Ridiculous: self-parking car (lexus)

[Dirichlet]

I just have to vent (again)...
Am I the only person who finds the idea of a self-parking car, such as the new Lexus, to be completely ridiculous? In my opinion, if you don't know where your car is or how to control it when doing less than one mile per hour, you sure as hell don't belong on the road at 60+ mph. Unbelievable...

[Bob]

But now she can do her make-up safely while parking, instead of doing it in the fast lane (at 50 mph) Bob

[1996 328ti]

I just have to vent (again)...
Am I the only person who finds the idea of a self-parking car, such as the new Lexus, to be completely ridiculous? In my opinion, if you don't know where your car is or how to control it when doing less than one mile per hour, you sure as hell don't belong on the road at 60+ mph. Unbelievable...

There's also adapative cruise control that will brake for you when you get close to the car in front of you.

[BahnBaum]

And if you also add in that lane departure warning stuff, you can just about go to sleep while driving.

Alex

[madkow70]

I don't know.
I'm going to have to somewhat disagree.
I fail to see see the problem with this feature in a car like LS. Isn't it inevitable that cars get more capable (or gimmicky). Just like i-drive was for Bimmers, I think this is a remarkable technological achievement to show Lexus' advancement. and i think it fits in a car like LS very well. now if they offer this feature in a M3, I'd think it's a bit out of place.
I don't think that "I" would opt for that feature myself. then again, I don't think I would opt for LS altogether. but that's just my preference.

[mlytle]

if stuff like this keeps inept idiots who don't know how to park from hitting my car in the process, bring it on!

the real tech break through will be when they design a system that senses how far away the parked car next to a person is and prevents them from opening the door far enough to bash it....grrrrrrrrr.

[SMOODY]

I think it will be interesting to see how long it takes before someone files a lawsuit against Lexus because a pedistrian is injured or another car is damaged while the driver was using this device.

While I am quite impressed at the technology required to make all of this work, I would not want this in my car. I don't even like the idea of active steering that BMW is putting on some of the newer cars. The idea that some computer has the capability of overruling my inputs and steering the car is not something I want in anything that I would drive.

[pranu]

I wonder if these would have been the same arguments heard at the time when cruise control was introduced?

Although I definitely agree with mlytle - wish they would do something about the door dingers!

[SMOODY]

I wonder if these would have been the same arguments heard at the time when cruise control was introduced?

Oh, I am sure that the same arguements have been employed against every major new technological advancement in automobiles (e.g. power steering, automatic transmissions, cruise control, ABS, stability control). Each one of these is present in my daily driver.

But don't I get to draw the line somewhere?

[87325is]

Smoody,

you definitely dont want electronic steering(or power steering) on any car you own in any way. It will be on all cars someday though. I used to work on a trw system for gm. Wow the software errors which would lock the wheel It was so bad everyone on the team thought we were going to get subpoenaed in a law suit.

Also most all other electronic gadgets added to cars will not effect emergencies....If you have electric steering and you have to turn the car off when driving what do you do? same with with electronic braking. I cant wait until an alternator dies and then the battery fails.

Most people think electronics are a god send. I think it is making us all dumb. I just hope auto manufactures never touch the mechanical linkage between brakes and steering(they will)


Jared

[OwnedbyDuncan]

Spinning a car with ABS is scary and unpredictable. Spinning a car with stability control and other electronic drivers aids isnt any fun either. Both feet in just isnt predictable and has no wheel effect. And yes you can spin a car with all the electronic nannies operating. I hate when a car wont rotate.

Other problem with all these electronic aids and nannies is the have little chips that store info which can be used against you. And when out of warranty all these systems are expensive to diagnosis and repair.

I miss tuning Webers.

You should have a DL if you cant parallel park or drive a stick.
Folks need the car to drive itself so theny can check email on their PDA and talk on their cell. Both of these shoudl be capital offenses while driving with summary executions by viglantes allowed and encouraged.

Dave Apker

[1996 328ti]

I miss tuning Webers.

I bet you miss B&W TV and ARPANET too.

[SharkD]

I, for one, welcome our new automatic-parallel parking overlords.

[AlfaEric]

I, for one, welcome our new automatic-parallel parking overlords.

Having seen how often people bump other car's while attempting to parallel park. I welcome them too.

---Eric

[OwnedbyDuncan]

I bet you miss B&W TV and ARPANET too.

No but tubes and vinyl still sound better.
And its a lot easier to tune Webers then to chase codes.
Dave Apker