Closed Canopy? How About A Virtual Canopy Instead?

"iSureWilll" (isurewilll) 09/24/2015 at 13:31 • Filed to: Safety

0

12

So I have a friend, based in the Midwest who has patented a new idea for open wheel/open canopy races. Think F1, Indycar, etc. Let me know what you guys think.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

The Dummy Gummy > iSureWilll 09/24/2015 at 13:45

0

So basically what they have on street cars but for debris. The thing is the technology isn’t there yet and the technology that is there is too large to put on a race car to make it ‘see’. Not trying to be a Debby Downer, it is a nice idea, but I don’t see it happening for at least another decade.

I thought you had to have a proof of concept to hold a patent?

Sir_Stig: and toxic masculinity ruins the party again. > iSureWilll 09/24/2015 at 13:49

0

Cool concept, not sure on the feasibility of implementation.

McLarry > iSureWilll 09/24/2015 at 13:50

0

Hadn’t seen any pictures of the wreckage...wow

If I’m reading it right, it sounds like he wants the car to detect incoming debris and automatically take measures to ‘dodge’ it. An interesting idea. Could potentially have saved Mass or Wilson from their injuries (though I suppose the system could cause a crash itself if it activated during a turn or at high speed?), but I don’t see how this would have helped Senna or Bianchi, as their cars were already out of control.

iSureWilll > The Dummy Gummy 09/24/2015 at 14:20

1

I’m not sure. I know he has done some testing but I don’t even know all of the details yet. It is a pretty good idea when you think about it.

Thing flying through air and will hit the guy in the head, apply a little dab of brakes and then it hits the nose and goes somewhere else. Obviously it can’t solve EVERY thing but its a good idea.

iSureWilll > McLarry 09/24/2015 at 14:23

0

It’s only supposed to be active when the yellow flag is out (or when the yellow lights come on). I think he has something else in the works to keep the car on the ground instead of flying through the cheese grater fences.

Mmmmm > iSureWilll 09/24/2015 at 14:32

0

Well not to be an asshole, but any 8 year old can say “I’m going to patent a system that will automatically steer the car away from danger!” Actually developing it and making it work is the really hard part. If he can make all that happen he should just start his self driving car company now and be a multi millionaire. Am I missing something? Is this not just an idea and already partially built or prototyped?

iSureWilll > Mmmmm 09/24/2015 at 14:35

0

Not sure. He’s been working on it for a year or 2 I think. Like I said, I don’t know much about all the details but I do know he has been in the wind tunnel for this. He’s a big advocate for raising awareness of head trauma in racing so he is trying to find some kind of solution to help. Great guy he is.

DrJohannVegas > iSureWilll 09/24/2015 at 14:35

0

A few concerns: 1) It appears to rely on race control throwing the yellow before the proposed system comes into play. That puts a much bigger onus on the race director/flagger/corner workers. Also, the yellow is not always thrown before a driver collides with debris. It varies, but the reliance on an outside “trigger”, initiated by someone far from the incident, seems like a first point of failure to me. 2) While the single-vehicle avoidance problem seems solvable, once you have multiple cars, dodging multiple debris objects and other cars, the solution to that dynamic system is...complicated. Really complicated. Oh, and every action has a cascading effect through the system, as space taken by one car can no longer be taken by another car. Clever and ambitious, but REALLY hard. This is one area where creative thinking kinda trumps algorithms (right now, at least). 3) The combination of speed and close proximity push the requirements for the system FAR beyond what the autonomous vehicles folks are doing in cars and what the vehicle dynamics folks are doing in aerospace settings.

It’s interesting and ambitious, and I applaud your friend on some really awesome lateral thinking. Solving the collision problem in an active fashion has some really attractive benefits. But, in that post, I see a lot of writing about previous accomplishments and experience and less evidence of a real comprehension of the vehicle dynamics and system dynamics necessary to get this done. (That’s usually a red flag for me.) That said, I hope to be proven really wrong on this one.

iSureWilll > DrJohannVegas 09/24/2015 at 14:36

0

Thanks for your insight. Only time will tell I guess :)

Mmmmm > iSureWilll 09/24/2015 at 15:06

0

I mean I’m all for safety but that read a lot like those late night infomercials that keeps promising they will tell you the secret to being a millionaire but first a quick testimonial! But what do I know.

McLarry > iSureWilll 09/24/2015 at 16:26

0

I should think you’d want it active whether under yellow or not... Last week a large piece of Button’s front wing was broken off on Maldonado’s tire and flew back into a pack of cars. A small piece of a wing is certainly not as big of a problem as a weighted nosecone as in Wilson’s case, but the point is you don’t have to be under caution to have debris.

As for keeping the car on the ground... My skeptic hat is on tight, but I’m always interested in hearing crazy invention ideas :P

Hot Takes Salesman > iSureWilll 09/24/2015 at 16:33

0

However, how heavy is the radar and assorted systems required to sense the incoming projectile and alter the course of the car? I think this technology is a little far out in the future but at the rate of development will soon become plausible and maybe even ubiquitous