roads I travel where I don't. This bill, and it's the first of its kind in the United States, would require all new cars sold in the state to warn drivers if they're going more than 10 miles an hour over the speed limit, which is pretty good, because right now, the vehicles that have the speed limit warnings the passive warnings identify the minute you go one mile an hour over. Now they're passive, they don't ding, they don't buzz, but they'll give you some sort of visual warning that you're speeding. And, yes, California would be the first state in the country to mandate speed assistance technology, starting with the 2030 model year. This worries me because as we move towards autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles, and they build that stuff in.
Speaker 2:Right now our infrastructure in the United States is not such that it is consistent with speed limits, identification signs, all of that stuff Not nearly, and some of the counties in Iowa are downright sparse in terms of identification and information. I give you a case in point there's a town five or six miles from where I am. It had a state highway designation. The state changed the highway designation and ended it in that town, but not out of that town, going in the other direction. But they didn't replace it. I don't know if it's a county road, which is what they typically do it's not listed or if it's just merely a street it's out in the middle of the country.
Speaker 2:So how would the vehicle determine one, where you are, two, what the speed limit is and three, what is appropriate? That's my problem. Me and the industry this time agree on this. It's not ready for prime time. Europe is much better at labeling and identifying speed limits and all kinds of highway infrastructure information. We've got a ways to go if you want these automated systems to work, and right now we're not there, not as a country and I'm not even sure. California is there county by county, and I've driven California extensively, so, yeah, I'm not with it. We've come to the end of our visit. Be sure to join me again right here next time. You have been listening to Tech Mobility Show.
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Speaker 2:For those of you that listen to podcasts, we have just the one for you. Hi, I'm Ken Chester. Tech Mobility Topics is a podcast where I upload topic-specific videos each week, Shorter than a full show. These bite-sized programs are just the thing, particularly if you're interested in a particular topic covered on the weekly radio show. From Apple Podcasts to iHeart Radio and many podcast platforms in between, we got you covered. Just enter TechMobility topics in the search bar. Wherever you listen to podcasts, Social media, it's the place to be, and we're no exception. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the TechMobility show. Several times a week, I post to TikTok several of the topics that I cover on my weekly radio show. It's another way to keep up on mobility technology news and information. I've built quite a library of short videos for your viewing pleasure, so be sure to watch, like and subscribe. That's the Tech Mobility Show on TikTok. Check it out. To learn more about the Tech Mobility Show, start by visiting our website. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. The website is a treasure trove of information about me and the show, as well as where to find it on the radio across the country. Keep up with the happenings at the Tech Mobility Show by visiting techmobilityshow. That's techmobilityshow. You can also drop us a line at talk at techmobilityshow.
Speaker 2:Do you listen to podcasts? Seems that most people do. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. If you missed any of our weekly episodes on the radio, our podcast is a great way to listen. You can find the Tech Mobility Podcast just about anywhere. You can enjoy podcasts. Be sure to follow us from Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio and many platforms in between. We are there. Just enter the Tech Mobility Podcast in the search bar wherever you listen to podcasts.
