Automatic license-plate readers (ALRPs) are among the most prolific yet least-talked-about technologies fast eroding Americans’ diminishing right to privacy. The camera-based systems, mounted on police cars or in static locations, automatically photograph license plates and feed information about their location into government and other data bases. Now, privacy advocates can fight back, simply by getting dressed in the morning. As reported in MIT Technology Review, a new clothing company, Adversarial Fashions, is selling a line of men’s and women’s wearables with license-plate patterns that are designed to trigger ALPR cameras and feed the systems useless data and obfuscate actual plates.
Three different patterns are offered. One depicts black-and-white plates with miscellaneous letter-number combinations or license plates, another has the same thing mixed with circuit imagery, and a third puts into license-plate form the text of the fourth Amendment (the one against unreasonable searches and seizures). The collection includes T-shirts, hoodies, crop tops, skirts, jackets, and dresses. The company suggests shoppers might consider buying a size larger than normal, since the patterns are most easily read when the garments hang straight. And this is one instance where you want the readers to get a good, clear look.
A new IIHS study found that a scary amount of people are confused about the driver assistance systems found in cars today. Furthermore, the study found that folks were especially confused about Tesla's Autopilot.
One portion of the study involved the IIHS surveying participants about certain unsafe behaviors behind the wheel, given only the name of the driver assistance system. People weren't given the name of the brand for this section, and were instead told to answer the questions about Autopilot (Tesla), Traffic Jam Assist (Audi and Acura), Super Cruise (Cadillac), Driving Assistant Plus (BMW) and ProPilot Assist (Nissan). The results show that folks misunderstand Tesla's Autopilot far worse than any other driver assistance system on the market. A chart of the results is pasted below.
A huge 48 percent of respondents thought it OK to take your hands off the wheel while using Autopilot. Additionally, 6 percent thought it safe to take a nap with Autopilot active. This level of distracted driving is something we've seen time and time again on public roads. Interestingly, only 27 percent of people surveyed think it's alright to take your hands off the wheel using Cadillac's Super Cruise, and that's a hands-free system.
We should be concerned about the numbers for the other driver assistance systems, too. Drivers are confused about the capabilities of current systems, and what a manufacturer calls it appears to be contributing to the confusion.
The IIHS study went further to learn about how people are interpreting instrument cluster data as it pertains to these systems. This portion of the study used a 2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class. It found a couple different bits of information eluded most of the study's participants. Most people "struggled to understand what was happening when the system didn't detect a vehicle ahead because it was initially beyond the range of detection." Also, many were unable to identify when lane centering was inactive. The IIHS suggested that audible alerts and more obvious visual signals could help improve the understanding of these systems.
Results from another IIHS study were also released today, and this one has to do with where people are using these systems. This study monitored people driving a Range Rover Evoque and Volvo S90 to see where and how often they use adaptive cruise control or the Level 2 Pilot Assist system in the Volvo. These systems are meant to be used on the highway, and are often detailed as such in a vehicle's owner's manual. The study found only a small percentage of driving off the highway was done using these systems, just 7 percent for the Evoque and 11 percent for the S90. Those numbers both rose considerably in highway use, with the Evoque's systems being used 40 percent of the time and the S90's for 28 percent of the time. You can check out the study here for more details if you're interested.
I'm holding a Hot Wheels Lamborghini Miura in the palm of my hand, and the cool-to-the-touch metal toy feels identical to the Matchbox cars I spent endless hours playing with as a wee lad. But this time, the scaled-down conveyance packs tech I couldn't have dreamed of back in the day: an embedded NFC chip that acts as a digital VIN number, recording a lifetime scorecard of laps speeds, top scale speed, challenges won and distance traveled. This is not your father's Hot Wheels toy (and it certainly wasn't mine), but this techy Hot Wheels 'id' toy that debuted at Apple Stores today just might redefine the way children play with toy vehicles in the future.
"Kids are now learning to swipe before they wipe," Mattel Director of Product Management and Global Marketing Ron Friedman tells me in the "War Room" of the company's Southern California headquarters. More specifically, Friedman is referring to the so-called Alpha generation — children born after 2010, the year the iPad was launched. This particular subset of tykes slot after millennials, and are considered the first truly digitally native generation, born and raised in a fully saturated environment of tablets, smartphones and screens. In an attempt to understand how Alphas interact with this landscape, Mattel dove deep into research, conducting ethnographic studies on their play habits and leisure behavior. "Three years after the launch of the iPad, 21 percent of kids had access to a tablet. Fast forward five years from there and the number has climbed to 93 percent," Friedman says. This is the new playground, and they're spending more time on digital than off. This is the new normal."
