Customizable and expandable auto speed cruise control…

Cruise control kits, (even add-on kits – see bottom of article) have been around for a while but most of these were designed for the good old days where you got on the highway and sat on 110k’s (or 70mph in the states) until you got to where you were going…

… these days with traffic and speed zones that change all the time maybe more is needed…

Thus this invention– a customizable and expandable SMART vehicle cruise control.

[Click to enlarge]

Its just like any other cruise control kit, except you select buttons to set the cruise control speed…

Why? Why not use the old “adjust your speed and reset” type cruise control technique?

Because that reset requires constant tweaking of the speed up and down on the set controls to dial in your desired speed. With this invention you see a 60 sign and you hit the 60 quick select button and your vehicle settles into that speed…. the box 3even has a tap button to turn on the backlit display so you aren't driving around with buttons glaring at you during night driving…

But this is where the fun starts. Because of what I've built into the box….note the USB expansion port….

Plug-ins

Yes. This little box is in fact a mini computer waiting for additional functions to be added to the cruise control system… for example….

A radar range finder that overrides the cruise control to match the speed of the car in front if its going slower than the speed set by the cruise control.

What about an optical character reader optimized for detecting and reading road side speed signs that automatically set the cruise control?

Or what about a limited range directional radio based speed control system where a solar powered speed transmitter is attached to every road sign and a receiver on your dash is attached to the smart cruise control and tells the car to slow down based on the limited range of the transmitter. Such a system could use wifi, laser or simple radio band.

Or even still, what about a GPS based system that is updated with all the speed zones and simply changes speed based on the cars location?

This is going to be a fun project.

Example of existing simple cruise control system below: