RF Safe-Stop Uses Radio Waves to Stop Moving Cars

[Fanghawk]

RF Safe-Stop Uses Radio Waves to Stop Moving Cars

British-based company e2v has developed a technology that remotely shuts down engines, ruining the prospects of futuristic high-speed car chases.

Real-world car chases aren't usually the Hollywood spectacles we see in movies, but they can still be dangerous for drivers and pedestrians alike. That's why police and military forces, the party poopers, are interested in technologies that skip the "high-speed pursuit" phase and move directly to "successful arrest". Enter the RF Safe-Stop, a prototype developed by British-based tech company e2v. By using radio frequency pulses, the device confuses the electronic systems of modern vehicles, ultimately shutting down the engine so the car can drift to a stop.

"It's a small radar transmitter," said product manager Andy Wood. "The [radio frequency] is pulsed from the unit just as it would be in radar, it couples into the wiring in the car and that disrupts and confuses the electronics in the car causing the engine to stall."

The RF Safe-Stop's current design doesn't look especially portable, but that's partly the point. e2v originally envisioned the device for sensitive military locations and checkpoints, which would prevent unauthorized vehicles (and any weapons they carry) from reaching their targets. Police forces have also evaluated the technology, with Deputy Chief Constable Andy Holt saying it has "potential, but it's very early days yet".

That's not to say the RF Safe-Stop is perfect. Some experts are concerned that the technology won't slow rapidly moving vehicles, while others worry it could disable electronic braking systems. Also, the RF Safe-Stop's current model has no effect on engines that don't rely on electronics, which includes most older vehicles. e2v has responded by saying that the risks are lower compared to other products, that the Safe-Stop shouldn't effect secondary devices like pacemakers, and that it can even be used to safely stop motorbikes and boats.

Even if the RF Safe-Stop isn't developed further, we'll probably see the technology appear in futuristic action films and thrillers very soon. Presumably fictional criminals and terrorists will respond by only driving cars from the 1960s, which at the very least, will make <a href=https://www.google.ca/search?q=cars+from+the+1960s&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=OV6fUsvEK4ShrgHPhYDYCw&ved=0CCsQsAQ&biw=1920&bih=976>for some visually interesting chase sequences.

Source: <a href=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25197786>BBC

Permalink

 

[Falterfire]

How big is this thing? Because I'm thinking you could wreak all sorts of havok fairly easily with such a device. The potential for malicious usage on this thing is just insane, especially if you could easily conceal it and deploy it on the highway or at an intersection. It's not too hard to imagine this being used for an actual terrorism attack since it's minimal effort for potentially huge damage while being difficult to be caught.

 

[CriticalMiss]

How big is this thing? Because I'm thinking you could wreak all sorts of havok fairly easily with such a device. The potential for malicious usage on this thing is just insane, especially if you could easily conceal it and deploy it on the highway or at an intersection. It's not too hard to imagine this being used for an actual terrorism attack since it's minimal effort for potentially huge damage while being difficult to be caught.

Or put one in the back of a van, park near an airport and fuck with planes that are taking off. It's one of those inventions that really doesn't seem to be worth the potential downsides but law enforcement will adopt it at great expense regardless.

 

[kailus13]

This is really the kind of technology that comes back to bite your arse.

Even then since they are using Radio waves, it's possible to shield the engine from electronic interference. This won't have any major impact from gangs and highly organised criminals.

If anything, it will make their lives easier. Why wait for a decent car to steal when you can just get your hands on this tech and stop the most expensive cars at your leisure?

 

[J Tyran]

How big is this thing? Because I'm thinking you could wreak all sorts of havok fairly easily with such a device. The potential for malicious usage on this thing is just insane, especially if you could easily conceal it and deploy it on the highway or at an intersection. It's not too hard to imagine this being used for an actual terrorism attack since it's minimal effort for potentially huge damage while being difficult to be caught.

Or put one in the back of a van, park near an airport and fuck with planes that are taking off. It's one of those inventions that really doesn't seem to be worth the potential downsides but law enforcement will adopt it at great expense regardless.

Planes are heavily shielded so something like this would have little effect, they face a barrage of RADAR waves (airports have all kinds of ground & air control RADAR alongside guidance beacons and weather RADAR, many Megawatts of it in total) and the risk of lightening strikes. Unless the circumstances are unusual they are pretty much safe from anything up to a close range large yield EMP.

 

[FalloutJack]

This will cause more harm than good as somebody uses it to crash people's cars at will.

 

[weirdee]

If everybody ends up building in protections for this, it's not like it'll be useful anyway.

 

[truckspond]

All you need is an engine with no computers or direct fuel injection in it and you can safely ignore this device

 

[putowtin]

And next one to stop robots and power armor!

 

[Strazdas]

So what you do is shield your car from radiowaves. simple.
also this:

All you need is an engine with no computers or direct fuel injection in it and you can safely ignore this device

pretty much any old car will be unafected.