Ford announces intelligent speed limiter system for cars

[algorerhythms]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/03/25/ford_auto_speed_limit_obedience_fuel_starvation/

Ford has announced a new intelligent speed limiter system which reads traffic signs and reduces fuel flow to keep your vehicle within the speed limit.

The Intelligent Speed Limiter combines current Ford technologies: the Adjustable Speed Limiter and Traffic Sign Recognition, which are both already available on models including the Focus, Mondeo, and Kuga SUV.

At speeds of between 20mph and 120mph the system smoothly decelerates by restricting the fuel supplied to the engine, rather than applying the brakes. Should travelling downhill cause the vehicle to exceed the legislated speed an alarm is sounded.

I'm guessing this wouldn't be popular around here. (I'm also wondering what would happen if some kid switched a "Speed Limit 70" sign on an interstate with a "Speed Limit 20" sign...)

[SignGeek101]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/03/25/ford_auto_speed_limit_obedience_fuel_starvation/

Ford has announced a new intelligent speed limiter system which reads traffic signs and reduces fuel flow to keep your vehicle within the speed limit.

The Intelligent Speed Limiter combines current Ford technologies: the Adjustable Speed Limiter and Traffic Sign Recognition, which are both already available on models including the Focus, Mondeo, and Kuga SUV.

At speeds of between 20mph and 120mph the system smoothly decelerates by restricting the fuel supplied to the engine, rather than applying the brakes. Should travelling downhill cause the vehicle to exceed the legislated speed an alarm is sounded.

I'm guessing this wouldn't be popular around here. (I'm also wondering what would happen if some kid switched a "Speed Limit 70" sign on an interstate with a "Speed Limit 20" sign...)

Or worse, changing a 35 to an 85. Threes are easy to change.

[roadman]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/03/25/ford_auto_speed_limit_obedience_fuel_starvation/

Ford has announced a new intelligent speed limiter system which reads traffic signs and reduces fuel flow to keep your vehicle within the speed limit.

The Intelligent Speed Limiter combines current Ford technologies: the Adjustable Speed Limiter and Traffic Sign Recognition, which are both already available on models including the Focus, Mondeo, and Kuga SUV.

At speeds of between 20mph and 120mph the system smoothly decelerates by restricting the fuel supplied to the engine, rather than applying the brakes. Should travelling downhill cause the vehicle to exceed the legislated speed an alarm is sounded.

I'm guessing this wouldn't be popular around here. (I'm also wondering what would happen if some kid switched a "Speed Limit 70" sign on an interstate with a "Speed Limit 20" sign...)

I suspect the reason Ford is developing this in the UK is because of Britian's propensity for speed camers, especially in work zones.

[oscar]

The system seems to depend on the authorities properly signing their speed cameras.  Not a safe assumption in North America, whatever is the practice in the U.K.

[Brandon]

The system seems to depend on the authorities properly signing their speed cameras.  Not a safe assumption in North America, whatever is the practice in the U.K.

Or like in Chicago where they've been known to flag parked cars for speeding.

[jeffandnicole]

How does it read "End Speed Zone", which defaults the speed limit back to the statutory limit?

[1995hoo]

The system seems to depend on the authorities properly signing their speed cameras.  Not a safe assumption in North America, whatever is the practice in the U.K.

Or like in Chicago where they've been known to flag parked cars for speeding.

Or in Belgium, where a speed camera clocked a Mini Cooper at Mach 3 (i.e., 50% faster than Concorde!).

[hotdogPi]

Sometimes, avoiding a crash requires speeding up. Removing the option to speed up would lead to more crashes.

[Brandon]

Sometimes, avoiding a crash requires speeding up. Removing the option to speed up would lead to more crashes.

"When in doubt, accelerate."
- Hugh "The Polar Bear" Rowland (as he was going over a very nasty bit of road in South America)

[cu2010]

Or, better yet, I'd love to see these things in those states which use Boring Squares as route markers.

I sure wouldn't want to get stuck behind one of these things on, say, MA2 when the engine suddenly governs itself to 2mph!

Seriously, speed governors as a whole need to crawl into a hole and die. Nothing is more frustrating than having a governed truck pull in front of you on the freeway while you're trying to pass someone else...especially when said truck is governed at 63 and trying to pass one set to 62. Swift Transportation, be swifter please!

[Pete from Boston]

I sure wouldn't want to get stuck behind one of these things on, say, MA2 when the engine suddenly governs itself to 2mph!

If you'd ever been on Route 2 at rush hour, you'd realize traffic governs itself to this speed.

[rickmastfan67]

Or in Belgium, where a speed camera clocked a Mini Cooper at Mach 3 (i.e., 50% faster than Concorde!).

For people who don't want to hunt for the article on it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3613715.stm

[leroys73]

Big Brother

[DeaconG]

And now on CNN.com:

http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/25/technology/ford-speed-limit/index.html

The comments are brutal...

