The Car That Gives You Automatic Speeding Tickets

from the aka-the-unsellable-car dept

Sun, Feb 29th 2004 10:02pm — Mike Masnick

Well, it's clearly a bit of a gimmick, but Toyota is now showing off a "concept car" that uses typical SIM cards (like in most mobile phones) instead of keys to let drivers into the car. There are some nice features that go along with this, and one feature that pretty much guarantees no one would buy it. On the nice side, such a SIM card would let the car adjust everything (such as driving seat position and radio stations) to the particular driver. It could even adjust the power of the car, to make it so less experienced drivers couldn't push the car too hard. Another possibility would be to have the license plate change depending on who was driving. However, the one feature that will guarantee that the car will never be sold is that it would communicate directly with speed cameras and charge your credit card for any speeding tickets immediately. Considering the number of speed camera screwups reported in the press over the past few months, this probably won't excite too many people. Of course, chances are it's just a gimmick to get Toyota a little extra attention. It appears to have worked.

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6 Comments

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Brian, 1 Mar 2004 @ 12:33am

The Car That Gives You Automatic Speeding Tickets
The idea of using a SIM is already in production in Europe. Instead of using a standard key, the Renault Laguna uses an electronic key that looks like a credit card for car functionality. Fortunately, it does not communicate with the police.

Brian
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- Anonymous Coward, 1 Mar 2004 @ 5:32am
  
  Re: The Car That Gives You Automatic Speeding Tick
  
  I see the death of Toyota ...
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  - Anonymous Coward, 1 Mar 2004 @ 6:33am
    
    Re: The Car That Gives You Automatic Speeding Tick
    but surely, if you're not a criminal then you have nothing to fear :-)
    
    It probably also scans the music you play in the car and reports you to the RIAA..
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Lord Sludge, 1 Mar 2004 @ 7:22am

I don't get it...?
Why not just have a speed governor to limit vehicle speed? Unless maybe traffic enforcement is more about tax collection than ensuring public safety... Nahhhh....
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Bastard Sammy, 1 Mar 2004 @ 8:00am

No Subject Given
Just because it can charge your credit card doesn't mean that it HAS to charge your credit card. For example: How would it get such information? I'm guessing you would probably have to enter it. Why would you do that, if that is the only convievable purpose it would serve?
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WillyDavidK, 24 May 2006 @ 2:13pm

credit card
To sammy:

the SIM probably has a registration/activation process, meaning you can't start the car with it until you enter your credit card number.
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