Minis go to Olympics to toot their horns; Siri to hit the road?

By Bill Griffith

July 16, 2012

4 minutes to read

If the sound of a car horn bothers you, consider this: In London, the musicians of the London Philharmonic Orchestra recently completed a major project for this summer’s Olympic Games. Composer Philip Sheppard arranged 205 national anthems for participating countries in the 2012 Games, versions he says are more “symphonic’’ than “militaristic’’ in many cases. London made an agreement with the International Olympic Committee to preserve the recordings for use in future Games.

All the anthems will be played as each country’s athletes arrive at the Olympic Village, but, of course, more than half won’t be heard again at a medal ceremony.

So what does all of this have to do with the automotive world?

It seems that after the repetitive work of making the recordings, it was time for some fun.

Nine of the musicians got inside Minis to make a recording of Britain’s national anthem—“God Save the Queen’’—using the special edi tion 2012 cars’ horns as their instruments.

The recording will be available to give British athletes a boost at the Games’ venues. Conductor Gareth Newman says, “It’s the first time we’ve attempted to play a piece using just car horns as instruments, and it was a fun and unique experience for us as musicians.’’

You can find the recording at http://tinyurl. com/cwjwwbk or by searching 2012 MINI horn ensemble on You Tube.

It’s a hoot…and a toot.

An Automotive Apple?

Apple seems Siri-ous about entering the automobile industry. That’s a good thing. We think.

When automakers start using the Apple voice recognition software (like the one on the iPhone 4S), drivers will be able to make calls, dictate text messages, and ask for directions simply by asking Siri, Apple’s voice recognition guru. Automotive News says the system will be called “Eyes Free.’’

The big question is: If voice recognition works on a smartphone, why doesn’t it work in my car? Maybe this time it will.

The report says that GM and Honda/Acura are participating with GM to offer “Eyes Free’’ as part of its MyLink infotainment system on the 2013 Chevrolet Spark and Sonic, both of which come to market later this summer.

Infotainment problems have been a big part of reliability complaints in this year’s J.D. Power Initial Quality Study. In that report, Ford took a beating for its MyFord Touch, a system that’s close to being a success. However, the near miss has hurt the company even though the bulk of reliability complaints are about voice recognition instead of mechanical problems.

These days, synching a phone to a vehicle’s Bluetooth system before driving is a snap. Bluetooth systems seem to be close to foolproof across the industry.

So are navigation systems. If you’re in an unfamiliar area or heading into new territory, a second must do is to enter your destination into the navigation system AND set a home address, whether it be your actual home, the hotel you’re staying at, the starting point, or the airport where you’ll be returning the vehicle.

Now, the “note to self’’ is: Get to know Siri better.

Technology (cont.)

Two favorite safety systems are Blind Spot detection and Lane Departure Warning. Both seem to make me a better driver.

Apparently, the Highway Loss Data Institute, an affiliate of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), doesn’t agree. They cited adaptive headlights, collision alerts, and auto-braking as most effective in reducing insurance claims.

Collision alerts—a version of adaptive cruise control—and auto-braking are obviously winners in the safety department.

We haven’t found adaptive headlights to be particularly useful, but we’ll see how that plays out down the road. Adaptive headlights might be an advantage to a super-alert driver, but no matter what their makers say, they can’t see around corners.

Meanwhile, the bureaucrats said the blind spot and lane departure systems didn’t have an effect on reducing insurance claims. Hmm. Don’t know about that. But if you use them, you’ll fi nd yourself being a more alert driver, which should help keep you out of the insurance claim statistics.

When you find yourself looking at one place you shouldn’t while driving (the infotainment system or your cellphone), you tend to wander outside your lane. Enter the LDW, a system that beeps to tell you to keep on the straight and narrow. How can that be anything less than a benefit—unless you’re arrogant enough to be upset about the warnings and shut off the system?

But if you do that, you’re probably also the type of driver who buckles your seatbelt behind your back so the buzzers won’t sound.