Carbon82 Moderator August 15, 2017 Share August 15, 2017 (edited) On and off, we will come across news, photo or video footage of driver(s) performing stupid stunt / act with their ride(s). Let me start off with these 3 cases reported recently (overseas). Autonomous car from Ford? Not yet... Residents of Arlington, Virginia, were stunned to see an unmarked, gray Ford Transit van tooling around town without a human driver behind the wheel. According to ARLnow, the vehicle was spotted driving through the Courthouse and Clarendon neighborhoods with nary a soul in the driver’s seat. Some speculated the van was part of Virginia Tech’s recently approved autonomous driving tests... ... A few days later, NBC 4’s transportation reporter Adam Tuss spied the driverless van again at a stop sign. And when he approached, Tuss noticed the driver’s “seat” had two hands and legs sticking out from it. Tuss tried to get the costumed driver to talk, but they sped off, running a red light in the process. A Cage to Protect Your Rolls-Royce, Will it Work? A rich guy buys $645,000 (Australian dollars) Rolls-Royce a few weeks ago, and then decides the parking structure of the luxury apartment building just wasn’t secure enough to safeguard his Roller. The Rolls owner had a custom cage built surrounding his parking space to protect the Rolls-Royce, sort of like how you’d protect a $500,000 labradoodle. Unfortunately, that very cage, built with the sole purpose to protect the car, also proved to be what caused a good amount of damage to the car, since the owner soon found that navigating in and out of the cage was a challenge beyond his skills, and ended up driving into one of the cage’s support poles and walls, causing a surprising amount of damage to the car. The steering was damaged along with a good bit of bodywork on the side and rear, plus the loss of a marker light that probably costs more than most of the objects you and I interact with every day. Ouch... ... Lessons learnt: Cars aren’t meant to be kept in cages. Especially if you’re pretty shitty at parking as it is. Porsche Pay For Owners Sunglasses? Lawsuits and settlements are usually pretty straight forward but one involving Porsche is anything but normal. A class action lawsuit has resulted in the company being held responsible for compensating owners for sunglasses - yes, sunglasses. According to the settlement, customers who purchased or leased any Porsche model between 2007–2016 are eligible to make a claim. However, the vehicle must have been equipped with a Cognac, Luxor Beige, Natural Brown, Platinum Grey, or Sand Beige dashboard. If you're one of the handful of Porsche owners who fit that description, you could receive up to $175 in compensation. Affected owners can check out DashboardGlareClassAction.com for more information but claims for sunglasses need to be submitted by September 21st. Customers who made other modifications to reduce the glare coming off their dashboards will have until June 25th of next year to submit a claim. The whole issue sounds ridiculous but the original lawsuit claimed the glare was a safety issue. Porsche objected to this notion but eventually decided a lengthy court battle wasn't worth the effort. In case you were wonder, the lawyers for the plaintiffs will apparently receive $790,000 in attorneys’ fees and $50,000 for expenses. That should be more than enough to buy a few Porsches and their own pair of sunglasses. Penny wise, pound foolish?? Edited August 15, 2017 by Carbon82 ↡ Advertisement 12 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamesc Hypersonic August 15, 2017 Share August 15, 2017 Everybody got self driving cars and Ford don't have so now they also have. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
7hm Turbocharged August 15, 2017 Share August 15, 2017 The seat-driven car, some speculate it is testing either the vehicle's sensors... or testing reactions of people. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carbon82 Moderator August 16, 2017 Author Share August 16, 2017 The seat-driven car, some speculate it is testing either the vehicle's sensors... or testing reactions of people. You got it right, on testing reactions of people! That's no driverless car, it's just a dude inside a seat... for science! The story, as unravelled by NBCWashington.com, is that the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute decided it would undertake a study of how everyday motorists would respond to an autonomous vehicle moving among them, with no occupants.Of course, that isn't yet legal. So, Virginia Tech did the only obvious next-best-thing: They dressed a dude as a car seat and had him drive around the city of Arlington - and monitored the reactions of others in traffic. As you do. The idea was that, at a glance, most bystanders wouldn't realise the vehicle had a driver - and it seems to have worked, with news of the supposedly driverless Ford Transit Connect making its way around social media this week. "The driver's seating area is configured to make the driver less visible within the vehicle, while still allowing him or her the ability to safely monitor and respond to surroundings," the institute said. The project had Arlington County approval, thankfully, and an official told the news that it had taken part because the area is "representative of the urban areas for which automated vehicles are currently being considered".It seems the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Arlington Police Department weren't in on the secret, though, with both described as "shocked" at the news. BTW, that is not the first case of human dressing in car seat... 11 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
7hm Turbocharged August 16, 2017 Share August 16, 2017 You got it right, on testing reactions of people! That's no driverless car, it's just a dude inside a seat... for science! I did catch wind of this story before you posted it but hadn't followed up on the official explanation Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carbon82 Moderator August 17, 2017 Author Share August 17, 2017 Fighting on the road, with Mercedes! 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wpy 4th Gear August 18, 2017 Share August 18, 2017 Fighting on the road, with Mercedes! Cars must be cheap there!!! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carbon82 Moderator August 18, 2017 Author Share August 18, 2017 OK, here are some ID10T driver(s) we have encountered day to day, nope?! 1. Overtake and jam brake within seconds 2. Mister & Miss Nice 3. Slow but die die cannot lose 4. Die die don't give way (pacing with the other driver) 5. Time things just right to make you miss the light 6. The undecided 7. The car park hogger, just for a parking lot 8. The misjudge - scare cyclist / road barrier 13 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
