Bill Gates Envisions Cars that Can't Crash

[Marc]

Bill Gates Envisions Cars that Can't Crash
By The Associated Press

02 May 2005
04:10 pm ET


DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) _ Microsoft Corp. mogul Bill Gates and the leader of Ford Motor Co. outlined a future Friday in which software enables cars to fix themselves and avoid accidents.

Gates and Bill Ford Jr., Ford's chairman and chief executive, said high-definition screens, speech recognition technology, cameras, digital calendars and navigation equipment with directions and road conditions will set car companies apart from their competitors.

Eventually, Gates said, there could be a car that wouldn't let itself crash.

"That absolutely should be the goal,'' Gates told several hundred participants of the Microsoft Global Automotive Summit at the automaker's suburban Detroit campus. "The embrace of technology will be the key for the leaders of the industry.''

Also on Friday, Microsoft unveiled its Performance Peak Initiative _ a line of computer systems to help the auto industry better coordinate supply chains, streamline design, production and sales and fill vehicles with computer gadgets.

The company said its technology is currently in 25 vehicle devices from 13 automotive companies.

Microsoft also owns MSN Autos, a vehicle information and buying network.

Of course, there are a lot of "If Microsoft Made Cars" jokes out there such as:

At a recent computer expo, Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving twenty-five-dollar cars that get 1000 miles to the gallon."

Recently General Motors addressed this comment by responding, "Yes, but would you want your car to crash twice a day?"

And . . .

1. Every time they repainted the lines on the road you would have to buy a new car.

2. Occasionally, your car would die on the freeway for no reason, and you would just accept this, restart, and drive on.

3. Occasionally, executing a maneuver would cause your car to fail, and you would have to re-install the engine. For some strange reason, you would accept this too.

4. You could only have one person in the car at a time, unless you bought "Car95" or "CarNT." But then you would have to buy more seats.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast, twice as easy to drive, but would only run on five percent of the roads.

6. The Macintosh car owners would get expensive Microsoft upgrades to their cars, which would make their cars run much slower.

7. The oil, gas and alternator warning lights would be replaced by a single "general car default" warning light.

8. New seats would force everyone to have the same size butt.

9. The airbag system would say "are you sure?" before going off.

and

The Microsoft Car

Microsoft Announces a Major Corporate Diversification Into the Car Making Business.

The major design criteria are:

1. Economies in interior design are based upon uniform size back-sides seats are all the same size and standard distance from the steering wheel.

2. The cars will only run on Microsoft petrol (Microsoft LP Gas will be announced soon ..)

3. The oil, alternator, low-fuel and engine management system warning lights will be replaced by a single "General Car Protection Fault" warning light.

4. Delivery strategy is such that the consumer is under constant pressure to upgrade (modestly priced "upgrade" kits will be available either dealer fitted or self install). Support for self install is an extra cost option, cost based upon the number of calls and the number of callers.

5. You can only have one person in the car at a time, unless you buy Car95 or CarNT but having bought one of these, you still need to purchase more seats.

6. Occasionally, for no reason at all, the car will die for no apparent reason and restarting is a simple turn of the key .. strangely, this is accepted as normal.

7. Every time the lines on your normal road are repainted, you must buy a new MS Car

8. People would get excited about the new features of the Microsoft car, forgetting that the same features have been available from other car makers for years .....

and not to forget

9. Sun MicroSystems will make a car that is solar-powered, twice as reliable, five times as fast but will only run on 5% of currently constructed roads.

 

[AllanJ]

If my experience of Mr Gates' products is any guide, I remain to be assured that a person whose product crashes so much could make a product that would prevent other products from crashing.

 

[Jen Kirley]

If my experience of Mr Gates' products is any guide, I remain to be assured that a person whose product crashes so much could make a product that would prevent other products from crashing.

Indeed. I don't know whether to laugh or what...

 

[jmp4429]

Okay, for me, cars that could never crash would take all the joy out of driving. I use my morning commute to wake up, and if I couldn’t scare myself a little silly each day slingshoting around that corner where you’re only supposed to do 35, I’d arrive at work still brain-dead.

Second, I think a car that could never crash has the potential to be more dangerous than one that could. Consider:

You’re driving down a back road, there’s a car in the oncoming lane, a cow standing in your lane, and a big hedgerow over the shoulder. What happens? There’s seemingly nothing you can do. Can the car determine that of the three options, the hedgerow is the softest target?

Ever had to deliberately crash to prevent a worse crash? I have. I had traffic stopped in front of me, a ditch beside me, and an 18-wheeler approaching me from the rear at 55 miles an hour, with a driver that wasn’t paying attention. I put my car into the ditch as gently as I could, and the truck hit the car in front of me. That Honda crumpled like tinfoil. What if I hadn’t been able to put my car in the ditch? Would have been me, and if I had a no-crash system, it would have been my $80,000 car instead of my $2,000 Saturn.

I think I’ll take my chances.

 

[Rachel]

jmp,
I thought the same thing. There is a certain element of judgement that has to be taken into account when driving...in some cases, a crash cannot be avoided; it's simply a matter of picking the lesser of two evils. Commuting in and out of Toronto every day, I see it firsthand...feels like bumper cars some days (well, I shouldn't say *feels like* - I don't have an accident in my driving history, knock wood!).

The other day I was driving in - stuck in traffic, probably about 40kph. I was in the centre lane on a three-lane stretch. Look to my left - there's a lady putting on her full face of makeup in the rearview mirror (I'm not talking "checkin' herself out", I mean, the full face - powder, concealer, the works!). Look to my right - there's a guy reading the flippin' newspaper.

What is wrong with this picture?!?!? :mybad:

 

[SteelMaiden]

Is this a joke? When Bill can create an operating system that won't crash, then I'll think that it might be possible!