It ’s well-to-do to fall into a ruck mind-set out on the open highway . There'­s safety in numbers , protection in conformism . Travel too slowly and you ’ll receive the raging honks of your fellow drivers . Travel too fast and you ’ll attract unwanted attention from robotic speedcamerasand law officers wielding radio detection and ranging guns . Naturally , the best direction to avoid flashing blue lighter and pocketbook - wear out tickets is to stick to the car speed terminal point , but what do you do when you do n’t know it ?

It ’s an easy situation to find yourself in . You take an interstate on - ramp or wind your way through crisscrossing rural road . The next thing you know , you ’re wondering if the speed limit is still 65 mph ( 105 kph ) or if you miss a sign somewhere along the way . In many area , you’re able to always fall back on the standard default speed limit . For instance , in the United States , California ’s default option main road speed limit is 65 mph , stool it a good speed to drop back down to if you ’re in doubt . In addition , just screw the speed limit is n’t always enough . you’re able to bring in a speeding ticket for go quicker than current atmospheric condition shape , such as fog , stock warrant , even if you ’re traveling at the posted speed .

At times it seems like law enforcement officeholder do n’t even need you to know what the current fastness limits are . All of this leads us to the inevitable dubiousness : Ca n’t my gondola tell me what the speed limit happens to be ? In an years whenGPS devicesseem to be replace roadmaps , is it too much to ask for a built - in stop number limit indicator ? Would n’t such an pick make the roads good , in addition to cutting down on driver anxiousness ?

show on to find out .

Driving into the Future: Speed Limiters and Intelligent Speed Adaptation

While the twenty-first hundred has n’t yet delivered on all the skill - fabrication promises of yesteryear , it has managed to make our driving experience a small more Knight Rider - esque . Global positioning system of rules ( GPS ) engineering science tracks our localisation , vehicle can park themselves and , yes , with the right equipment , you may look down at your dashboard and find out exactly what the stop number terminal point is . Yet tragically , flamethrower and ejection seats are still not standard issuing on most automobiles .

With a GPS pass catcher and a comparatively vindicated sky , a number one wood can pinpoint on the nose where he or she is on the earth . This is because a GPS gizmo receive signal from at least four of 24 orb satellites [ source : Global Positioning System ] The gadget calculate its distance from these artificial satellite to shape its exact emplacement on Earth . Sync this up with a computerized function , and you dead do n’t have to mess with inapt and confusing route atlas vertebra anymore . Most table service providers keep these mapping reasonably up to date with current road , city and location names , although that should n’t prevent you from downloading updates oft .

Some GPS applications let user to programme custom speed warnings . These devices are quickly becoming obsolete , however , as many GPSgadgetsgo the extra mile and actually differentiate you what the speed limit point is on a give road . Sometimes the information are present next to your current fomite speeding as well , since GPS can determine this , too . Still , the technology is far from perfect . While such a system might prove highly dependable when it come to major highway speed limits , less - traveled rural roads might thrust it for a curve .

For the paranoid f number demons out there , this technology may seem a little shivery . As the engineering meliorate and becomes standard , the vehicles of the future will inescapably recognize how fast they should be going at any given moment . How long until lawmakers connect the point and create vehicles that ca n’t be take over the upper limit ? mayhap sooner than you think .

In Japan , the newfangled Nissan GT - R already comes outfit with aspeed limiterorintelligent speed adaption(ISA)system . Unless you drive the fomite onto the GPS coordinates for a racetrack , the onboard computing gadget will prevent the fomite from give out faster than 112 mph ( 180 kph ) . The feature prevents drivers from reaching mad amphetamine and limits them to simply liveliness - threatening velocities , but what happens when ISA systems are less indulgent ? pol and good drive advocates in the United Kingdom continue to push for mandatory ISA systems in vehicle . They insist that the cadence would cut down onaccidents , over-crowding and pollution . In 2003 and 2004 , researchers at Leeds University carry out experiments involve 20 ISA - enabled vehicles with for the most part positive resolution . Critics , however , argue that ISAs would just create more problems by turn drivers into unseeing zombie .

Will such technical founding eventually conduce to automated highways full of automatic drivers ? Many futurist and transportation experts think so . For the metre being , however , no machine overlords can force Sammy Hagar to ride 55 . But if he wants to , he can purchase a GPS gadget to say him when he should .

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