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November 30, 2006
ANOTHER SIGN THAT BUILT-IN SPEED LIMITS ARE BECOMING REALITY?
Last month it was reported that the American Trucking Associations has asked the government to require built-in speed limits on large trucks. Now, a major manufacturer of automotive equipment, Siemens, has announced that it has developed a system that prevents drivers from exceeding the posted speed limit.
The system “uses an onboard camera near the rearview mirror that can read speed-limit signs and feed the data to an onboard computer. So if the sign says 55 m.p.h., that's as fast as your car will go, not 1 m.p.h. more.” A company spokesman said the system can’t be fooled by defaced speed signs; “It has a lexicon of literacy based on the language, color, size and shape of the different signs and fonts of the different letters and numbers."
Siemens hopes to have the speed-limit recognition system ready for a European luxury car in a couple of years, though it won't say which one.
Posted by MVHAP at November 30, 2006 07:44 PM