Samsung "The Safety Truck" - YouTube I have to think that this will save lives, until they start running 30 second ads... Fishheadjoe
I really doubt it's cheap enough for truck owners to modify entire fleets - that's some big screen there.
It will be required in California by the end of 2017, cost billions to retrofit every truck, put several companies out of business and save exactly zero lives. But the Samsung commercial for it sure is pretty, isn't it?
Ha! Nothing else about my theories bothered you????? The billions in cost? Possibly shutting down smaller trucking companies that couldn't afford to put a big screen TV on the back of every truck? The legal requirement to do so? But if we can save just one life........ Oy.
I was not addressing any of the other issues you raised or expressing an opinion on the validity of the idea one way or the other. I was just asking what criteria you were utilizing to arrive at the conclusion that the technology was flawed.
One thing it would do that I would appreciate is allow a driver stuck behind a truck to see what's going on ahead. Sometimes that's enough. Being blind and blocked is maddening. If you can see, you may not want to pass, even if you can. This may be a personality quirk, but I get frustrated behind large, opaque objects because I can't look ahead. If those large, opaque objects became somewhat transparent through the use of a screen like this, I would agitate less. My wife would appreciate it very much.
Which is why we need to take the human drivers out of the equation and teach machines to do it, and have the machines all talk to each other to avoid screwups. Machines don't get tired, drunk, or stoned. (Yet. Just you wait. With AI being "just around the corner", so is Artificial Stupidity.)
Actually, it is 4 smaller screens with a video processor to make one large image. Probably less than $4,000 for the total system cost.
OK, fine. How about this? Maybe it's a solution in search of a problem? Why don't YOU show ME hard data on the number of accidents or fatalities that are directly caused by drivers trying to pass trucks they can't see around.
I agree that it may be a remedy in search of a disease. The ad says about 1 death per hour in that country but I know of no collection of statistics on our end that would substantiate that figure. So, I'll go back to my original thought which is that I have no real opinion on this until I see the numbers. I will say, however, whether it is a viable tool or not that it is an innovative out of the box thought that merits kudos. (Again, not endorsing or bashing it.)
What happens when driving on wet roads obscures the camera & displays with road grime? But it's an interesting idea.