When we talk about new and latest sat navs, some how we often end up turning our heads to focus on future sat navs that will enable better driving in London. Like the Ndrive G280 and G800, those were based on improving visibility of London roads for more effective and less confusing driving. At the end of the day, we need sat navs beause we want to be assisted on the road so that we reach our destinations in time in a safe and convenient manner. And I suppose this is why Transport For London (TfL) is developing this new type of sat-nav, what it is at the moment just applies to London, but if successful, I’m sure it will be more widely used for other places in the world.

What is so special about this new kick-arse mapping system is that it’s so intelligent that it will tell you when you are driving too fast, hmm, I think my TomTom Go is doing something like that already. So what’s the point, the point is, they are testing a new system in which, when it detects that you are going above the speed limit, it will start restricting you from further acceleration and ultimately reducing your speed. It’s called the Intelligent Speed Adaption (ISA) system and at the moment, ten vans and cars have already been fitted with one of these ISAs to test how well they will work on the road.

Basically, there will be three options to controlling this ‘beast’…

1. The open ISA warns the driver (visibly and/or audibly) that the speed limit is being exceeded. The driver him/herself decides whether or not to slow down. This is an informative or advisory system.

2. The half-open ISA increases the pressure on the accelerator pedal when the speed limit is exceeded (the ‘active accelerator’). Maintaining the same speed is possible, but less comfortable because of the counter pressure.

3. The closed ISA limits the speed automatically if the speed limit is exceeded. It is possible to make this system mandatory or voluntary. In the latter case, drivers may choose to switch the system on or off.

So I suppose having the ISA will be a good thing? Since sports cars in the future (if all cars will have an ISA in the future) could just disable it…

[via Gizmodo]