Microwave beam car stopper tested, fries cars in nanoseconds flat

Yeah, this idea has definitely been around the block a time or two, but Eureka Aerospace is doing a whole lot more than just envisioning yet another concept. Its 200-pound, 5-foot long prototype has recently undergone testing, and reportedly, it's been able to completely and utterly incapacitate any vehicle that dared roll in its path. The device has been used to shut down four whips thus far, each from a distance of 10 to 50-feet, and all it took was a microwave pulse lasting some 50-nanoseconds to do it. According to James Tatoian, the outfit's CEO, a version that weighs just 50-pounds and can disable rebel rides from 600-feet away is only a couple of years from reality, but it's highly doubtful that these will be available to the general public. Depressing, we know.

[Via Slashgear]

[droopy1592 @ Dec 5th 2007 7:11AM]

I've never been caught in my numerous get-aways but I guess they'll catch me with this. I'll have to install microwave shielding :P

... the transporter

[Hax Or @ Dec 5th 2007 9:46AM]

those were some good movies...

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Dec 5th 2007 2:18PM]

Actually home built versions of this device have been built in the past. The first one I ever saw was back in 1994, it was made from salvaged electronics parts and was fully capable of disabling a running car.

I will not go in to detail on how to make one, because the general public really does not need to know.

[Jamar @ Dec 5th 2007 7:12AM]

This can't be safe. Most cars nowadays have power steering. I imagine that would be disabled too, and then you have a car that's still moving at high speed and hard to control. You'll be endangering surrounding people/objects.

And, older cars without electronic components still aren't affected. I see a surge in sales of vintage/used cars.

[Chip @ Dec 5th 2007 9:33AM]

I guess there's a few options here:

1. Don't run from the cops.
2. Get out of Mom's basement and hit the gym. Moving cars without power-steering aren't that hard to control.
3. If the car is in the clear, take out the driver with deadly force. If some loon was waiving a deadly weapon in a mall, they'd take him out, yet cars kill more people than guns.

[Darren Tilley @ Dec 5th 2007 9:42AM]

You are assuming that power steering is actually an electronic system, whereas in most cases power steering is purely mechanical.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/steering4.htm

[Andir3.0 @ Dec 5th 2007 10:05AM]

"yet cars kill more people than guns"

Neither cars nor guns kill people. That's the problem with your thinking. They have no thought, they can't control themselves, and if you take a gun/car away from a killer, they will simply find another tool. This is why I have a problem with gun control laws, etc. Do you plan on outlawing anything that can be used as a weapon? When will you take away the baseball bat from Little Billy because someone used a similar model to kill 20 people at school?

[seoultrain @ Dec 5th 2007 11:07AM]

andir, I think most of the positions on gun control (at least the sensible ones) deal with the types of guns that can be sold to the general public. There simply is no reasonable justification for being able to buy an automatic weapon that can fire hundreds of rounds per minute. If you take that away from them, it's very hard to find a weapon that is as dangerous. Unless they have a Super Mega Death Ray lying around.

[Chad @ Dec 5th 2007 11:45AM]

Actually driving at high speeds without power steering is easy. The reason power steering was invented was to help women back the cars out of the driveway at low speeds. Once you get up to speed, you wouldn't even notice if the power steering went out.

[JuggleNuts @ Dec 5th 2007 12:51PM]

"A surge in vintage car sales"

Think long and hard about this for a few seconds - you'll figure it out eventually.

[Cartman @ Dec 5th 2007 1:03PM]

hahhahahaa can anyone say college know-it-all hippy? "My economics professors totally opened my eyes, maaaaaan. You dont even know. The corporations are keeping you down. THE CORPORATIONS. Want some weed? Wheres the nearest music festival? I want go change the wooooorld with my muuusic." What kind of professor shows Sicko in his economics class? It's filled with half-truths and plain lies, just like every other film by Michael Moore.

If you are the kind of idiot that believes Michael Moore and everything your college professors tell you, then I do hope you change your citizenship and move away. The less idiocy we have from lazy socialists like you, the better off the rest of us hard-working, intelligent people will be.

