Just saw the coolest Lexus commerical for automatic parallel parking

Discussion in 'Other Cars' started by Beryl Octet, Oct 22, 2006.

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  1. Beryl Octet

    Beryl Octet New Member

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    If the car can do that, then it seems like we are close to self-driving cars... Anyway, the commercial has a bunch of shots of folks talking about various old technologies: I remember having to move the rabbit ears on the TV, drop a record on the spindle etc., and then cuts to a guy saying I remember when you had to parallel park yourself, and the steering wheel turning by itself. Cool!
     
    #1 Beryl Octet, Oct 22, 2006
  2. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    Yeah, I saw that too. Pretty cool stuff.
    Interestingly, it wasn't long ago that I read about the vehicular division of my company working on complete driver assistance systems. http://www.siemensvdo.com/topics/propilot/

    I don't know whose technology is in the Lexus.
     
    #2 TonyPSchaefer, Oct 22, 2006
  3. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Beryl Octet @ Oct 22 2006, 08:14 PM) [snapback]336609[/snapback]</div>
    The problem of having a computer driving a car is a very tough problem. http://www-c.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/darpa/ documented a DARPA competition which went a LOT better the 2nd year than it did the first. The first year, no cars finished. The furthest any vehicle made it that year was 7 miles out of 142. Some even failed at the starting line. The second year, several of them actually finished.

    The documentary was EXCELLENT and anyone who works on computer software/hardware, esp. w/a computer science background or has an interest in robotics and compuer vision would love it.

    The next iteration of this competition will be in an urban area: http://www.livescience.com/technology/0605..._challenge.html
     
    #3 cwerdna, Oct 23, 2006
  4. stanleyjohn

    stanleyjohn New Member

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    I believe that the auto park feature has been availible in Europe in the prius for a year or two.I think reason its been hard to get it here (USA) is we are tooo sue happy.Maybe the Lexus here will open the door for the auto park feature in the prius here also.
     
    #4 stanleyjohn, Oct 23, 2006
  5. jfschultz

    jfschultz Active Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Beryl Octet @ Oct 22 2006, 10:14 PM) [snapback]336609[/snapback]</div>
    Yea! And the Prius had that way back in 2004, but only in Japan. So Lexus is finally catching up. :D
     
    #5 jfschultz, Oct 23, 2006
  6. Jim1eye

    Jim1eye Shaklee Ind Distributor

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Beryl Octet @ Oct 22 2006, 11:14 PM) [snapback]336609[/snapback]</div>
    Now if they'd only invent an automatic dimmer that switches the brights off when there is oncoming traffic, for all those idiots who think they should blind you so that they can see more. :eek:
     
    #6 Jim1eye, Oct 23, 2006
  7. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Beryl Octet @ Oct 22 2006, 08:14 PM) [snapback]336609[/snapback]</div>
    I remember when we had horses and carriages
    I remember when people listened to the radio
    ...You'd wash the clothes then scrub them on the washboard
    <something that I can't remember>
    If you'd hold the rabbit ears just right...
    I remember when I had to parallel park.

    <shows steering wheel moving clockwise rapidly>

    The all-new Lexus LS460.
     
    #7 Tideland Prius, Oct 23, 2006
  8. SW03ES

    SW03ES Senior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jim1eye @ Oct 23 2006, 09:57 AM) [snapback]336711[/snapback]</div>
    Already been done. As a matter of fact, my father had this in a 1990 Lincoln Continental he had when I was a kid.

    They abandoned it mainly because it proved to be more annoying to people than useful.
     
    #8 SW03ES, Oct 28, 2006
  9. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    This is a case of paying several thousand dollars so that your car can do in 5 minutes what you could do yourself in one.

    As for self-driving cars, someone in another thread astutely pointed out the problem:

    What happens when something appears in the road in front of you and the computer has to decide if it should swerve into the car in the next lane over because the object is a child, or continue straight because the object is a wind-blown sheet of newspaper? Until computers can make that kind of decision in a split second, and ten thousand other similar distinctions and decisions, a self-driving car will be a disaster. And we are nowhere near that kind of AI.
     
