German Car Zone

Honestly, I feel insulted by the carmakers who offer this to me.
Hell, do they consider me stupid enough to need a $1.000 beeper to realize I'm tired?

Do they think I need my bloody car to tell me "hey Buddy, you drive like a blind monkey with his feets on the wheel because his hands are busy opening a coconut with the gearlevel. Why not stopping to get some rest, because driving like that could make you do some piece of unwanted off-road after a nice but uncontrolled powerdrift..."

Honestly, I can realize it alone. And if my car bothers me with that I will just hit it till it stops annoying me.

This is marketing. Not innovation. The new car are so innovative that they beep for everything. Or is it just that they are becoming annoying nannies? This means we're just kids. Are we? I don't have a nanny any more, why should I find one beeping at me in my car?

Soon we will have nanny systems that beep us for
(i) having unkempt hair
(ii) failing to wash behind our ears
(iii) have a crooked tie
(iv) having bad breath
(v) not brushing our teeth in the morning........

I am only partially joking here. Google ''intelligent toilet bowl'' - in Japan they already have electronic toilets that analyze your sh*t and emails the results to your local doctor, and all this in addition to having a built-in mechanized autowasher/dryer/powderer for your behind....

When the makers of these Japanese ''intelligent toilet bowl'' designers meet up with the engineering geeks in Mercedes in a new age post-millenium Axis Alliance, some of these jokes we are making here would become serious options available on the MB catalogue .....

I dont really see wots the big deal. Nanny systems??? I'm sure they were saying that about seat belts and loads of other tech ages ago. Simple fact is technology moves on. And hey... if it helps save even 1 life, then it's been useful. Simple fact is people get tired behind the wheel a lot! Also, so what if other cars dont have it?? Yours does! And at any point while driving, all you can control is YOUR OWN vehicle anyway.

I mean why have tyre pressure monitors when you can simply go the old fashioned way n park your car, get out and bend down have a look walking round from tire to tire??? Right?

Besides, most likely it will be an option. If you want it get it, if you dont leave it out. Simple really.

Long as all these systems can be switched off I don't care really.

M

Let's see for how long. They already brake and park by themselves...

haha true true. But thats not what i meant

Yes it will result in somewhat higher prices, but remember... nobody cares about airbags either until they need them. Depending on how well the technology is set up this can be a great thing. There are some cars in development that monitor driver's eyes and alert if they are closed for too long in order to warn them.

Heres some research and talk of how other Fatigue systems work
IEEE Xplore - Login

Knowing someone who got into a crash after nodding off, I see it's uses. I much prefer these 'nanny' gadgets to the 'lazy ass' ones like auto dimming mirrors or rain sensing wipers or even cruise control (I have used it exactly twice in my car - once to see if it works and second to show how it works to my friend). Of course, the devil is going to be in the detail and how 'in your face' or not they make it.

Honestly i can see a lot of people not listening to the computer on the idea that "I know better than some stupid computer whether i'm tired or not" turn it off and then that'll negate the entire point of having it in the car. I think it's still a good idea as long as it's a seperate option without being part of a package, so you dont have to decide between having no power seats and paying an extra 3 grand for the attention assisst.

On a seperate note, AMEN sunny cruise control is the most useless thing equipped in cars and i think it has part in the fatigue related accidents. It relieves you of having to control the throttle giving you less to do making you sleepy and if you do nod off it'll keep you at speed as you run into a concrete median.