World News Report

I just returned to San Jose from Hawii, nice to be back in my Nissan. Speaking of Auto’s, a few years ago I had a commute home from work that nearly left in me in tears of frustration. I would get on the freeway just after five and would soon be in the thick of stop and go traffic. If I could have merely driven slowly along it wouldn’t have been so bad. If I could have stopped completely and read a book for a few minutes it wouldn’t have been so bad. But nothing is so torturous as having to move up 50 ft and stop, move up 50 feet and stop. You can’t hang back because everyone will pile in front of you and you’d never get anywhere.
Oh by the way if you are in San Jose and need some San Jose Auto Service work done on your Nissan or other used cars I can suggest this leading auto service firm.
This is where I get excited about Volkswagen’s new system to let cars drive themselves! Although the car will allow vehicles to drive by themselves at speeds of up to 80 mph, it’s that hideous stop and go stuff that I would most like to see gone forever.
You could actually read, text, talk on the phone, anything you wanted to do—safely! An article was published the end of last month on the USA Today website, dated 06/27/2011 under the caption, “Volkswagen system lets cars drive themselves,” written by Colin Bird/Cars.com’s Kicking Tires and Chris Woodyard/Drive On.
They write, “The system, called ‘Temporary Auto Pilot,’ allows the car to drive autonomously on highways or in stop-and-go city traffic. The system uses multiple ultrasonic and radar-based sensors, laser scanners, video cameras and an electronic horizon to let the car survey and react to road conditions by itself.”
Wow.
The TAP system keeps you a designated from the car ahead while keeping to a chosen speed. It’s is likened to cruise control systems we’re all familiar with.
But, get this; the system keeps the vehicle between lane markers and can pass other vehicles and adjust according to speed limits set by law. I could have used this in Hawaii. Oh by the way, if you are there and need a Hawaii Nissan dealership for used cars and autos, this Nissan dealer is one of the best in Hawaii. I will talk about San Jose later.
Bird and Woodyard report that in 2005, a Volkswagen Toureg named “Stanley” won a DARPA’s driverless vehicle contest in Nevada. It was driven by a team from Stanford University.
Bird and Woodyard quote VW as saying that TAP is meant only to be used as “a second pair of eyes on the road in case of driver distraction or fatigue.”
Volkswagen sees TAP as being used “during monotonous driving situations such as heavy stop-and-go city traffic….” just like that commute that had me pulling my hair out and acting like an insane person.
This isn’t just one of those experimental concepts that will take years to materialize on the market. Bird and Woodyard note that unlike Google’s driverless car or vehicles, Volkswagen says its system is nearly production ready