[vdeane]

So if a Canadian comes down here with the technology, would they be stuck going 40 mph on the interstate?

The local news station was branding this as "how would you like to never get a speeding ticket ever again", so there's at least one person out there aside from Ford's PR people that are trying to sell this.

[wxfree]

35 being changed to 85 isn't a problem because the car does not force you to go the (apparent) speed limit.  In this case it would be like a normal car that doesn't resist speeding.

Someone putting up a wrongly low speed limit sign or a situation in which higher speed is required is not a problem because the limiting effect can be cancelled with firm pressure on the accelerator.

The system seems to be intended to keep you from unintentionally going 80 in a 70, not to make it impossible.  I rather like the idea, but I think there should be a way to turn it off or to add a certain allowance in places where speed limits are not realistic and strictly enforced.  I've always thought self-adjusting cruise control would be nice to have.  In one of these cars you could presumably set the cruise control to the highest speed limit and let it adjust automatically.

[Duke87]

I'm baffled as to who would voluntarily buy or otherwise drive a car with this "feature". If this becomes standard equipment on Fords that will certainly prevent me from ever buying another one.

[Thing 342]

My opinion on this completely depends on implementation. It would be useful on roads with unrealistically low limits but with high enforcement (or pretty much any road at all with high enforcement) to prevent your speed from drifting too high, but only if you could enable/disable it at will. Otherwise, it's pretty much needless regulation.

[Pete from Boston]

I have an intelligent speed limiter behind my steering wheel.

[Zeffy]

I'm baffled as to who would voluntarily buy or otherwise drive a car with this "feature". If this becomes standard equipment on Fords that will certainly prevent me from ever buying another one.

Yep, I agree. It's really not a hard concept to not speed. Just don't speed. Because more often than not, someone will always be going faster than you (and someone will be going faster than them!) on a multi-laned road.

[jeffandnicole]

I'm baffled as to who would voluntarily buy or otherwise drive a car with this "feature". If this becomes standard equipment on Fords that will certainly prevent me from ever buying another one.

Yep, I agree. It's really not a hard concept to not speed. Just don't speed. Because more often than not, someone will always be going faster than you (and someone will be going faster than them!) on a multi-laned road.

Or speed...just make sure you're not the fastest speeder out there!

If I'm going fast in the left lane, and someone comes up from behind me, I gladly let them pass.  I consider it insurance that a nearby cop will find him first!

[02 Park Ave]

I have heard that if a national speed limit were to be imposed by the politicians again, all motorcars with On-Star could be programmed within seconds not to exceed it in cruise control.

[1995hoo]

....  I rather like the idea, but I think there should be a way to turn it off or to add a certain allowance in places where speed limits are not realistic and strictly enforced.  ....

I would not be surprised if part of the idea behind this sort of system is a reaction to people who find the post speed limits unrealistic–it strikes me as the sort of thing regulators would like as a way of saying, "We decide what the speed limit is, not you."

I've seen arguments over the years that all cars should have governors: "The national speed limit is 55 mph, so there's no reason why a car should be able to go faster." Of course, we've seen in the past 20 years just why that sort of idea is asinine. It's impractical and unnecessarily expensive to have to get your governor reprogrammed every time the laws change, and it's absurd to say "you live in Virginia, so your car should be governed to 70 because that's Virginia's maximum"–who is the regulator to assume you won't drive in Maine where they have a 75-mph limit, for example? I suppose the idea here is that because the system can "read" the sign, it "knows" when to let you go faster–but how do you account for the problem of the sign being obscured by a big truck or the like? (I suppose nowadays if cars had governors they could be adjusted remotely, similar to what "02 Park Ave" mentions.)

Ford's system strikes me as a "solution" in need of a problem.

I suppose I have a bit of a libertarian streak in me because I think people do indeed have a RIGHT to ignore the speed limit: You have the right to drive as fast as you want, but with that right comes the responsibility to pay the penalty if you are caught violating the law, and to suffer whatever draconian penalty (including jail time) you incur if you do something idiotic like driving 75 mph on a residential 35-mph street. In other words, if you choose to go 105 mph in a 55-mph zone in Virginia, you will probably face jail time if you are caught, so if you choose to go that fast, suck it up and don't whine about it if a cop nails you and you wind up in jail.

(I cite 105 in a 55 zone because Jayson Werth got five days in jail earlier this year for doing precisely that on the Beltway.)

[Bickendan]

(I cite 105 in a 55 zone because Jayson Werth got five days in jail earlier this year for doing precisely that on the Beltway.)

How did he manage that? I thought the Beltway's supposed to be a pseudo-parking lot.
(Or am I mixing up I-495 with the M25? )

[Zeffy]

(Or am I mixing up I-495 with the M25? )

NSFW because of profanity