About Time! Speed Limit Detection on the Way

Have you ever been on a long road trip through unfamiliar territory only to realize you don’t know what the speed limit is because you haven’t been paying attention to the signs? Don’t worry, our friends in Germany are working on a system that detects the current speed limit electronically using an onboard camera.

The camera works in conjunction with a car’s navigation system to double-check if the sign it just read is accurate. That done, the car will issue an alert if drivers are going too fast. The kicker? Tap the cruise control and the car will be set to the official speed limit if you’re going too fast. Now the question is: Does the computer know about the 10 mph “safe zone“ our dads always used to talk about?

[Cars to Automatically Detect Speed Limit, USA Today]