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from the not-just-for-stopping-speeders-anymore dept.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
To increase public security, the EU SAVELEC project has demonstrated a prototype device that can stop non-cooperative vehicles, both safely and at distance.
In its endeavour to keep the public safe, one of the key challenges facing European security services is the ability to control and stop, at distance, non-cooperative vehicles posing a threat. However, this ability presents more than a technical challenge. To comply with EU legislation, as well as adhere to ethical concerns, the technology would also have to be safe for the user, the driver (and passengers), as well as members of the public and the material infrastructure of the surrounding environment.
The SAVELEC (Safe control of non cooperative vehicles through electromagnetic means) project developed a prototype device, after testing signals (magnetic pulses and microwave), which interfered with key car components, forcing it to slow down and stop. With the contribution of security forces as the ultimate end users, the researchers were able to simulate the technology's use in realistic scenarios.
(Score: 2) by n1 on Sunday July 31 2016, @03:10PM
This is the inevitable and obvious extension of the law due to come in force in 2018 in the EU
European Commission [europa.eu] - 28/04/2015
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Hyperturtle on Sunday July 31 2016, @03:42PM
Sounds like it is time to get a motorcycle license. Those would likely be easier to keep running with just old school know-how. Also easier to take off the road, but the driver is also easier to disable remotely via a drone with a taser. Your tinfoil motorcycle helmet had better be grounded! The drone need only follow the IMEI number targeted; like amazon deliveries when the drone is in range and you can accept the delivery upon having stepped outside of your home. In any event, a motorcycle can provide the illusion of freedom--at least for a little while.
Most of these public safety technology requirements as of late seem to enrich the people we voted in. I am the type that won't accept the discount to put some spy device in my car and report on my driving. I have had a clean record and would benefit financially from it, but I'd feel like I sold out humanity by helping usher in the era of a global panopticon, in exchange not even for security or safety--but so I can buy more stuff. I sell myself out for some things (considering I live in modern society) but I resist what makes sense to me... portable rats and kill switches being amongst them. Maybe while we're forced to the side of the road, personalized ads can display to distract us while we await whatever is coming our way? I mean, with a remote kill-switch, I would have to believe the doors would become locked (for your safety) and the windows will be sealed (also for your safety). With the remote kill-switch also comes the authority unlock command. Perhaps the doors will open to people with the right RFID in their uniform/badges. It's not like that isn't already the case with various electronic home deadbolts.
I imagine the robot cars of the future will have this baked in; Google didn't even want people to access a steering wheel, so a remote kill switch seems to be a given from the start -- a local kill switch (the brakes) wasn't part of their original intent, because people being more than passive consumers of Google technologies tend to get in the way of the overall goals they have.
One thing you can be assured of is that this technology won't be used to help people stop at red lights; otherwise the revenue from the red light camera network will be negatively impacted. Of course, in the robot car future, I hope robot cars don't just speed through red lights... the information superhighway may have collision detection and retransmits; my body may not survive too many of those on the open road if cars are simply treated as moving packets with various priorities and qualities of service.
The bulk commuter can get dropped first in the glorious future, I imagine, while the landed elite will get their lanes cleared so they can speed through.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 31 2016, @06:34PM
I actually think this is a good idea and wish that the United States would require a functional emergency call button here in the U.S. on all cars. We do require all cell phones, even password protected ones or ones that are not activated, to have an emergency call feature. Same for inactivated land lines, you should still be able to call 911 on them. Only exception is if it's a land line phone that requires a separate power source and your power is down.
and in response to
"by Hyperturtle (2824) Subscriber Badge on Sunday July 31, @11:42AM (#382291) "
Having a call button does not necessarily mean the device is monitoring your location when you're not using it. If it is then that's a separate issue that should be criticized and addressed separately.
and, heck, your cell phone already does in fact monitor your location, from my understanding some may even do it to some extent even if the location feature is off (I think my phone still approximately knows where I am even when location and Wifi are off. It knows what cell phone towers are nearby that it can connect to and so it gives it an idea of where I am. Even the Wifi feature alone can give it a lot more information as the combination of each Wifi router and their wifi signal strengths can be unique to a particular location).
The problem is that there are many dead cell spots. Perhaps a car transponder can send a much stronger signal being it's originating from your car which can allow for the use of more power.
Sorta off topic but supposedly UFOs have been known to be able to stop vehicles (or so I've seen on TV). If so I wonder if the technology in the OP might be how they're doing it. If so it wouldn't surprise me if the military already has this kind of technology either because the military is behind the UFOs or because the military has figured out how to make this technology independently.