Bodywork, Paint, Interior, Trim, & Wiring

discussions about bodywork, paint, interiors, trim, audio, electrical components, wiring, etc.

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BlownMGB-V8
Jim Blackwood
9406 Gunpowder Rd., Florence, KY 41042
(6468 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 12:59PM

Main British Car:
1971 MGB Blown,Injected,Intercooled Buick 340/AA80E/JagIRS

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Re: tachometer/speedometer opinion
Posted by: BlownMGB-V8
Date: December 12, 2015 01:58AM

I would like to see someone make a GPS speedo that has a cruise control unit as an accessory to the speedo. Seems like a natural to me. And think about this, if you set it to run a few mph over the posted speed limit the GPS could pick those up and slow the car down as you entered lower speed zones, especially school zones. I notice drivers every day blasting through school zones like they aren't even there. How much safer it would be for the kids if your Cruise automatically dropped your speed when you got to a school zone? Also any regular posted speed reduction would automatically cause you to slow down, meaning a lot less chance of a speeding ticket.

It would not make sense to let it speed you back up of course without driver input, and obviously it would not pick up temporary speed limits like in construction zones, so you couldn't just go on autopilot, but it would be a great benefit. We have the technology, I'm surprised we don't have this already.

Jim


Moderator
Curtis Jacobson
Portland Oregon
(4576 posts)

Registered:
10/12/2007 02:16AM

Main British Car:
71 MGBGT, Buick 215

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Re: tachometer/speedometer opinion
Posted by: Moderator
Date: December 12, 2015 04:39PM

I like your train of thought, Jim. One thing to remember is a that you're combining two GPS functionalities. A GPS speedo calculates vehicle speed by listening to satellites. To do what you're suggesting, you also need map data.

That's where the temptation for mission creep starts. Here's how I continued the brainstorm. If you're going to license map data, your speedo company might as well build in a navigation feature set...Over time, maps change and improve, so you'd like an update feature. Then you realize that your smartphone can do quite a lot of this very well. Consider the waze app where you get up to date info about speed traps, traffic delays, traffic light cameras, fuel prices along your planned route, etc. - so what you really need is some basic cruise control hardware can "pair" (via Bluetooth?) with a popular smartphone and leverage the latest apps. Mount your phone forward of the steering wheel for the display...


BlownMGB-V8
Jim Blackwood
9406 Gunpowder Rd., Florence, KY 41042
(6468 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 12:59PM

Main British Car:
1971 MGB Blown,Injected,Intercooled Buick 340/AA80E/JagIRS

authors avatar
Re: tachometer/speedometer opinion
Posted by: BlownMGB-V8
Date: December 12, 2015 04:57PM

Well, maybe. The cruise needs to be a dedicated piece of hardware of course. The speedo really should also be a dedicated piece since you may want to drive your car without your phone, or you may want to let someone else drive it. Any way you look at it, a hard wired link between the two will always be more reliable than a wireless link.

I'm not sure where the lines are between location data and map data. We assume speed limits are with the map data but might they not just as well be with the location data? What exactly is the difference, and are they actually licensed separately? And because location has to change to get a speed readout, might that require map data as well?

Still, Dolphin or someone who already makes GPS speedos knows the answers to these questions. I would be VERY pleased with a GPS speedo/cruise combo that knew what the speed limit is where the car is located, whether it had any other capabilities or not. In fact, the simpler the better as it is less likely to go obsolete the way my in-car GPS did. I think mapping and trip management is a separate application and is more useful if it isn't mounted in the car permanently.

Jim


Moderator
Curtis Jacobson
Portland Oregon
(4576 posts)

Registered:
10/12/2007 02:16AM

Main British Car:
71 MGBGT, Buick 215

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Re: tachometer/speedometer opinion
Posted by: Moderator
Date: December 12, 2015 04:59PM

Ooops. I read Jim's post on pg2 before Dan's post on pg1.

Dan, in my opinion aftermarket nav is a sunsetting industry because in new cars nav is becoming ubiquitous even while smartphone based nav has leapfrogged ahead in functionality (and phone displays have gotten larger.) Can you make an attractive phone mounting panel that will be easy to replace with each of your future new phones?


primaz
Alan P
Northern California
(15 posts)

Registered:
05/26/2014 10:43PM

Main British Car:
1965 Jaguar 3.8S LS V8 5.3 liter aluminum block/heads

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Re: tachometer/speedometer opinion
Posted by: primaz
Date: December 29, 2015 10:29PM

ToyBug,

For a nav system that blends in you might consider www.visiontechamerica.com they provide rear view mirrors that have a built in navigation taking up a portion of the screen and I also is a rear view camera. For GPS other options are DIN navigation systems where the screen moves out of the standard size DIN car audio head unit. Both of these provide GPS with nobody seeing them when you park the car, etc. I always think stick on GPS, or stick on phones are so lame looking.

As far as speedo's I wanted to keep the stock gauges so I spend the extra money for the Dakota Digital box to adapt the new with the old.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/2015 09:40AM by MGBV8.


MGBV8
Carl Floyd
Kingsport, TN
(4511 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 11:32PM

Main British Car:
1979 MGB Buick 215

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Re: tachometer/speedometer opinion
Posted by: MGBV8
Date: December 30, 2015 09:36AM

Vision Tech America

Hmm....

[visiontechamerica.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/2015 09:39AM by MGBV8.
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