Transportation
Transportation-related items, e.g. public transit, buses, subways, cars, bicycles, and more.
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Never be confused by a signaling bus again, assuming you frequently drive behind buses instead of taking public transit (you monster)
automotive, blinker, car, emergency blinkers, hazard lights, is amber even a color or what, is the light yellow or amber or orange or what, official color names are lacking, what are those emergency lights even called, what if the lights are like tangerine or something, who came up with that double triangle icon anyway
Background: Every vehicle has two turn signals on the back. These can indicate one of two things: 1) Car is turning left / right. 2) If both lights are blinking: “hazard / emergency / vehicle is stopped in roadway.” Fig 1: The emergency / hazard lights are usually activated by this button. The issue: Unfortunately,…
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Background: Housing is incredibly expensive in many major cities. Some people try to cope with high housing prices by living in their cars. However, it is generally illegal to sleep in a parked vehicle. Additionally, there are often restrictions on vehicle height for parked vehicles. Proposal: None of the caveats above apply to a moving…
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The issue: When parking on the street or in an enormous shopping center parking lot, it can be easy to lose track of exactly where one’s car is parked. Since cell phones constantly record a person’s GPS location as a standard feature (if you are not familiar with this, look up “iPhone Track location”—the images are…
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The issue: When driving long distances, maintaining situational awareness on a boring stretch of road can be difficult. Additionally, distractions such as in-car music may prevent natural audio cues (for example, the sound of nearby cars) from being noticed by the driver. Proposal for the “AudioNav” car navigation aid: By using an array of rangefinders…
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As previously discussed on this very site, “gamification” is a hot topic in the world of behavioral influence. The car manufacturer Qoros (观致汽车) (Wikipedia link) is attempting to use this technique in the automotive world. The picture below (from the electronic dashboard of a 2015 Qoros sedan) displays the “Beat the Line” achievement. Unfortunately, a full…
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Background: A person can generate on the order of ~100W on a stationary bicycle for a half hour or so, for a total of 0.05kWh. This would be enough to power a space heater for about 3 minutes, or a low-draw 10 watt LED light for 5 hours. There are already various electrical contraptions with…
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