[Wwhat @ Dec 5th 2007 1:38PM]

I think 'chip' is either a troll (my hope) or someone who should be locked in a institution for the mentally unbalanced. (NO, I don't mean the whitehouse in Washington when I say institution - NO don't vote him in)

[Andir3.0 @ Dec 5th 2007 3:23PM]

@seoultrain: I'd argue that you could become a pilot or a bus driver and kill more people than you could ever kill with an AK-47.

[facebookfake @ Dec 5th 2007 4:11PM]

@Cartman

I love how being called a Socialist is supposed to be an insult. I'm going to bet you're going to collect social security when you get old. Do you know what that is? It's Socialism. And the subsidies the federal government gives to businesses? Socialism again. Oh, and when the Fed bails people out of the shitty housing market, that too is Socialism.

So please, in the future, try being a realist, instead of just a jackass.

[Brian @ Dec 5th 2007 8:16PM]

@Andir --> Yea, but think how much more fun it would be to do the Carmageddon thing AND an AK47 at the same time.

Seriously people, get your heads out of your arses. Guns are instruments. Murders will kill one way or another. And people argue about assault rifles needing to be outlawed... how many gas stations get robbed by a man wielding a $3000 rifle? None. People who rob gas stations have a $100 pistol. Even if you took money out of the equation, a thief isn't going to walk the streets with an M4 over his shoulder.

Gun control is just another useless emo debate, like stem cells and flag burning.

Either outlaw guns (Ha ha! Try disarming this redneck nation... you though the prohibition was tough to enforce) or leave law abiding citizens alone!

[thofsi @ Dec 6th 2007 12:09AM]

power steering in a car I had required electric power, perhaps it was for a pump for the fluid in the lines. I don't know. I know once without power the steering WAS very hard to operate. Power died just before I located an exit and coasted into a gas station off the highway.

As for shielding, not only can microwaves be shielded, but inverse doppler effects are now possible with something called metamaterials, and they have been tested with microwaves. Further, solid shells have been designed to allow microwaves to flow AROUND a contained volume/object. Better than shielding - waveband invisibility.

Photos indicating what sample metamaterials look like have been made public but the scale and geometry of wires is an important detail, tailored to the wave-length. incomplete loops within more incomplete loops - like a C with a backwards c inside of it; square versions of that; single rods; sheets of these beside each other,layered upon each other, each cell in a sheet having the double-c or rod configuration.

My understanding is it's like an induction coil except it would be more than one induction and the light itself/photon/wave would induce, then a reflected induction from the arrangement/array would remarkably do things no normal material would do with light waves. I don't even know if such a thing can be over-heated or somehow ruined if only the expected band/frequency width is used on the meta-material. Don't expect a LOT more to be public now about it - what was public I'm sure is just to impress people with money, get their attention from afar, and now that period of time has passed.

[Mindbleach @ Dec 11th 2007 1:04PM]

s/vintage/Citroen/

There are still places in Europe where you can buy brand-new diesels without any electronics but the lights, radio, and wipers. Some of them might even be capable of winning a high-speed chase... for certain values of high.

[Twitchy @ Dec 5th 2007 7:26AM]

I don't know what you lot are on about. This technology would be used in order to stop people who would normally be intercepted with a PIT maneouvre if they don't crash into an innocent individual first. Which would you prefer? Let the fool run into your wife who is bringing the kids home from school, or have a car spin out at 140kph on a wet road only to end in oncoming traffic? Or option three, the car coasts to a stop.

As for the power steering argument, steering is POWER ASSISTED. You can still steer without it, it is only a lot harder. The brakes still work though, so if the idiot wipes out, then it's Darwinism at work.

The only real perceptible downside to this technology - no more special car-chase episodes of 'Cops'.

[Jamar @ Dec 5th 2007 9:13AM]

Without power steering, either of the first scenarios you present is still possible, especially if the road's bad or the road in question is curvy.