7hm Turbocharged August 18, 2017 Share August 18, 2017 Actually, Ford has deployed autonomous Fusions in various testing partnerships Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamesc Hypersonic August 18, 2017 Share August 18, 2017 Fighting on the road, with Mercedes! Cars must be cheap in this country. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nzy Twincharged August 18, 2017 Share August 18, 2017 Fighting on the road, with Mercedes! I saw something similar yesterday at the road between shaw centre and pacific plaza. Range Rover vs a green G-wagon. But cars in sg too expensive. Never resort to hitting each others car. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carbon82 Moderator August 18, 2017 Author Share August 18, 2017 (edited) Cars must be cheap in this country. No lah, their country is just too poor to build a proper theme park for bumper cars, so these "poor" chaps have to resort to playing bumper car illegally on the road, endangering other motorist along the way. Should have sued the National Development and Transport Ministers to court for it. :D If you notice, most of the cars in the video are luxury model, so more or less you can guess their standard of living... Edited August 18, 2017 by Carbon82 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carbon82 Moderator August 19, 2017 Author Share August 19, 2017 Human BRAKE!!! This not laughing matter but super irresponsible act. The driver and the other clowns in the car should be bar from driving permanently. 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
7hm Turbocharged August 19, 2017 Share August 19, 2017 I was recounted to that scrapyards in Dubai can have weeks old golden Rolls Royces because... they were left on the road due to a flat tyre. Human BRAKE!!! This not laughing matter but super irresponsible act. The driver and the other clowns in the car should be bar from driving permanently. This is called four leg ABS Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carbon82 Moderator August 21, 2017 Author Share August 21, 2017 (edited) Actually, Ford has deployed autonomous Fusions in various testing partnerships You are right, and there are earlier article on Ford's investment in autonomous technologies. But so far, the test are performed on Fusion as what I have read. That Transit is nothing but a joke. Ford to invest $1 billion in autonomous vehicle tech firm Argo AI Ford Motor Co plans to invest $1 billion over the next five years in tech startup Argo AI to help the Detroit automaker reach its goal of producing a self-driving vehicle for commercial ride sharing fleets by 2021, the companies announced on Friday. Ford just made a $4.5 billion investment to completely transform its business On Tuesday, Ford CEO Mark Fields unveiled an ambitious plan for the carmaker to spend $4.5 billion over five years to introduce 13 new electric vehicles, some with self-driving capabilities. Ford's new self-driving Fusion looks like an actual car Edited August 21, 2017 by Carbon82 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carbon82 Moderator August 22, 2017 Author Share August 22, 2017 Asking the police for direction? Not when you are behind the wheel of a stolen ride... A man driving a stolen Honda Accord in California reached the pinnacle of human stupidity when he decided to ask a deputy for directions. The officer obliged, but also ran the car’s tags (because no shit). A police chase ensued (because again, no shit). And the man was arrested (yep, no shit). According to the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Facebook page, the genius in question was 28-year-old Ryan Ashlock, who thought he’d get from Tuolumne City to Sonora (a town just 15 minutes west) nice and easy in the stolen Honda by asking deputy Vince Lee for directions. But it didn’t work out that way, because after Lee pointed the man on his way, the officer ran the fourth-gen Honda Accord’s registration through the DMV. What Lee learned was that the man who had just asked him for directions was driving a vehicle that had been reported stolen out of neighboring Stanislaus County. Lee rang for backup before turning on his lights and siren to pull the suspect over. But Ashlock bolted, leading police on a chase through Sonora, and even ramming Lee’s patrol car, rendering it immobile. 10 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terrylmt Supercharged August 23, 2017 Share August 23, 2017 You got it right, on testing reactions of people! That's no driverless car, it's just a dude inside a seat... for science! The story, as unravelled by NBCWashington.com, is that the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute decided it would undertake a study of how everyday motorists would respond to an autonomous vehicle moving among them, with no occupants.Of course, that isn't yet legal. So, Virginia Tech did the only obvious next-best-thing: They dressed a dude as a car seat and had him drive around the city of Arlington - and monitored the reactions of others in traffic. As you do. The idea was that, at a glance, most bystanders wouldn't realise the vehicle had a driver - and it seems to have worked, with news of the supposedly driverless Ford Transit Connect making its way around social media this week. "The driver's seating area is configured to make the driver less visible within the vehicle, while still allowing him or her the ability to safely monitor and respond to surroundings," the institute said. The project had Arlington County approval, thankfully, and an official told the news that it had taken part because the area is "representative of the urban areas for which automated vehicles are currently being considered".It seems the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Arlington Police Department weren't in on the secret, though, with both described as "shocked" at the news. BTW, that is not the first case of human dressing in car seat... That;s how they filmed Knight Rider last time too! To make it look as though KITT drove himself to pick Michael up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carbon82 Moderator August 24, 2017 Author Share August 24, 2017 (edited) Another dumb a*s... Watching the Eclipse with a stolen car? No way... Police arrested a man while he watching the solar eclipse on Monday because he stopped to look up and was caught next to the car he had recently stolen. According to MyNews13, 22-year-old Jocsan Feliciano Rosado was arrested during Monday’s solar eclipse because Orange County police found him standing next to the car he had stolen with a welder’s mask on. He was caught in the parking lot of the store he bought the mask in. And someone actually make a fun of this guy on a Facebook post: Meet Jocsan Feliciano Rosado. This 22-year-old stole a vehicle and was being followed by the OCSO's intrepid Auto Theft Unit. Rosado parked the stolen car at Harbor Freight on Osceola Parkway in Kissimmee, and bought a welder's mask to safely view the solar eclipse.As Rosado was standing in the parking lot next to the stolen car, with the welding helmet on and looking up at the eclipse,deputies swooped in and made an arrest. He never saw it coming. That only happens every 99 years. Edited August 24, 2017 by Carbon82 ↡ Advertisement 4 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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