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Crash proof cars

Will_Pittenger Will_Pittenger
New User | Posts: 9 | Joined: 06/08
Posted: 09/04/08
12:14 AM

I was watching a show on the Discovery Channel called NextWorld.  That episode predicted cars that would refuse to crash even if you tried to deliberately crash it.  I have to question that will work all that well due to the reasons listed below.

*Component failure - things break down; this would include the "crash proof" systems
*Avoiding one accident might trigger another.  What if that one is worse?

One thing that I was thinking might help is if we could develop some sort of "force field" like system.  That could absorb the energy before any physical contact is made.

Other places where I have posted this:
* forums
*Motor Trend forum  
Will Pittenger

monoblocks monoblocks
User | Posts: 73 | Joined: 06/08
Posted: 12/26/08
09:00 PM

"Crash proof cars do seem like a pretty big advancement in technology. However, they would certainly not help the economy. If cars did not need to be fixed then auto shops would start closing and people would lose their jobs."

The demise of auto body repair shops wouldn't be the first time an industry would go the way of the dodo. Personally, I wouldn't mind if the car insurance industry suddenly became a LOT smaller and increasingly unnecessary.  

User | Posts: 184 | Joined: 01/09
Posted: 01/29/09
11:35 PM

While it's probably a ways off yet, the idea of crash proof cars is not as out of line as you might think. To be clear, it's not really crash proof cars so much as SMART roads and networked cars. Even if a car has a unforeseen parts failure, it would communicate that failure both to the driver and to other cars on the road, and most likely would have a certain amount of redundancy to allow for a limp-home mode. The same thing would happen in accident avoidance. Bits and pieces of these technologies are already in development (Mercedes and Volvo have already released cars with auto braking systems,  Partners for Advanced Transportation and Highways (PATH) and Caltrans have been field testing on a stretch of I-15 near San Diego since 1997).  
Days here feel like weeks, but then so do years...

Will_Pittenger Will_Pittenger
New User | Posts: 9 | Joined: 06/08
Posted: 04/09/09
10:55 PM

Trouble is, Smart roads result in unexciting cars.  Too many drivers would insist on taking over the driving.  Think of Detective Spooner in I, Robot.  Would you pay over a million dollars for a Bugati if it behaved like the cheapest Yaris or Aveo?  
Will Pittenger

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