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Purely out of curiousity: Is it physically possible for a sufficiently smart active suspension system defeat a conventional (i.e. solid bump on the road) speed

Purely out of curiousity: Is it physically possible for a sufficiently smart active suspension system defeat a conventional (i.e. solid bump on the road) speed bump?

grzm 9y ago
Taken a step further, could LIDAR/RADAR systems detect speed bumps and inform the suspension system?
- URSpider94 9y ago
  Watch the Bose suspension videos; they include a car vaulting over road obstacles.
  - ghaff 9y ago
    AFAIK, that whole effort is pretty much dead.
- AstralStorm 9y ago
  Unless you're driving a truck, suspension doesn't have enough distance to switch to soft and nullify the bump for bumps of reasonable size. That if it wasn't super hard to change suspension properties on the fly.
mikeytown2 9y ago
I'd bet these trucks defeat it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophy_Truck https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophy_Truck
saagarjha 9y ago
If I remember correctly I saw a Bose demo where they were able to roll their car over speed bumps and it would stay completely level. I’m not sure if that completely negated their impact, but it looked like it from the video.
- ghgr 9y ago
  Indeed, here is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KPYIaks1UY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KPYIaks1UY
- KozmoNau7 9y ago
  It only worked so well because they rigged the tests. The suspension was tuned for exactly each demonstration, it wouldn't work under normal mixed conditions. The system was also extremely heavy and used a boatload of power for the actuators. A well-setup conventional suspension system works nearly as well for anything you would encounter in the real world, and it's a lot less expensive. Even Citroën (the kings of hydropneumatic active suspension) will be going with traditional suspension only from their next generation C5, despite being stalwarts of active suspension tech since the 1950s. Having driven a C3 through southern Germany on vacation recently, I see their point. That silly little car was significantly more comfortable than my older, larger Peugeot sedan, and more comfortable than even the 1st-gen C5 my parents drive. Conventional suspension tech has come a long, long way.
  - smilekzs 9y ago
    Ignoring street-legality and commercial feasibility, if the Bose suspension is automatically adjusted using feedback from e.g. LIDAR and/or depth cameras, wouldn't that solve the "tune for each demo" problem?
    - KozmoNau7 9y ago
      Theoretically, yes. It would be fun to see an updated version.

Purely out of curiousity: Is it physically possible for a sufficiently smart active suspension system defeat a conventional (i.e. solid bump on the road) speed bump?

grzm 9y ago

Taken a step further, could LIDAR/RADAR systems detect speed bumps and inform the suspension system?

URSpider94 9y ago
Watch the Bose suspension videos; they include a car vaulting over road obstacles.
- ghaff 9y ago
  AFAIK, that whole effort is pretty much dead.
AstralStorm 9y ago
Unless you're driving a truck, suspension doesn't have enough distance to switch to soft and nullify the bump for bumps of reasonable size. That if it wasn't super hard to change suspension properties on the fly.

mikeytown2 9y ago

I'd bet these trucks defeat it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophy_Truck https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophy_Truck

saagarjha 9y ago

If I remember correctly I saw a Bose demo where they were able to roll their car over speed bumps and it would stay completely level. I’m not sure if that completely negated their impact, but it looked like it from the video.

ghgr 9y ago
Indeed, here is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KPYIaks1UY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KPYIaks1UY
KozmoNau7 9y ago
It only worked so well because they rigged the tests. The suspension was tuned for exactly each demonstration, it wouldn't work under normal mixed conditions. The system was also extremely heavy and used a boatload of power for the actuators. A well-setup conventional suspension system works nearly as well for anything you would encounter in the real world, and it's a lot less expensive. Even Citroën (the kings of hydropneumatic active suspension) will be going with traditional suspension only from their next generation C5, despite being stalwarts of active suspension tech since the 1950s. Having driven a C3 through southern Germany on vacation recently, I see their point. That silly little car was significantly more comfortable than my older, larger Peugeot sedan, and more comfortable than even the 1st-gen C5 my parents drive. Conventional suspension tech has come a long, long way.
- smilekzs 9y ago
  Ignoring street-legality and commercial feasibility, if the Bose suspension is automatically adjusted using feedback from e.g. LIDAR and/or depth cameras, wouldn't that solve the "tune for each demo" problem?
  - KozmoNau7 9y ago
    Theoretically, yes. It would be fun to see an updated version.