So we're well aware that the kiddos have gone full digital, but what does that mean for how they play with cars? Recognizing the benefits of physical play and its link to cognitive and motor skill development (as opposed to vegging in front of a screen), Mattel integrated a digital element into their 50 year-old Hot Wheels platform while maintaining the same basic elements of their die-cast cars — dimensions, rolling wheels and the ability to play vroom vroom and pretend that miniature car is somehow full-sized. The digital fingerprint originates from the tiny chip in the car, but transforms gameplay by communicating with an app that's first being launched on iOS; hence, the 30-day Apple Store exclusive. Android, inevitably, will follow. You can pretend play with an id car all you want, roll it on countertops and drive your parents crazy the good old-fashioned way. But to accumulate mileage, tricks, and top speed specs– all of which are tracked with the id app–you'll need to play on a new Hot Wheels id Smart Track ($179), which uses a Race Portal ($39.99 if purchased separately) that's equipped with an NFC reader and 2 IR sensors which recognize each vehicle's unique digital signature and calculate its scale speed. The track comes with two unique vehicles and 16 interlocking track sections that link digital data via USB connectors. The resulting combinations can create up to 50 different configurations, each of which are detected by the app and can be mirrored in the digital environment. The app also acts as a digital garage that echoes the selection of cars at play in the real world. Future track components will become available in 2020, priced between $9.99 and $29.99 individually, and offering further variations on loops, jumps and straightaway sections.
I spent some time fiddling with the Hot Wheels id system and found it to be a near 50/50 mashup of old school play style and new school gamer elements. There's a strong sense memory association for traditionalists like myself — the feel of the car in your hand, the freewheel spin of the axle, the metallic flake paint and the whimsical designs. Hot Wheels intends to offer 51 id vehicles this year and kicks off with eight, each priced at $6.99: relatable supercar/racecars including the Corvette C7R, SRT Viper GTS-R, Mercedes AMG-GT and Aston Martin One-77, as well as fictitious creations like Howlin Heat, Motosaurus, Shark Hammer 2.0, and Arachnorod.
But there's also a highly polished digital element that incorporates fast moving graphics, multilayered animations and engaging effects — many of the elements found in the latest tablet apps, though a tad less slick than big budget XBox, Playstation or Nintendo Switch games. Not surprisingly, the interface and graphics skew a bit young, though I will also admit to having a bit of fun while playing with the system. The software I tried with was still in Beta form, and had a couple glitches I was told would be resolved before the system went to market. That said, some of the more engaging aspects included a launch function, which measures top speed at the end of the track. The booster hardware, which accelerates cars using gear-driven wheels that are activated by pressing down on a button, is Hot Wheels' most powerful yet. It links to the app which displays its rpms. You can mindlessly propel and track up to six cars on the track by pumping the button, or engage in a challenge that dictates an rpm for you to match. Incidentally, the system relies entirely on the Race Portal for data to be tracked. That section of track runs on a 500 mA lithium polymer battery and can record up to eight hours of playtime until it needs to connect to the phone or tablet-based app in order to transfer the data. Nothing is stored locally in each vehicle — after all, what would you expect for seven bucks a car? — but the app uploads each vehicle's stats and history, and uploads it to the cloud where a permanent record is stored for each vehicle's unique VIN number.
By adding a semi-structured format to gameplay, the id system encourages more involvement and greater stakes for kids who, like so many of us who became lifelong car fanatics, got into the hobby at an early age. Though some traditionalists (like myself) might be initially disappointed to learn that the cars only accumulate their stats when played with on an appropriate id track, the system makes sense within this ecosystem of affordable, collectable cars. And while the $179 price of the track will undoubtedly be a deterrent to some, the buy-in could also be considered fair game for parents seeking to foster the next level of enthusiasm for their car-crazy kids. On top of that, prices can only fall after the gaming system has been on the market for some time.
When asked about the idea of messing with Hot Wheels' analog success, Friedman suggests the new system is simply capitalizing on the brand's car toys of yore without losing the basic principles behind the gameplay. "The idea here is that play patterns have worked for 50 years," he says. "We're just making it more modern for the 21stcentury."
Volvo always seems to be up to something new in the world of safety, and now it's working with another Swedish company called POC to learn about and ultimately improve bicycle safety. Specifically, Volvo and POC (which makes cycling safety gear and apparel) are figuring out crash testing for bike helmets as related to cars. Any time a car crashes into a cyclist is scary, and this testing is a step toward developing safer helmets and maybe even safer cars.
