9.5M views · Feb 3, 2016 · 2:20 · 0 HN recommenders · 4 mentions · discussed 2018–2021
A short CNET demo of Bose's electromagnetic active suspension, which gave a very smooth ride but never reached the market. It shows the system in action.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN cites it as the demo of active suspension that was a technical success but a commercial flop.
“BOSE's car suspension [0] might do the trick”
Bose's electromagnetic suspension cancelling road motion.
Assuming road noise is nowadays mostly low frequency noise - BOSE's car suspension [0] might do the trick: "It does for motion what noise-cancelling does for noise" [1]. [0] this video [1] link
“Bose's suspension seemed smoother”
Demo of Bose suspension smoothness and turbo-boost cue-in.
For my eye, Bose's suspension seemed smoother: this video And it had Turbo-Boost (same video with cue-in): this video
“Found it on YouTube”
Computer-controlled shock absorbers reacting to road bumps.
Interestingly, I remember this exact scenario was a noted problem for some sort of computer-controlled shock absorbers that I saw on the "Beyond 2000" TV show in the mid-90s. In many scenarios, the shock absorbers could detect bumps and holes in the road and compensate perfectly, resulting in a ride that was smooth as glass. But they still hadn't figured out how to differentiate between a crumpled paper bag and a rock, or a pothole filled with water vs a smooth surface. Otherwise, it was really impressive. Found it on YouTube: this video I feel like Level 4 or 5 Autonomous Driving will be the same -- there are just some problems that will never be solved well enough to make it work acceptably.
“Bosch had electromagnetic car suspensions figured out 20 years ago”
Electromagnetic suspension was solved decades ago.
Funny you should mention GM, they had: link Bosch had electromagnetic car suspensions figured out 20 years ago: this video The car industry is a perfect example of "worst is better". The point about the cheap golf-kart car from China is about how little in terms of material costs actually goes into it. It is $5,000 shipped. In actuality it is about $2000 in parts. The skateboard platform I linked to is already developed, they are supposedly going public this year, not just a concept. If they can get them to pack flat (or flat-ish), they can ship quite a lot of them around the world for peanuts. Add whatever cab, wheels and branding you want to finish it off. All of this stuff is about to become a commodity. The most, and basically only, expensive part is the battery.
