pwa wrote: Bill Gates has been working on software for decades and it still doesn't work faultlessly on any laptop I've had.
Oh yes, you're right, best we give up and carry on as we are, because that's great, isn't it? I'm optimistic, but I make no apology for that. Let's embrace the possibilities of the future.
I agree. But I'm not ready to trust software yet. It lets me down several times a day, every day.
Nor me, yet, but I really believe that it could be a very positive, so I'd rather adopt that frame of mind.
landsurfer wrote:Personally i think Sat Nav's should be classed as Mobile Devices .... 6 points and £200 for setting them if in motion etc.
I believe that fiddling with your satnav whilst moving is already considered a no no. The idea is that you set it up then when you set off you keep your hands off it. But we also need to be aware of the need to only glance at it, and only when circumstances allow.
Suspect this is old ground but ....hacking of car systems ?? The most secure of secure computers seem to be open to attack from 16 years old nerds in Co Antrim ..... The destruction of a North Korean missile yesterday is possibly due to deliberate a EMP from a USN vessel. Fancy Bears decide to stop all vehicles in London .... because they can ..... MMM .... not sure i want this ....
“Quiet, calm deliberation disentangles every knot.”
Be more Mike.
The road goes on forever.
Bonefishblues wrote:Oh yes, you're right, best we give up and carry on as we are, because that's great, isn't it? I'm optimistic, but I make no apology for that. Let's embrace the possibilities of the future.
I agree. But I'm not ready to trust software yet. It lets me down several times a day, every day.
Nor me, yet, but I really believe that it could be a very positive, so I'd rather adopt that frame of mind.
It has long been a source of frustration for me that so much effort is put into developing computer software, but reliability does not seem to improve much. I wish the blighters would just stop developing the stuff for a year or two and put all their efforts into ironing out the glitches. Fixing the weaknesses in what they have already made.
Long term, yes, of course, computers will drive better than humans.
pwa wrote:I use one for work and could not do my job without it. It's the same for lots of people.
Absolute rubbish! How was your job done before crapnav?
I was a Motorcycle Courier for 5 years in the 1990s(before crapnav and Mobile phones)and I travelled the length and breadth of the mainland UK with absolutely no issues using maps and A-Z guides The trouble is now people have gotten idle and believe they can't travel 10 miles down the road without being told where to go by a little box.
RE the Satnav/driving test.Personally I think drivers should be given a destination and have to get there by reading road signs...it really isn't hard but something many drivers don't seem to be able to do!
pwa wrote:I use one for work and could not do my job without it. It's the same for lots of people.
Absolute rubbish! How was your job done before crapnav?
I was a Motorcycle Courier for 5 years in the 1990s(before crapnav and Mobile phones)and I travelled the length and breadth of the mainland UK with absolutely no issues using maps and A-Z guides The trouble is now people have gotten idle and believe they can't travel 10 miles down the road without being told where to go by a little box.
RE the Satnav/driving test.Personally I think drivers should be given a destination and have to get there by reading road signs...it really isn't hard but something many drivers don't seem to be able to do!
Sorry, but I know my job and I know that paper maps (which I have happily used for driving since the late 1970s) would slow me down. And why would I want maps in book form when I can have a moving map, with my position on it, a glance away all the time? I use my brain as well. I ignore the satnav when I think I know a better route. I think you will find most people who drive as part or all of their job are now using satnav for much of their driving. Things have moved on since the 1990s.
I wonder what model of SatNav people taking the test will be expected to demonstrate their abilities with. And if they are given a TomTom, and they fail do manage it, will "but I use a Garmin which is different ..." be an adequate excuse ? Or will people taking their test now be required to attend in a vehicle fitted with a SatNav ? (rules me out).
I had always thought of the driving test as a test to check you are safe in control of a large lump of metal traveling at significant speed.
Maybe it's a trick question and maybe the test will be that when you are driving along the tester will instruct you to program in a route to <destination> and the moment you take your eyes off the road and start to press buttons it becomes a "we will return to the test centre now, you have just failed". In my day there was (apparently) regularly the "take the next left turn" when the actual next left was a no entry road and you were expected to take the turn following that one. I got "caught" after return to the test centre and in their car park with a "pull in by that fence" where the only space was in front of a gate, so I pulled-in in front of the gate and was given a "rocket" by the tester (though not enough for a fail).
Psamathe wrote:I wonder what model of SatNav people taking the test will be expected to demonstrate their abilities with. And if they are given a TomTom, and they fail do manage it, will "but I use a Garmin which is different ..." be an adequate excuse ? Or will people taking their test now be required to attend in a vehicle fitted with a SatNav ? (rules me out).
I had always thought of the driving test as a test to check you are safe in control of a large lump of metal traveling at significant speed.
Maybe it's a trick question and maybe the test will be that when you are driving along the tester will instruct you to program in a route to <destination> and the moment you take your eyes off the road and start to press buttons it becomes a "we will return to the test centre now, you have just failed". In my day there was (apparently) regularly the "take the next left turn" when the actual next left was a no entry road and you were expected to take the turn following that one. I got "caught" after return to the test centre and in their car park with a "pull in by that fence" where the only space was in front of a gate, so I pulled-in in front of the gate and was given a "rocket" by the tester (though not enough for a fail).
Ian
I'd like to see cruise control tested if it becomes a standard feature in cars.
pwa wrote:I use one for work and could not do my job without it. It's the same for lots of people.
Absolute rubbish! How was your job done before crapnav?
I was a Motorcycle Courier for 5 years in the 1990s(before crapnav and Mobile phones)and I travelled the length and breadth of the mainland UK with absolutely no issues using maps and A-Z guides The trouble is now people have gotten idle and believe they can't travel 10 miles down the road without being told where to go by a little box.
RE the Satnav/driving test.Personally I think drivers should be given a destination and have to get there by reading road signs...it really isn't hard but something many drivers don't seem to be able to do!
I think you will find most people who drive as part or all of their job are now using satnav for much of their driving. Things have moved on since the 1990s.
Yes and I think you'll find I covered that in my original post Just because "most" people with driving jobs now use Satnav it doesn't mean that job is not possible without Satnav.You're quite right things have moved on since the 1990s...sadly as things move on peoples Brains(or use of) seem to move backwards I have loads of technology so I'm no Luddite but I think Satnavs are just as much of a distraction when driving as mobile phones(are deemed to be),I personally see no difference to glancing at a Satnav then there is to glancing at a phone and unfortunately there are far to many people who follow them so blindly that they actually have no real idea where they are These types are only marginally less stupid than the idiots who blindly follow GPS in the Hills who have no idea where they are when the Batteries run out
I think the comparison between the phone and satnav is the wrong one. A better one might be between the satnav and the AtoZ Directory.
I think it's also the case that for commercial use, satnav is another form of de-skilling, probably most clearly seen in the difference between a London taxi driver's "knowledge" and the technology on which Uber depends.
PS
In the context of the driving test, a satnav might be set to tell the driver to do something silly which would be a test of their observation skills and possibly their emergency stopping.
thirdcrank wrote:In the context of the driving test, a satnav might be set to tell the driver to do something silly which would be a test of their observation skills and possibly their emergency stopping.
+1
Satnav is increasingly in cars included as a fitted dashboard item and not an add-on window sucker thing you buy in Halfords or PC World. It's part of the suite of instruments to be operated and controlled.