This new crash testing is done with crash dummies wearing POC bike helmets on their heads. Volvo says "they are launched towards different areas of the hood of a static Volvo car, at different speeds and angles for various measurements." It's interesting to watch in the video Volvo and POC made — the "dummies" are basically hard, round objects inside the helmet, and they get thrown into the car with some serious speed. There will also be testing of dummies without helmets, to have a point of comparison.
Apparently, current bike helmet testing procedures aren't very high-tech in nature. Volvo and POC say most regulatory testing involves dropping helmets from different heights onto flat or angled surfaces, without taking various forms of vehicle impacts into account. This new testing should help POC design its helmets to better withstand an impact from the stupid-heavy missiles we all ride around in called cars. Volvo claims this testing will also provide insights it can take apply to vehicle design in the future.
There are tons of bikers on the roads in cities, so this testing seems like a good idea. Mobility scooter riders seem to be at just as much risk these days, as Birds and Limes zip through traffic and on sidewalks in cities all over. However, we've all noticed that helmets don't appear to be top of mind with scooter riders. Perhaps in the future we'll have helmets that can save more of our heads when smacked by a car, just as Volvo and POC are testing here.
Nissan is introducing some new, advanced driver assist systems for the Japanese market Skyline sedan this fall. Similarly to Tesla's Navigate on Autopilot, the updated ProPILOT system now combines navigation and automatic lane-changing. In addition, hands-off driving is enabled when certain guidelines are met and the driver is paying attention to the road ahead. Earlier ProPILOT iterations have required the driver to keep a hand on the wheel at all times.
This advanced cruise control/lane keeping assist now allows hands-off driving in a single highway lane, while constantly monitoring the driver's attentiveness, as the system will need the driver to take over in a sudden situation. With a pre-defined route activated on the navigation system and relying on a suite of cameras and radars, the ProPILOT equipped Skyline is able to change lanes and choose the correct ramp; at the highway exit ramp, the system prompts the driver to take full control of the car, both with audio and visual cues.
The driver authorizes the suggested moves by placing their hands on the steering wheel and pressing a switch, and in the event of a lane change to overtake a slower-moving vehicle, by using the turn signal. Nissan calls the hands-off driving capabilities a "world first", but like Engadget points out, the Cadillac SuperCruise also allows driving hands-off in a single lane, as long as a lane change isn't needed. The hands-off mode will not be available in two-way traffic, tunnels, toll areas or "winding roads", according to Nissan.
The "navigated highway driving" assist will be made available on the Skyline series in the fall of 2019; presumably, this means the premium sedan line and excludes the GT-R. No corresponding U.S. market Infiniti availability has yet been announced.
Volvo just released a new mobile service designed to guide you through what to do after a car crash. It's a simple bit of tech, but might prove helpful if you weren't up to speed on what to do after a light brush up with another vehicle.
The service is called Car Accident Advisor. After confirming to Volvo Customer Care that you are uninjured and not in need of emergency services, you'll get a text to your phone that links you to this service. Assuming you have an internet connection, the application will proceed to guide you through the necessary steps one should take after getting into an accident.
Volvo says the app will prompt the driver to capture photos and write down facts about the accident. It asks if other vehicles are involved, determines your exact location and allows you to pinpoint the areas of the car that were damaged. After doing that "paperwork," Volvo then allows you to submit it in a nicely organized report directly to your insurer. This allows you to get your insurance claim in the process right away, hopefully speeding up the entire process. The last guided step Volvo offers is a body shop/service finder. It lists approved Volvo shops and can arrange a tow to those shops, so you can theoretically get a quick start on repairs.
The benefits for someone unprepared are obvious, but this could be handy for experienced drivers, too, since an accident can be pretty disorienting. Volvo says the service will work on all model year 2015.5 or newer Volvos. If you have a Volvo older than that, you can trigger the service manually with a phone call to Volvo Car Customer Care. There is no cost to using the Accident Advisor either way.
Google I/O 2019 is in full swing, and there's actually a bit of car news coming out of the big tech event. Allow us to introduce you to Google Assistant's driving mode. If you're familiar with Google's dedicated phone app, Android Auto, then this will look quite familiar to you. That app is different than but ultimately very similar to Android Auto on your car's infotainment display, but it's meant to be controlled via your phone for people who don't have cars with Android Auto capability.
The new Assistant driving mode takes the current Android Auto phone app and essentially renders it obsolete, while performing many of the same functions. Its main use is as a navigation device — you can make it use either Google Maps or Waze by default. Assistant driving mode can be set to launch on your Android phone automatically when it's connected to your car's Bluetooth or you say, "Hey Google, let's drive."
