 |
Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
|
 |
Your Car Will Be Watching You!
Science fiction great Philip K. Dick is way ahead of us in his 1963 novel The Game Players of Titan; he knew that cars would someday keep a sharp eye on us mere humans:
It had been a bad night, and when he tried to drive home he had a terrible argument with his car.
"Mr. Garden, you are in no condition to drive. Please use the auto-auto mech and recline in the rear seat."
Pete Garden sat at the steering tiller and said as distinctly has he could manage, "Look, I can drive... Start, darn it!"
The auto-auto said "You have not inserted the key."
"Okay," he said, feeling humiliated. Maybe the car was right...
(Read more about Dick's alcohol-sensing system)
Affectiva is a small company that spun out of the MIT media lab ten years ago.

(Sensors inside the cabin of the car detect points on the body, infer movement,
and thus assess possible driver impairment. [AFFECTIVA])
There are already some basic driver-monitoring tools on the market. Most of these systems use a camera mounted on the steering wheel, tracking the driver's eye movements and blink rates to determine whether the person is impaired—perhaps distracted, drowsy, or drunk.
But the automotive industry has begun to realize that measuring impairment is more complicated than just making sure that the driver's eyes are on the road, and it requires a view beyond just the driver. These monitoring systems need to have insight into the state of the entire vehicle—and everyone in it—to have a full understanding of what's shaping the driver's behavior and how that behavior affects safety.
To truly tell whether a driver is impaired is a tricky task. You can't do that simply by tracking the driver's head position and eye-closure rate; you need to understand the larger context. This is where the need for interior sensing, and not only driver monitoring, comes into play.
Drivers could be diverting their eyes from the road, for example, for many reasons. They could be looking away from the road to check the speedometer, to answer a text message, or to check on a crying baby in the backseat. Each of these situations represents a different level of impairment.
(Via IEEE Spectrum)
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 10/25/2021)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.
| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories -
("
Artificial Intelligence
")
LLM 'Cognitive Core' Now Evolving
'Their only check on the growth and development of Vulcan 3 lay in two clues: the amount of rock thrown up to the surface... and the amount of the raw materials and tools and parts which the computer requested.' - Philip K. Dick, 1960.
When Your Child's Best Friend Is An AI
'Figments of his mind in one sense, of course, for he had shaped them...' - Clifford Simak, 1963.
Australian Authors Reject AI Training Of Llama
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.' - Anthony Boucher, 1943.
Does AI Provide A Way Forward For Talk Therapy
'And there in the next room by the sofa sat a familiar suitcase, that of his psychiatrist Dr. Smile.' - Philip K. Dick, 1965.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!)
is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for
the Invention Category that interests
you, the Glossary, the Invention
Timeline, or see what's New.
|
 |
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
LLM 'Cognitive Core' Now Evolving
'Their only check on the growth and development of Vulcan 3 lay in two clues: the amount of rock thrown up to the surface... and the amount of the raw materials and tools and parts which the computer requested.'
Has Elon Musk Given Up On Mars?
'There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.'
Bacteria Turns Plastic Into Pain Relief? That Gives Me An Idea.
'I guess there's nobody round this table who doesn't have a Crosswell [tapeworm] working for him in the small intestine.'
When Your Child's Best Friend Is An AI
'Figments of his mind in one sense, of course, for he had shaped them...'
China's Drone Mothership Can Carry 100 Drones
'So the parent drone carries a spotter that it launches...'
Drones Recharge In Mid-Air Like Jets Refuel!
'...nurse drones that would cruise around dumping large amounts of power into randomly selected pods.'
Australian Authors Reject AI Training Of Llama
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'
Is China Mining Helium-3 On The Moon's Farside?
'...for months Grantline bores had dug into the cliff.'
Maybe It's Too Soon To Require Autonomous Mode
'I hope all those other cars are on automatic,' he said anxiously.
Is Agentic AI The Wrong Kind Of Smartness?
'It’s smart enough to go wrong in very complicated ways, but not smart enough to help us find out what’s wrong.'
Heat Waver - The First Ever Combo Solar Collector And Wind Turbine
'...like a spray of tulips mounted fanwise.'
Tesla 'Fleet Response Agents' Bolster FSD Autonomy
'You hate the whole idea that some bored drone pusher in a remote driving centre has got your life... in his hands.'
Mori3 Autonomous Shapeshifting Robot
'My homeland is being threatened by the Replicators. Thus far all attempts to stop them have failed.'
Tesla Seeks 'Tesla Robotaxi' And 'Robobus' Trademarks Ignoring Prior Art
'A robobus had just rolled up to the curb.'
Scary Grid Safety Robots
'The ultimate horror for our paranoid culture...'
Does AI Provide A Way Forward For Talk Therapy
'And there in the next room by the sofa sat a familiar suitcase, that of his psychiatrist Dr. Smile.'
More SF in the News Stories
More Beyond Technovelgy science news stories
|
 |