Vauxhall launches speed limit detectors on Insignia (2008)
Thu, 19 Jun 2008By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 19 June 2008 07:53 Vauxhall's new Insignia will be the first of a wave of cars to have a forward-facing camera that can read road signs. The optional kit will detect speed limit and no overtaking signs – and flash up a reminder to the driver on the dashboard.GM calls the tech, which will be launched in early 2009, Traffic Sign Recognition and it uses a small, wide-angled camera system supplied by Hella. It sits at the top of the windscreen near the rain sensors and rear-view mirror, scanning the road ahead taking 30 photos per second.It's 1984 all over again...With a range of 100 metres, the camera focuses on circular patterns and then interprets the numbers inside by contour comparison; if a match is found on the software's database, that road sign will be flashed up in the driver's binnacle.The front-facing camera is also used as a lane departure warning system, alerting the driver if they unintentionally swerve out of their lane on a motorway.Cars with cameras: a growing trendMore and more manufacturers are fitting cameras to their cars nowadays and you can expect a flood of systems like the Insignia's to be launched in 2009, including the new BMW 5-series.CAR tried out these new systems on Bosch prototypes in 2007.
Jaguar XJ 3.0 TDV6 Long Term Test (2010): December update & 2011 Software review
Sat, 11 Dec 2010Jaguar XJ Long Term review & 2011 Software It’s hard to believe it, but our long-term Jaguar XJ has been with us more than a month. And in that month we’ve used it mainly for running around locally. Not by design, it’s just been that sort of month.
500-mph Ford hovercar is the future we were promised
Thu, 20 Mar 2014"Within a few decades, the urge to travel at high speed has led man to develop the locomotive, the automobile, the airplane, and the rocket. Today he can travel through the air at speeds in excess of sound, and it is likely that he will soon land on the moon." Yes, we eventually made it to the moon, 10 years after the Ford Motor Co. issued this bold proclamation.