Like aircraft many newer vehicles have black boxes, which record various conditions of the vehicles, such as speed, brake application, acceleration and engine speeds. This information can be used in case of an accident or in estimating when certain parts on the car may fail and thus such information is of supreme value. But what if all vehicles collected the data the same way? What if all vehicles had similar software and it did not matter if you owned a BMW, Ford or Honda, it would all be the same? Well that would sure help things wouldn't it? In fact a police officer at the scene could simply go up to the car and take a reading of what happened right before the accident you see? How so you ask? Well the data could be retrieved via USB port from each car in the accident and then put into the on-board computer in the police car, it could instantly make a computerized report saving the taxpayer the Policemen's 3 hours of paperwork at $25.00 per hour. It would also mean more time could be spent on the job rather than behind a desk or a Denny's doing paper work you see? It would also be more accurate data than talking to many different witnesses and getting all sorts of debris in convoluted stories and half-truths. Such a synchronizing of all Automaker black boxes makes sense and is really only a tiny basic step in the next generation of net-centric automobiles and one we should consider. So, think on this in 2006. |