    #9 daniel, Oct 29, 2006
  10. SW03ES

    SW03ES Senior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Oct 29 2006, 05:46 PM) [snapback]340387[/snapback]</div>
    Actually the parking system is standard in all LS460s that have navigation, so basically all LS460s.
     
    #10 SW03ES, Nov 5, 2006
  11. Beryl Octet

    Beryl Octet New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Oct 29 2006, 05:46 PM) [snapback]340387[/snapback]</div>
    Yeah, but the gee whiz one-upmanship factor always seems to trump practical reality in most cases.
     
    #11 Beryl Octet, Nov 5, 2006
  12. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SW03ES @ Nov 5 2006, 08:56 AM) [snapback]344103[/snapback]</div>
    Isn't it nice how Lexus makes you pay for the MFD? You get nav AND the ML system AND APGS AND backup camera...

    It's worse in Canada. The ES350 comes in 3 packages - base, Premium (wood/leather steering wheel, driver's seat length adjustment, power rear sunshade, HIDs w/AFS, wood/leather shift knob) and Ultra Premium which is everything else for a cool $9k extra over the Premium :blink:
     
    #12 Tideland Prius, Nov 5, 2006
  13. SW03ES

    SW03ES Senior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Nov 5 2006, 12:50 PM) [snapback]344125[/snapback]</div>
    It depends on the model, all GS's for instance have the screen.

    The main reason all of them don't have the screen, nav or not, is that Lexus focus groups have routinely shown their customers don't like functions to be integrated into the screen. So if there's no nav, there's no screen.
     
    #13 SW03ES, Nov 12, 2006
  14. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    True. But look at the IS without the screen. The centre console seems lacking.

    I sat in the new LS460 L today with the Executive Package which is ~Cdn$122,000. Can you say overkill? hehe.

    There is soo much technology packed into that vehicle. It's also the most expensive LS ever (that is, until the LS600h L comes out)
     
    #14 Tideland Prius, Nov 13, 2006
  15. SW03ES

    SW03ES Senior Member

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    It definately looks best with the nav screen I agree, but I also agree that routing controls through a touchscreen is needlessly annoying when there's no nav for the screen. Straight buttons are easier to operate.
     
    #15 SW03ES, Nov 14, 2006
  16. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SW03ES @ Nov 14 2006, 06:57 PM) [snapback]349273[/snapback]</div>
    I understand but look at the Lexus' that have the screen sans nav (GS). They do have buttons for "AUTO" and "OFF" and "DUAL" and a few others that elude me at the moment. They do have physical buttons for commonly used A/C controls.
     
    #16 Tideland Prius, Nov 15, 2006
  17. SW03ES

    SW03ES Senior Member

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    I'm just telling you why Lexus designed the cars the way they did. Offering an alternative to I-Drive like controllers was a top priority, and Lexus buyers don't like controlling aspects of the car through the nav screen if they can help it.
     
    #17 SW03ES, Nov 15, 2006
  18. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jim1eye @ Oct 23 2006, 09:57 AM) [snapback]336711[/snapback]</div>
    Hugh? My Grandma's '59 Caddie had that. Remember? It looked like a missle in the middle of the dash. You could adjust it's sensitivity, to the point they'd dim for porch lights. But yea, what's up with no auto dimmer? In fact the Lexus RX-400h SUV (and their bigger gas guzzler) has no smart key.

    And as for preference to controls on touch screen or otherwise? Give me the touch screen.
     
    #18 hill, Nov 16, 2006
  19. SW03ES

    SW03ES Senior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hill @ Nov 16 2006, 12:12 AM) [snapback]349961[/snapback]</div>
    Seeing that you own a Prius you're a slightly different demographic than a typical Lexus customer.
     
    #19 SW03ES, Nov 16, 2006
  20. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SW03ES @ Nov 16 2006, 07:36 AM) [snapback]350125[/snapback]</div>
    What if I said my dad doesn't mind the touch screen and he's in the demographic of a typical Lexus owner.
     
    #20 Tideland Prius, Nov 16, 2006
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