[Michael Emmons @ Dec 5th 2007 11:27AM]

I wonder how this device would affect pacemakers or similar in-body electronic devices?

[Tony @ Dec 5th 2007 12:14PM]

Manual steering is easy in moving cars, and especially fast moving cars. I guess none of you have ever had to drive one.

Also, in high speed situations, it is best to slowly turn the steering wheel rather than make quick movements on the steering wheel. So even if the lack of power steering slowed you down, it'd be for the best.

[Jesse S @ Dec 5th 2007 12:28PM]

And the Taser was only suppose dto be used in place of a gun, but now it's used in place of talking.

I see this taking a similar path.

[jon @ Dec 5th 2007 7:38AM]

Guess I have to EMP harden my car now.

It's unclear whether this technique will also interfere with the traditional coil, condensor, points, distributor and spark plug wires of older cars. It would definitely fry your alternator/generator, wiper and heater motors, and electric lights and radio.

That's why a hybrid with a mechanically engaged flywheel will become the getaway car of the next Dillinger.

[Tony @ Dec 5th 2007 10:01AM]

Wow, posting about needing to EMP harden your car so you can go commit crime. I hope you don't live in America, otherwise you're probably classified as a terrorist or something right now.
Derka derka, Mohammed Jihad

[Andir3.0 @ Dec 5th 2007 10:09AM]

I read it a few times and I am unclear as to where you think he said he was going to commit a crime.

[Timerider @ Dec 5th 2007 10:31AM]

@Tony:
I think it was a joke.

[Tony @ Dec 5th 2007 12:16PM]

@Tony (Not me)

Whooshhhhhhhhhhh.

[Fruition @ Dec 5th 2007 7:54AM]

Batman's already reserved one to be fitted onto the batmobile... And Q's getting one for James Bond's next Aston Martin.

[monkfishbandana @ Dec 5th 2007 3:08PM]

I'm pretty sure that you'd have to consult R on that now; I believe Q died.

[Fruition @ Dec 5th 2007 4:16PM]

No, I think his successor is still called Q. It's the Bond universe, it doesn't have to make sense!

[AlexP @ Dec 5th 2007 7:55AM]

It's probably just as hazardous as spike strips, but I'm guessing cops will like it as much as they like tazers.


- TECH GUN GOES PEW PEW PEW HAR HAR I DISABLED YOUR AUTOS

-What happened there officer Leeroy?

- He was threatening the very safety of our citizens sir.

[JuggleNuts @ Dec 5th 2007 7:20PM]

Nah, spike strips blow out your tires ... i'd imagine rolling to a stop is a little less dangerous than taking a sudden ride on the BRIDGESTONE/FIRESTONE machine.

[Future Trend @ Dec 5th 2007 7:55AM]

EMP's only use seems to be destruction and that's really only useful in wars!!! So, all this effort to know how to destroy is a bit disturbing ... But of course everything always develops in line with each other. Put this next to the announcement by US Military that they want to replace a third of of their armed vehicles and weaponry with robots by 2015. So, all you need to stop them is to zap them by EMP, and go back home peacefully. Mmm, interesting time.
-----
Future Converged

[NHAnimator @ Dec 5th 2007 8:09AM]

If you're the type of person that requires the police to chase you, then I don't care how they stop you as long as they do it before you become a threat to me or my family.

[StrangeBum @ Dec 5th 2007 8:26AM]

Here here! I don't have a family that I'm altogether too worried about, no wife and kids, but if someone is being chased by the police then you are absolutely right. Whatever gets the job done and stops the criminal from hurting even more people, also letting him be more easily apprehended is a major plus in my eyes!

[DrXym @ Dec 5th 2007 8:12AM]

Wait until some innocent passerby's pacemaker is zapped, or for the cops operating the device to have tumours growing out of their heads for the lawsuitlarity to begin.

[Timerider @ Dec 5th 2007 10:11AM]

Hmm, I never thought of that.
Does this fry medical equipment?

