Knight Rider-style police cars on way in Sussex

7:00am Friday 22nd May 2009

By Ben Parsons, Crime Reporter

Police in Sussex could soon be driving futuristic cars like KITT in the classic TV series Knight Rider.

Bosses are pushing for a 'leap forward' in the development of in-car technology that will help create the 'perfect driver' capable of catching offenders more effectively.

The supercar will be equipped with 'one-box' technology which will monitor the driver's handling of the car - giving him and his bosses a readout of his performance behind the wheel.

The on-board computer will also check the car's efficiency second-by-second to ensure it is firing on all cylinders and running at its maximum potential.

The technology, currently in development by experts at the Home Office Scientific Development Branch, will enable police drivers to hone their skills to the expert level of Formula One drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

The computer will also incorporate the automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system which alerts police to illegal cars on the road.

Although the technology will not allow the car to actually 'talk' to the driver, as KITT did to Michael Knight in the 1980s TV series, it will provide data showing how the driver and the car's performance can be improved.

Top officers now say it is 'just a matter of time' before these police cars become a reality.

In the series KITT, which stands for Knight Industries Two Thousand, could talk to humans, accelerate from 0-60mph in two seconds, leap over obstacles, shoot out flames at enemies and send out jets of oil and smoke.

The technology is being trialled by four police forces - Sussex, the Met, Dorset and Grampian Police - later this year.

The one-box technology - which simply means a single super computer rather than a series of devices - will also provide data on fuel efficiency and the use of blue lights and give control rooms direct access to how the driver is performing at the wheel.

Chief Superintendent Jim Hammond, of Sussex Police, said cars like KITT - a Pontiac Trans-AM driven by actor David Hasselhoff in the show - will be on the streets in the near future.

Ch Supt Hammond, who leads the Association of Chief Police Officer's working group on the design of police vehicles and technology, told Police Review yesterday: "Police vehicles like Knight Rider is something we are not that far away from.

"The police service is filling cars with flashing lights and lots of information and buttons and then we expect those drivers to drive and actually look out and identify criminals and catch criminal behaviour.

"We need to start to make the difference and deliver technology to work for us instead of controlling us."

He added: "This will allow us to better understand how our drivers are driving and give them feedback."