UK police could get Ghostbusters-style backpack devices to halt ebike getaways
theguardian.comConsidering how nimble e-bikes and e-scooters are, how will the UK police be able to properly catch, aim and target thieves while those heavy backpacks on? What's the chance they hit someone else with their EMP?
This feels like an Onion article or the UK police has too much money and free time on their hands instead of attacking the issue of petty crime from the source: poor education? shit jobs market (especially for migrants)? unaffordable living? etc
> instead of attacking the issue
That doesn't generate mouse clicks or revenue.
"Police hope the devicewill be harmless to humans and other devices." It's funny when reputable news outlets let silly spelling or grammar problems slip. You'd think they'd have automated away this problem long ago. It makes me sceptical of how much quality investigation and analysis is involved.
All e-scooters and most e-bikes are completely illegal on UK roads. Would be pretty amusing (and dangerous) to see this used on a busy street filled with hundreds of illegal riders.
> Police already have technology to stop cars remotely using radio and electromagnetic waves.
Never heard about this one. Anybody got a link, or even name?
¿Maybe RF Safe Stop (https://www.police1.com/police-products/pursuit-management-t..., https://www.teledyne-e2v.com/en-us/solutions/rf-power/rf-sol... , https://www.ormiccomponents.com/safe-stop-tm)?
Thanks, thats informative.
Not sure. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves. They might be talking about stuff similar to OnStar.
> They were also telling me it has the potential to be useful with normal combustion engine vehicles
Yikes. Honestly I'm a bit surprised criminals don't already have their own EMP weapons now.
Effect on pacemakers?
Hopefully none - human body is great at shielding things from EM radiation, and these things are already designed to be extremely resistant to external interferance for obvious reasons.
The booklet that came with my Nintendo Switch warns you not to use it near someone with a pacemaker
That's Just lawyers putting everythign and the kitchen sink in the disclaimer.
Well, that's just stupid. What else can be said...
It would be bad.
DC ("brushed") motors won't be affected by that, especially if controlled with no transistors. See for example how old DC-powered electric railway rolling stock was built, from pre-power electronics era.
Brushless motors have been the norm in e-bikes and e-scooters for a long time. And even modern brushed electric motors in EVs have electronic control via microcontrollers. There's no way you can get maximum power efficiency out of it without software control.
Of course. And no, you don't have brushed motors in modern EVs, outside of some DIYs. It's all BLDC. However, where have I contradicted any of this?
>And no, you don't have brushed motors in modern EVs
Would you be willing eat your words? Plenty of EV motor designs from Continental, ZF and Chinese companies are brushed (or other forms of physical shaft contact with slip rings). Not every EV is BLDC due to the desire to give up on expensive rare earth magnets on budget models.
https://www.speakev.com/threads/zoe-motor-change-5aq-what-do...
However, where have I contradicted any of this?
The part where you go "nuh uh, this won't work on motors that no mass-produced electric bike or scooter ever uses". It probably won't work on horses, either, but that's not what TFA is about.
Are people in the UK no longer panicking about "small boats" anymore? I guess ebikes make sense for a new anxiety focus, given that they are smaller than most other other motorized land transport.
Seems a little silly.
Do any UK HNers have thoughts on why phone theft is so common there? It’s not really a thing in the US (or hasn’t been for years), so I’m curious why it’s such an issue over there.
'Carrier locked' phones are illegal here, and were uncommon before then. Much easier to reset these devices and move them on.
That's interesting. But surely stolen ID's could be flagged and blocked from phone networks internationally if there was will to do so? I guess most people wouldn't know what their ID's are to get them blocked in the first place.
Thanks, I didn’t realize carrier locks were illegal in the UK.
High phone prices.
The first person hit by this gets a free pension..
Or funeral
Ok but what happens if they cross the streams??
All the car, smartphone, insulin pump, and pacemaker owners will surely appreciate this new and exciting EM pulse. And if this device does indeed cause overheating, so will all NHS amalgam dental filling owners and people with implants.
Unfortunately, "the weapon was in development and could be months away from being available, though it is expected to be longer than that", so the public can't enjoy it just yet.
Anyways, what will the criminals do? Will they have to buy petrol scooters again? This will set them back multiple months technologically! Although there are now petrol kick-style stand up scooters, so maybe not.
This sounds like a sketch from Silicon Valley (TV).