Upon launching, there's a dashboard that's personalized to you. The entire experience is heavily voice driven, so you can either tell it what you want next, or tap the suggested options on screen. Navigation suggestions are based on your calendar, normal routine or recently searched locations. Audio suggestions consist of recently played things or recommendations based on your preferences. And of course, you can call someone or text someone using voice control with the app, too. The actual feature set of Google Assistant driving mode is extremely similar to Android Auto, (which just had a big update announced yesterday) it just comes with a different user interface for the typically smaller screen that phones have versus infotainment systems.
Also announced at Google I/O is easier communication between Google Assistant and your car if so equipped. Instead of going through multiple commands to control your car via Assistant, now you just need one or two. Google says that Hyundais equipped with the Blue Link app, and Mercedes equipped with the Mercedes Me Connect feature will be able to take advantage of these simplified commands initially. For example, Google says one command of, "Hey Google, turn on the car A/C to 70 degrees" will now do the trick. Previously, Hyundai said it would involve a back and forth between you and your phone to finally get the command executed.
All of these new features are said to be arriving to your phone via an update this summer.
Android Auto users are in for a treat as Google just unveiled a complete overhaul of the interface. We can safely say it looks a whole lot better than the current system, and we're excited to try it out.
To begin, there's a new launcher. Instead of the five buttons along the bottom, now there's an array of apps to choose from in a vertically scrolling interface. This looks a whole lot more like the app drawer on your actual phone, and should make choosing your desired navigation or audio app much more intuitive. The launcher looks more like Apple CarPlay, but scrolls vertically instead of sliding from page to page horizontally.
Even more is the new "navigation bar" you see on the bottom. This bar stays on your screen and changes its function based on what app you're using at the time. For example, if you're using navigation with Google Maps and listening to a podcast at the same time, you can fast forward or rewind the podcast without having to leave the Google Maps app because the navigation bar has audio playback controls on it. Also, if you have the music app of your choice loaded up while navigation is running, your next move/direction stays plastered on the bottom navigation bar. What this does is reduce the amount of inputs and taps because you don't have to switch apps to reach your desired controls. This is a big step forward if we're thinking about driver distractions, because now you can pay less attention to navigating through the screens and more on the road.
Then there are several less significant but still noteworthy additions. Google is introducing a newly-designed notification center that allows you to see recent calls, listen to messages and view alerts. There's also a new dark theme that was sorely needed. Apple CarPlay has always looked more polished with its dark theme that blends in nicely with most car's interiors. Now Android has them matched, and it looks just as elegant. Finally, Android is adding in wide-screen optimization for some of the abnormally wide displays we're seeing in cars today. This will make sure the OS is using all the possible screen real estate provided. Google says the update will be rolling out to all Android Auto equipped cars this summer.
Over in Europe and in Canada, some automakers offer fancy LED headlights that can selectively dim sections of the light to prevent glare while maintaining long-distance illumination elsewhere. And according to testing by AAA, these lights don't just sound good on paper, they offer greater illumination and potential for reduced glare over U.S.-spec lights.
In testing, the organization found that the adaptive lights provided 12.5 percent more high-beam illumination than the U.S. versions. In low-beam mode, U.S. lights were better by just 1.9 percent. But the big advantage is running high-beams even with nearby cars, and AAA says that comparing U.S. low beams with the adaptive headlights running in normal high-beam mode, the adaptive lights can illuminate 86 percent more area ahead of the car. Perceived glare from all lights were in the low range, and when going over hills, the adaptive lights usually caused less glare than U.S.-spec lights, though occasionally the adaptive lights were slow to adjust over hills.
So why don't we have these lights available? The Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) code doesn't allow for low-beams and high-beams to be active simultaneously, which is required for adaptive lights to work. In addition, the government uses static tests for lights with brightness limits for low- and high-beams. Because adaptive lights only dim select areas, the overall brightness will be too high.
Considering the benefits of adaptive lights, it's no surprise that AAA feels that the government needs to change the regulations to allow them. AAA isn't the only group pushing for European-style lighting standards, either, as Toyota, VW and BMW petitioned the government for revisions, and NHTSA is developing regulations that allow the lights. AAA supports NHTSA's move to permit adaptive headlights. It also has its own suggested changes such as more dynamic testing, including road tests. Additionally, AAA proposes upping the high-beam output limit from 150,000 candela to the European 430,000 candela, provided that the lights can start adjusting at the 400-meter mark Europe tests the lights at rather than the U.S. 220-meter mark. The organization notes that the higher light power is a contributing factor to the European lights' better illumination.
