So I was bored the other night and watching the DiscoveryScience channel. Not sure how new/old this innovation is but it's a Carchip. Basically it's a BlackBox for your car. You can unplug it from said car and into computer, and it will tell you the if it's gone over the speed limit ( 60 ) how long it did this for, how far it's traveled, time of travel so on and so forth.

In our game (warning, non canon material ensueth) we like to do some houseruling and experiment with different bits of innovation and invention. I'm thinking that if this chip is available now, by the 2050's - 70's it'll be more effective than the stoplight cam's they're using right now.

If it's designed to be an integral part of the starting, ignition, and charging systems of a car then Lonestar Officer could just plug in a PockSec and pull up the vehicles history.

That history would be a bit more extensive then what the modern chip can record, GPA record to tell exactly where the vehicle was, Size Weight and Build of the operator.

Run Without chip, could be done with the Technical know how. However heavy punishment could be dealt to vehicles without chips. Impound, Demolition...

Plan for not allowing CarChip to ruin a Run. 1A. Take your own vehicle to a public disreputable place, B. Purchase an Alabi from Bartender, Waitress, Manager, Owner, Whoever you know you can trust, C. Call Your Fixer (who should be willing to secure and deliver anything you might need to acquire to complete a job for the right price) and ask for a vehicle, D. Fixer calls someone who they know has vehicles to lend out, E. Wait, F. Get in the Vehicle, do the Job, Leave Vehicle somewhere not too far from previous public disreputable place, Get on your bike, Go.
2A. Spend a bit of time as a group searching for a vehicle big enough for everybody, B In a Team Effort Boost said vehile, C Do the Job, D Ditch the Vehicle somewhere not too far away from your own Vehicles, E At this point in time it's each to thier own as far as getting to one's own vehicle and slotting the frak out of there.

In Rigger 3, it talks about something similar. Since the majority of vehicles are hooked up to Gridguide, and every license plate has a bar code, the police don't bother patrolling for traffic tickets. If you speed, they're issued automatically. And usually they automatically deduct from your account as well. No fuss , no muss, no screwin' around.

Also, each vehicle comes stock with what's called a terminator chip. Meaning that if you're involved in a high speed chase, the cops bring up your information form your plate, get your registration, pull up your vehicles comm code, and send the signal to your car. Then the engine turns off. Also useful if you want to hit a target in a moving vehicle. Handy for extractions if you've got a good decker.

That can be removed, but it's actually a pretty hard test, and takes about half an hour base time IIRC. Which means that it's a lot harder to be a car thief in 2060+, since you now have to be a very proficient electrician/mechanic.

Does that mean your hacker can pull the same stunt on the cops?

It's possible.

This "carchip" is basically the "Unfall Datenschreiber" (Accident data recorder) that can be found in some current model cars and can be added to most. The current models run in a "x seconds" loop, only recording the last few seconds and "freezing" the data when the detect a crash.


Some trucks already have a similar system as part of the german TollCollect toll road system. Whenever the "driving dutchman" is not trying to cheat the german taxpayer by blocking up secondary roads instead of using the Autobahn, the OnBoardUnit (OBU) uses GPS to track his whereabouts. Well, it also does away from the Autobahn but there are no toll-bridges - yet. But conveniently failing tractors are a nice start



Q: What does happen if you fail the german drivers test three times?
A: You get a yellow-black licence plate and a Truck!

Birdy

(Yellow-Black=Netherland)

If memory serves, it records much more than the last few seconds. I remember watching that episode, and they were showing how the teenagers were driving.

"So you went above 100 mph for 20 seconds? Naughty girl."

Funny thing, police seem to spend a little more energy chasing down people who have stolen police cruisers. Probably easier just to take out the chip yourself.

But

"It's got a cop motor, a four hundred and forty cubic inch plant, it's got cop tires, cop suspension, cop shocks, it was a model made before catalytic converters so it'll run good on regular gas!"

"Hit it."

Fix the cigarette lighter.

If i have a player that can explain what he wants to do and it souinds good, i let em.

I typed in Jimmy digrizz in a search engine and this is what i got.



http://www.loc.gov/nls/tbt/1999/4julaug.txt




only thing that came up/

it's pretty useless i say.

The Bishop = mentor of SSR (aka Jimmy DiGriz)

The connection is from The Blues Brothers: Jake says "fix the cigarette lighter" after Elwood describes the new Bluesmobile (the cop this, cop that quote) and the "Hit it" is Jake's response to the "it's 106 miles to Chicago..." line from Elwood.

Evidently there is a DuPage county... http://www.co.dupage.il.us/ although Google helped with that one.

Damn you Socsci! Now I can't get my 50 KP!

Can I get 5 for knowing his middle name is Bolivar?

DuPage County exists - The real question is if they were going through Will, DuPage, and McHenry, why the hell didn't they go through Lake as well. Since it is the one directly north of Chicago.

'Cause there's only Senior Citizens in the Lake area, at least the North/Lake area.

Yeah sure SSR I'll let it slide.