Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by avereveard 1047 days ago
Yeah that what I want to see when I'm in a crash, responders wasting time with tech support on some tech device.

And let me be super straightforward here: if a radio technician needs to be on emergency vehicle at all times, it better be that his salary comes out of self driving licenses fees and not my taxes.
1 comments
NoZebra120vClip 1047 days ago
Emergency responders use all sorts of radios already. They pretty much pioneered the ubiquitous use of radio in all sorts of situations. If there is one thing that first responders know, besides health and safety, it's radio. Licensed amateur radio operators tout their ability to respond in emergency situations as well, and whether that is true or not, many emergency responders are also Hams.

If you have not looked at a fire engine or ambulance lately, you would be a little surprised at how much technology they bristle with. The last time I called 9-1-1, they showed up with an EKG, and all the other machines to monitor vital signs. In fact, there are services now that advertise they will bring a fully-functional Emergency Department to the comfort of your own home.

Yeah, who wants to mess with ancillary tech that isn't part of the emergency. Nobody, but a transponder is fairly dumb. You press a button on it and it starts. Transponders don't have a mic, they don't have a frequency dial, they are just gonna send out your ID code until you shut it down again. It will be the least of worries for the first responders, especially if they will be safe from errant SDCs.

link
jonhohle 1047 days ago
Emergency vehicles already have traffic signal preemption devices on them. Is that not recognized autonomous vehicles?

The devices you listed were chosen by emergency services to make them more efficient at their primary purpose. Beacons have nothing to do with improving their ability to do their job and are just an additional burden.

link
avereveard 1047 days ago
you cannot just use a dumb trasponder duh, imagine people being able to cause a mess with 100$ hardware

you need some form of authentication on it. needs to be impossible or at least very hard to spoof.

and now your device is not so dumb anymore.

link
jayGlow 1047 days ago
you could just make spoofing it a felony like using any other emergency protocols are.
link
NoZebra120vClip 1047 days ago
And you could offer a $5,000 reward, plus legal fees, for everyone who uses it and gets caught
link