Laws that we should expect

rushnrockt · 05-30-2005, 06:50 PM

So I finally had a personal meeting with a VP of Marketing Research at SEMA (www.sema.org) For those of you that don't know about it, it is basically a trade association for the automotive aftermarket manufacturers, which is everything from hotrod to audio makers.

One of the questions that I brought was what kind of laws are expected to show up in dealing with emergence of GPS systems and carputer systems in particular. From the research that SEMA has done, it appears that everything is going towards laws which will prohibit any type of viewable content in a moving vehicle by the driver. That would mean that even GPS systems would have to be turned off (the monitor) and we would need to rely on the voice commands/navigation.

As far as I understood, SEMA has no intention of trying to prevent those laws from coming to life, so for carputer enthusiasts it would probably be a good idea to think of creating certain visual "immobilizers" to make the systems compliant in the future. Granted, the laws are not here yet and enforcing them will be rather difficult, but I would say it is prudent to be aware of the future

P.S. And I can now go to the next SEMA show!

0l33l · 05-30-2005, 07:00 PM

Just have some really dark tint in the rear

therussman2002 · 05-30-2005, 07:21 PM

i'd expect my indash display to be stolen by the time those laws hit wisconsin.. after which ill buy a deck (and a new stock dashpiece), and have my laptop voice controlled and output to the deck... which would be a damn shame, for all the cool stuff you can do with these carputer things

rushnrockt · 05-30-2005, 07:45 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by 0l33l

Just have some really dark tint in the rear

You wish it was that easy. You will need hardcore tint on the sides as well, and at that point of time you will be stopped for having too much tint. My solution is to drive so fast that they can't see anything

0l33l · 05-30-2005, 07:50 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by rushnrockt

You wish it was that easy. You will need hardcore tint on the sides as well, and at that point of time you will be stopped for having too much tint. My solution is to drive so fast that they can't see anything

True

Limo tint should fit nicely. You can see anything from outside

thanatos106 · 05-30-2005, 07:55 PM

right here in miami people have windows with tints so dark that they can kill somebody inside and the other drivers don't notice nothing.......... ***** even the cops have dark tints (F sunny here

) plus I been stop for speding and the cop was like "no way.. cool system"...... some people worry if the cops stop them and find out they have a "illegal screen" but that doesn't happen here in "helll ckichen"

SickVette · 05-30-2005, 09:58 PM

Thanks for the info rocket. Cya at SEMA..if you have never been wear very comfortable shoes.

Shotty · 05-30-2005, 11:09 PM

So..

- Dark Tint
- Drive faster than them
- 'Emergency' Button that turns down the music nad blanks the screen?

(btw, here in lovely Australia we now have 'hoon' laws. Making it perfectly legal for the police to confiscate someones car stereo system if they believe they were playing it too loud)

Escalade182 · 05-30-2005, 11:16 PM

grandfathering...

therussman2002 · 05-30-2005, 11:40 PM

hey! that one valentine one PC integration project... when i saw that i had an idea of using a phidget or other device such that when the valentine one detects the radar signal, the PC will know to a point, and can use the phidget to turn off underbody neons/subs/screens...

feasable? yes. difficult? yes.

0l33l · 05-31-2005, 12:07 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by therussman2002

hey! that one valentine one PC integration project... when i saw that i had an idea of using a phidget or other device such that when the valentine one detects the radar signal, the PC will know to a point, and can use the phidget to turn off underbody neons/subs/screens...

feasable? yes. difficult? yes.

Cop doesn't have to use his radar as a reason to pull you over.

therussman2002 · 05-31-2005, 12:09 AM

i know, i figure maybe in half the cases itll shut yer stuff off when theyre present ahead... maybe

or i dont know what im talkin about

0l33l · 05-31-2005, 12:12 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by therussman2002

i know, i figure maybe in half the cases itll shut yer stuff off when theyre present ahead... maybe

or i dont know what im talkin about

I was thinking when the officer pulls up from behind.
In your case it would work

kevinbr100 · 05-31-2005, 02:01 AM

i would imagine that the only thing they would outlaw if its not already outlawed in your state is motion video in the form of film or tv visible by the driver. there are too many manufacturerers including navigation systems in vehicles, and I haven't heard of any big issues with these things causing a lot of accidents, like they made with cell phones, which are still legal to use while driving without hands free in a lot of places. As for computer screens, a lot of commerical vehicles use computers visible by the driver, as well as emergency/government vehicles, they would have a hard time outlawing that.

shizzle · 05-31-2005, 02:05 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by kevinbr100

i would imagine that the only thing they would outlaw if its not already outlawed in your state is motion video in the form of film or tv visible by the driver. there are too many manufacturerers including navigation systems in vehicles, and I haven't heard of any big issues with these things causing a lot of accidents, like they made with cell phones, which are still legal to use while driving without hands free in a lot of places. As for computer screens, a lot of commerical vehicles use computers visible by the driver, as well as emergency/government vehicles, they would have a hard time outlawing that.

Most if not all laws make exceptions for governent workers and police.