4-RUNNIN' FREAK

I saw this on the news and decided to look into it further.
It does not use the remote controlled car, rather a joystick they can have complete conrol over the vehicle. They showed footage of this procedure as well.

Police call for remote button to stop cars
Motorists face new 'Big Brother' technology
Juliette Jowit, transport editor
Sunday December 21, 2003
The Observer

After speed cameras, road humps and mobile phone bans, there could be more bad news for Britain's motorists. Police are urging Ministers to give them the power to stop vehicles by remote control.
In what will be seen as yet another example of the in-creasing power of Big Brother, drivers face the prospect of their cars being halted by somebody pushing a button.
The police lobby is being led by Superintendent Jim Hammond of Sussex police, who chairs an Association of Chief Police Officers technology working group which is examining the idea.
'Providing an effective means to remotely stop a vehicle is fast becoming a priority,' Hammond told a European conference. 'The development of a safe and controlled system to enable remote stopping has the potential to directly save lives.'
However, Bert Morris, deputy director of the AA Motoring Trust said: 'People don't like the idea of Big Brother taking over their driving. In years to come that might be acceptable, but it's very, very important that there's a step-by-step approach.'
Cars could be stopped by the gradual reduction of engine power so it slowly comes to a stop, or by making sure when drivers come to a halt they can not move again.
Stopping cars remotely sounds futuristic, but the basic technology is already available and used in lorries to limit the top speed to 56mph and in new systems to immobilise stolen cars.
The key is the electronics box in most new cars which, when the driver presses the accelerator or brake, sends a message to the engine to speed up or slow down. It can be programmed to limit the speed generally or according to the position of the car, established via a GPS satellite. For remote operation, a modem, which works like a mobile phone, can be used tell the car to slow down or stop.
Similar radio telemetry was used by Formula One pit crews to adjust the engines of racing cars at up to 200mph - until it was banned this year.
'The technology exists and will become more refined as time goes on,' said Nick Rendell, managing director of the Siemens business developing this technology in the UK.
A senior police officer - assumed to be the chief constable or deputy - can already give the order to stop a car remotely, but that power has rarely if ever been used, said Morris. To use any new powers more widely, police must first overcome some practical problems to reassure Ministers that vehicles would be stopped safety. Ministers will also want reassurances that drivers would not be mistakenly stopped.
ACPO insists that it would only introduce the technology when it was safe. It is calling on the Government to introduce the legislation which it says will be vital to stop vehicles when - as expected - manufacturers develop tyres that run when they are flat. This will make 'stingers' - the spiked strips thrown in front of speeding cars - useless to stop stolen and get-away cars or dangerous drivers.
It is also linked to pressure to make cars 'pointless to steal' because of growing concern about more violent car crime as vehicles become harder to take. The RAC Foundation recently found there were as many as 1,200 car jackings in Britain last year.
Another link is to technology which would stop cars going above certain speed limits - either a fixed maximum such as 70mph, or varying according to the local limit.
The system could even be programmed to reduce speeds below the limit in bad weather or when school children were expected to be about, said Robert Gifford, director of the Parliamentary Advisory Committee on Transport Safety, which believes the technology could cut the 3,420 deaths a year on Britain's roads by 59 per cent.
Experts now believe the technology could start to be used voluntarily by the end of the decade and ultimately could be made mandatory.


Here is the link http://www.oilempire.us/remote.html

Scofco

Sounds like a good idea to me, as a law-abiding citizen.

4-RUNNIN' FREAK

I respect the laws as well, But they will soon have control over every aspect of our lives. Did you ever have to go a little fast because you need to get somewhere? Or since the road was clear ... open it up? Then they can track where you are too, Well they do that already with the EZ-Pass system.
Around here it was originally for traffic studies, But they can still find out where you are and driving habits with all of the little devices they stick all over the area. When it first came to this area they would issue people tickets for speeding because they can get time on a toll road and the time off and calculate the speed you traveled and ticket you accordingly.

Those are just my opinions stated above. Please don't jump on me for not wanting to lose more freedom to laws. As I recall, America was founded by people who basically hated the laws of their old land and wanted a new chance at life, why take it all away.

