Cruise control is nice, but I wish it worked better. When I drive down the road, there is a speed limit, and I would like to prevent my car from exceeding it (perhaps by no more than some small amount, say 5 mph), to ensure I am not ticketed. I imagine a set of buttons for common speeds, such as 25, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, and 70. When I select one of them, the vehicle cannot go beyond that speed no matter how forcefully I depress the accelerator pedal. A large button labeled infinity (or clear) would unencumber the maximum speed. To fully implement such a feature, the vehicle's electronics would need a way to activate the brakes so that it could be (gently) slowed down to the maximum when traveling downhill. (My Ford Ranger 1988 pickup doesn't do this, but perhaps other vehicles do.)
Posted by seander at September 22, 2004 01:30 AM