New Technology Will Help Prevent Drivers From Speeding

There is an odd relationship between us and tickets and speeding – we have cars that are able to run at very high speeds that seem meaningless in common circumstances and when average drivers are driving. Preventing yourself from speeding is a hallowed game between the police and you that has no real effects.

However, there will be some changes to that game as recently developed cars will soon stop you from speeding, or at least remind you about it each time.

Controlling top speed

From its 2021 model onwards, Volvo will limit top speed to 180 kmph electronically. This speed limitation is not a big deal; however, it’s still a huge change from the current 249.5 kmph speed limit of various premium cars and changes the rules to things cars should do instead of things cars can do.

In the EU, new cars are about to be equipped with a technology called Intelligent Speed Adaptation that is able to prevent speeding at three degrees:

Give a warning when you exceed the allowed speed.

Prevent the accelerator pedal from getting more force when you are over the posted speed.

Restrict the power that an engine can deliver when you are already beyond the speed limit.

There are different options for you, which includes ignoring, pushing through, and canceling the interventions above, respectively; however, those options will change your relationship with speeding if you get into a bad situation. It appears that the EU is on track to request new cars to be equipped with the technology by 2022.

The way cars determine the limitation of speed

So what helps a car know the speed limit in a specific location? The answer is combining GPS databases of speed limits and sign recognition using cameras.

The technology hasn't come to the US yet; however, US Senators have just put forward a proposal to control huge rig trucks’ speed under 105 kmph with the use of electronic tech governing speed, which has already presented in many trucks but is not compelled for the drivers.

The authors of the bill mention a study from DOT which stated that with such a speed limit, about 60 to 200 lives can be saved from 1,300 fatal accidents including big rigs’ crashes on highways every year.

As you can imagine, this technology of speed limit is not pleasant news to truckers, because they believe that it can create harmful differences between the speed of other traffic and that of trucks, especially when they are driving on highways where drivers can drive as fast as 129 kmph.

Factors contributing to the feasibility of this tech

It’s possible that the most fascinating part of speed limit technology is the way this tech builds up a silent onslaught of drive-management and driver-assist technologies. There are more things that this tech may do to usher comfortably with self-driving cars than Zoox, Waymo, and Cruise can do. With automatic speed limit tech, people will feel more comfortable with the idea that a car has its own sets, including expertise, skills, and discipline.