Self Driving Car - The future?

I was recently in turkey and saw a news report (In turkish) showing a demo of this cars potential. It was amazing, negotiating a coned track and slalom at speeds of up to 60mph. No human could have driven with such accuracy at the speeds it was doing.

Thie video on this page isn't very good, it only does about 10mph but there is one out there somewhere with it doing the same at high speed.

This VW has huge potential but if/when there are accidents they'd get sued big time. I for sure wouldnt sign a disclaimer to say if it jumped the barrier at 80mph on the motorway I (Or my next of kin) wouldnt sue!

Self-Driving Volks-Wagen Golf 53

I think it's great that we have the technology to do this kind of thing, but my concern is what happens when that computer malfunctions or burns out while going 150 and the driver is asleep thinking that the car will take them where they want to go? Better yet, how is this car going to know where you want to go? Drivers will still be required to put the car out of autopilot to get to their destination.

hmmm i saw something similar with the new mercedes s class

its got radar assisted cruise control so if your driving behind someone it senses when they slow down or speed up the car adjusts its speed accordingly, pretty cool

They are also working on Similiar technology using a combination of technologies in Japan. The first technology is quite simple. IR Photoreactive Paint for road lines and such. The Second is a simple IRADAR(Infra-Red Detectection and Ranging) along with simple assited steering to keep you from veering into other lanes when you don't have a turn signal turned on. There is a way to disable this for emergency sharp turns and such(probably press an easily accessable thumb button on the steering wheel).

I saw this on one of the Canadian TV networks a few days ago... the V-Dub goes FASTER through the course WITHOUT the assistance of a normally skilled wheelsmith. I mean the video was, well... it was precision dangling-sweetness on 4 wheels - Alonso should be so smooth.

Deux ex Machina? I wonder which sort of "learning-software" it has and how good it does "fuzzy" non-gate stuff... and what it's using as kernel code... quite an achievement for a potential consumer application. Now if they can tuck it into my TT's nervous system for under $20K I'm in... premo cruise control.

Victor K.

re read the article, it claims to be responsive and not programmed. pretty mazing to me that there is an ongoing contest to make a vehicle that can drive itself and intel and cmu cant do it but volkswagon can. also very strange that volkswagon never entered the contest, and as of yet no one has managed to get theirs to go very far or fast at all.

[edit on 29-7-2006 by jprophet420]

Originally posted by jprophet420
and as of yet no one has managed to get theirs to go very far or fast at all.

[edit on 29-7-2006 by jprophet420]

On the contrary, Darpa's last race had quite a few contestants finish the course at decent speeds too.

www.pbs.org...

More free online video goodness from PBS

hey thanks for the link. too bad the videos only in .mov and .rm or i could watch it. ill have to look that up elsewhere.

Whats wrong with quicktime? You should download it just for this. It's an amazing documentary. Next years competition is in an urban setting since this stage of the competition has been completed.

BTW It's in windows media as well. It's under the .ra link.

www.pbs.org...

as of yet no one has managed to get theirs to go very far or fast at all.

On the original clip i saw (about 4 mins long) it was going around the course at high speed with the tyres screeching. It completed a lap seconds quicker than a humans lap time because it has much faster reaction times and once its done a lap already it knows where its got to go next time.

One of the benefits mass transit users have over drivers is not having to pay attention to the road. But in the not too distant future, it might be possible to own a car where all you have to do is get on the highway and it does the rest. It'd be like hitching a ride with Herbie the Love Bug or K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider.

It has been around for a while guy's.

Sorry,

Source:

www.sie.arizona.edu...



[edit on 30-7-2006 by Allred5923]

It has been around for a while guy's.

Yes it has but nowhere near as accurate. It also showed clips of the earlier ones driving through bushes and into lakes out of control.

This VW has GPS which can control the position of the car to within an inch.

Here is the original clip i saw...

BBC World

Listen, I have been working with the "Remote" cabailities since the original "Desert Storm".
There wasn't one Emergency Vehicle that I didn't help design or manufacture.

Kayle-Kraft
1990-93
Rock Rapids Iowa

Now called "Resue One"