[Flashpoint @ Dec 5th 2007 8:25AM]

LESS THAN LETHAL methods will soon have a KILL ratio higher than LETHAL methods.

[jperry2010 @ Dec 5th 2007 10:11AM]

And yet, I would still rather the police attempt to use less than lethal force before using his or her gun.

[Andrew @ Dec 5th 2007 1:14PM]

Because they're used more.

If you're one of those idiots who think things like tazers are bad because of a few bad incidents, well think about this: If, every time a tazer was used, it was replaced by a real gun and the suspect was shot, tell me how high the kill rate would be then.

[bbwwjj @ Dec 7th 2007 7:39AM]

@ Andrew: The ironic thing about nonlethal subjugative methods like TAZERs is...

Wait for it...

THEY'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO KILL ANYONE.

[Joe Fischler @ Dec 5th 2007 8:32AM]

Let's hope drivers don't get grilled by microwaves or sue policemen for penetrating their health..

[Randomness @ Dec 5th 2007 8:35AM]

Some important info from the article:

"The higher the frequency of the radiation, the more directed the beam, which allows the user to aim the energy at vulnerable car parts, such as light bulb filaments, lug nuts, frame bolts, or windshield antenna.

Having access to these locations is crucial because newer cars are made with lots of plastic parts, have rustproof paint that prevents electricity from conducting, and have computers already designed to withstand the electromagnetic energy coming from the car engine. "

So basically they have to hit a small vulnerable part of the car using this large device during a car chase. This doesn't sound easy exactly, with some cars being mostly plastic now. How do they aim it? What is the beam width?

[xxM5xx @ Dec 5th 2007 9:00AM]

I am confident there will be legislation in the United States before too much longer that requires auto manufacturers to make and sell only vehicles that permit law enforcement (government) to effortlessly disable the vehicle. Maybe that means an antenna that receives an EMP or equiv., and laws in all States will follow which make it illegal for owners to remove such equipment from their vehicles. This trend of "in case you do something wrong" --and-- "it's for the children" has been encroaching for some time. Forget about microwaving the ECU, soon all the police will have to do is send a voice transmission stating your license plate number to headquarters, and HQ will key it into a computer and your car engine is cut to an idle (regardless of how hard you press the throttle), and the brakes are gently applied (tranny in neutral), all this over the Internet and/or cellular network. The price of this will be added to the price of the car, and/or added to your vehicle's annual registration. All this to make the cops job easier, not really about making things safer but that is a side effect.

It is called the future, and it is not far off.

This Country (USA) is going to Hell at a rate which is approaching the speed of light.

[Jamar @ Dec 5th 2007 9:15AM]

This, on top of many other things (watching Sicko in my economics class, for one) is why I'm changing my citizenship as soon as I get out of college. I'll be voting in next year's election, but I fear that America's already set its path in stone.

[Fruition @ Dec 5th 2007 9:45AM]

Yes, they'd have to hit an area no more than two meters wide! That's impossible, even for a computer!

[Chip @ Dec 5th 2007 9:46AM]

What "economics" class would watch "Sicko"? Sadly a lot of that movie is a half-truth or flat made up. Did they show the counter side? Did they show the real world example of socialized medicine in America, our county hospitals. Do some research on Parkland Hospital in Dallas. You're right about one thing, people wanting to leave America. Achievers are sick of paying the vast majority of taxes while more and more people want hand-outs.

Now get back on topic.

[rodan32 @ Dec 5th 2007 10:22AM]

@Jamar - looks like we might have a case of the ole "college know-it-all hippie" going on there.

[H4wx @ Dec 5th 2007 10:24AM]

Thing about that, though, is what happens when criminals figure out the signal and use it to stop expensive cars for easy hijacking? Or when (and I'm not being alarmist here) terrorists figure it out and shut down an entire city's auto traffic? I doubt that they would implement such a vulnerable system.

[Twitchy @ Dec 5th 2007 4:43PM]

If you apply a large current to the brake light this will fry the fuse box if you're lucky. If not, then it will fry a whole lot more, and the cables might start fires in interesting places.