Bob_98SR5

wow, this is a tough question.

here in LA where car chases are a daily occurrence, certain law enforcement depts are authorized/not authorized to do certain manuevers to end a chase. and some depts are reviewing their policies towards high speed pursuits---usually after some poor innocents are killed by the speeders or the police.

IMHO, this technology is a step in the right direction because potentially, they can end high speed chases before they get out of hand. howver on the con side, the fact that a certain individiaul can (at will) disable your vehicle is a very scary thought. im sure there will be a time before someone steals this technology and use it for something illegal or dangerous.

id say give it a try on a trial basis.

bob

kyle_22r

not in my lifetime. we're starting to become a nation of too many laws.

besides, the technology to stop a car already exists, there's a device that will fry the electronics on the car when they drive over it

shazaam

I'm sure they'll tack this in when it comes time to renew the patriot act ... I wonder when their going to come out with the device that monitors the amount of ˟˟˟˟ coming out of your arse, to study its impact on the enviroment.

Nic

This sounds just like gun control philosophy-only the law abiding citizens will be penalized and thus the only ones affected. The criminals will quickly find a way to disable it and not even miss a beat.

96LtdYota

this is already in use... certain GM vehicles with on-star equipped can be shut off remotely... say someone steals your car from the grocery store, well you get out your trusty little cell phone, give onstar a call, give the plate numbers and a few more identifying things, and they send a signal to cut the engine in the car... works easy.
you can also have them unlock your car when you lock the keys inside...

jimbo74

they need an emp gun on their cop cars.. that will stop a vehicle cold, however, it will only cut out the elctronics..... and for radio controlled with a joystick! damn, that would be very hard to make solenoids or starter motors or whatever to try and turn something as strog as a rack and pinion or throttle input and gear selection stuff....

terky

no freaking way.

EDGE

This sounds so familiar,

MTL_4runner

Wait until hackers get into this and have a field day playing with traffic on the way to work.

4-RUNNIN' FREAK

And tax you by quantity
and you'll have to pay extra if it smells really bad too.

X-AWDriver

My thoughts exactly;if the technology has flaws (and it will) and can be controlled by the wrong people you could have some real issues.

We don't need this technology unless maybe it could be installed in cars with people who have had past problems with the law but not on every privately owned vehicles.
The government is looking at ways to control us all the time and this could be a biggie. Yeah,at first it'll start out nailing people that deserve it but it's just an open door for more ways the government can nose their ways into our lives. If the US is smart then they will boycott manufacturers who use this on their cars.

4-RUNNIN' FREAK

Another thing that is coming into play around my area with major power companies, gas companies and the likes, is the installation of GPS type systems to "SPY" on their workers. To see if they are somewhere they are not supposed to be, or somewhere for too long, more time than the job should take. Everyone gets some downtime, now they are trying to take that away too.
The company I work for wants to install them, who knows if they already did.
Ahhh the joys of technology.

X-AWDriver

I think it's different if it's business since you have a choice to abide by their rules or not to. It's just like companies knowing what their employees are looking at on their computers.

havic

I say if the government was concerned about saving lives, instead of making intrusive technology like stopping cars with a remote control, put speed governors on cars so that they can't go over 75mph. I'm not for that, but I'd rather see that then have someone with remote access to my car. That way we can get speed unlimiters from the black market for those of us who want to go faster! I hate this big brother crap because it always hurts the people who mostly obey the law and don't do anything criminal, meanwhile they can't find the guy smuggling drugs into the country. Why don't they focus on real issues!

88yotaboy

You hit the nail on the head.

UKMyers

That story talked about stuff going on England. I just spent 4 years there and we have it easy compared to them. Driving was a freakin nightmare there. The "Lorries" are semi trucks and they are limited to 56 mph. Well they draft one another and get a run and then pass each other but the problem is they take about 10 minutes to get by and they hold up the traffic in the fast lane in the process. The worst thing they have though are speed cameras everywhere. You just get a ticket in the mail with a pic of your license plate without ever knowing it.

tenfourtyeight

The government can do this if they want, as long as they pay for my vehicle equipped with this technology, pay for my gas, insurance, and all other vehicle expenses.

No way my privately owned stuff is getting jacked up like that.