Since the dawn of vehicle use, human intuition has been the primary determinant of speed on the road. What driver has not wondered at some point in a curve whether he was going too fast?
Vehicles today travel faster than a driver can safely operate them. Therefore, technologies need to be developed to help drivers make better decisions. Vision systems have a very limited ability to adjust speed when the driving speed is high.
For example, a system that sees at a 120-degree angle at a distance of 100 meters has less than 4 seconds of preparation at 100 km/h; at 200 km/h, the system is completely blind.
Large objects that are hidden from view, such as poor lighting conditions, lens cleaning, vegetation, and buildings, present a technical obstacle that cannot be overcome by optical means.
Existing technologies for speed adaptation, especially before curves and junctions, are very expensive and are not suitable for after-market installation.
Thousands of companies around the world are using optics to produce systems that it is currently impossible to predict if or when they will be a commercial success. In the interest of shareholders, the product must bring in revenue soon and seed plants for the distant future. Cruise control systems know how to maintain speed, and some even know how to match it to the vehicle ahead.
However, they are not useful on inner-city roads and on curves, although about one-third of fatal accidents are due to inappropriate speed on curves.
Many systems rely on being constantly connected to the Internet and pose a threat from hacker attacks and limited network connectivity.
Speed adjustment systems are generic and do not take into account differences in weight (number of passengers), type of cargo (liquid cargo, concrete mixer), or center of gravity (motorcycles).
They also limit speed arbitrarily, using an excessive safety factor that often limits speed unnecessarily. Sometimes it is possible to extract results from such systems that purport to understand the driver's hazard level, especially in commercial vehicle fleets. They provide generic results that do not accurately identify the driver's behavior that may lead him or her to a hazard level that requires preventive education.
Motorcycles have issues such as height, angle, and rider performance that also affect the vehicle's capabilities more than any other motorized vehicle.