Nissan is developing a system that alerts the existence of ice on the
road…
http://www.freegpsguide.info/2008/11...at-alerts.html

 

On Fri, 28 Nov 2008 02:36:53 -0800, virig wrote:

> Nissan is developing a system that alerts the existence of ice on the
> road…
> http://www.freegpsguide.info/2008/11...at-alerts.html


Could be a little late. There was a schematic for an Ice Detector in
Popular Electronics when I was in Tech school...in 1979...

All that was was a glorified thermometer that hung under the front bumper
of the car and would light a bulb or sound an alarm if the temp under the
car reached <32 degrees F.

 

On Nov 28, 2:47 pm, Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B <Tru...@e86.GTS> wrote:
> On Fri, 28 Nov 2008 02:36:53 -0800, virig wrote:
> > Nissan is developing a system that alerts the existence of ice on the
> > road...
> >http://www.freegpsguide.info/2008/11...ng-system-that...
>
> Could be a little late. There was a schematic for an Ice Detector in
> Popular Electronics when I was in Tech school...in 1979...
>
> All that was was a glorified thermometer that hung under the front bumper
> of the car and would light a bulb or sound an alarm if the temp under the
> car reached <32 degrees F.

Volvo had thermometers mounted under their cars in the eighties. No
light illuminated.

The nissan system is totally different though. It uses cameras
stationed on roads to detect ice, then send data to the car. Much more
high tech. Seems silly to me though.

The sheer number of cameras necessary for this to cover every road
would be cost-prohibitive. The first solution that comes to mind for
that is to only cover major roads. However, that makes little sense
since the major roads are usually treated well enough that ice is not
an issue, or it is obvious that it is there, or there is plenty of
room. The secondary roads are the places that ice is the real issue,
and covering every last one of those is just not realistic.

 

On Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:05:16 -0800, weelliott wrote:

> The nissan system is totally different though. It uses cameras
> stationed on roads to detect ice, then send data to the car. Much more
> high tech. Seems silly to me though.
>
> The sheer number of cameras necessary for this to cover every road
> would be cost-prohibitive. The first solution that comes to mind for
> that is to only cover major roads. However, that makes little sense
> since the major roads are usually treated well enough that ice is not
> an issue

You never been on the Mass Pike in January!

I used to drive 58 miles each way, and stopped taking the MP, since the
back roads were cleared better and sooner!!

 

On Dec 1, 9:01 pm, Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B <Tru...@e86.GTS> wrote:
> On Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:05:16 -0800, weelliott wrote:
> > The nissan system is totally different though. It uses cameras
> > stationed on roads to detect ice, then send data to the car. Much more
> > high tech. Seems silly to me though.
>
> > The sheer number of cameras necessary for this to cover every road
> > would be cost-prohibitive. The first solution that comes to mind for
> > that is to only cover major roads. However, that makes little sense
> > since the major roads are usually treated well enough that ice is not
> > an issue
>
> You never been on the Mass Pike in January!
>
> I used to drive 58 miles each way, and stopped taking the MP, since the
> back roads were cleared better and sooner!!

I'll admit I was generalizing, but I still assert that the system
would be more useful on secondary roads than on the major ones. At
least that has been my experience driving in Illinois, Indiana,
Connecticut, PA, MD, DC, NC, and northern VA.

South Eastern VA is messed up though. They plow secondary roads, but
just salt the highway. In '96 I was driving after a storm there and
had to slow down to about 20 on the empty four lane highway going
through Newport News in order to change lanes. The ruts of sludge were
so deep that they would spin your car once you had one car in the rut
and one out. I spun three times that day while never going over 30. So
you have a point, but I still think the system has such limited use
that it would be more practical for the cameras to arm a flashing
light on the side of the road by a sign that reads,"ice ahead." That
way everyone can see it, and the government spends money to put it in
places where it is needed versus Nissan building an entire system on a
car with cameras and associated operating costs that would only be
used part of the time.

 

On Nov 28, 5:36 am, virig <virginia.w...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Nissan is developing a system that alerts the existence of ice on the
> road…http://www.freegpsguide.info/2008/11...ng-system-that...

Every single vehicle I have ever driven has had an ice-detection
system, including my '65 Lemans and my 67 GTOs.


Dave