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A Full-Size Remote-Control Car

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the standard-passtime-out-west dept.

Ant writes "A video clip (Windows Media Player required) the construction, operation, and demolition. It is a real-life remote control car with Knight Rider references!" The video works fine for me in xine (though sound dropped out for a bit). This car is not yet ready for the Las Vegas run, but if they hook up with some AI reseachers ...

9 of 125 comments (clear)

  1. CMU Already Did This... by robbyjo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Well, CMU already did this long ago. They use Neural-Nets and they can cruise the highway at 70 mph. The test run is completely automated. Of course there's someone at the driver seat in case that there's something wrong. Interestingly, although the AI system successfully cruising the road, the detection sometimes mistaken a white tree bark for the road divider....

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  2. One of the funniest thing I have ever seen !!! by forged · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The server has got great bandwidth too, considering the deeplink to the file right on the front page (I got 300KB/s).

  3. Cars UI by Mattygfunk1 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    This has both good novelty value and potential to freak people out, but what about the impact of a new UI for cars?

    The hand-held steering wheel, foot controled accelorator / brake combination has clearly worked very sucessfully up to this day. Would a hand-held remote control for all three potentially make things easier for learners who have grown up with electronic equipment? People with disabilities?

    In the (admitedly unlikely) situation of a driver having a heart attack / stroke while driving, a passenger could take over simply by grabbing the remote and stop the car safely. Just thinking aloud.

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    1. Re:Cars UI by gmhowell · · Score: 5, Interesting

      'Fly by wire' systems are starting to appear in conventional autos. Actually the interesting application isn't what you've said, but combining GPS with it. Someone gets lost, the person on the other end drives you to safety. Or combine with those speed sensing cell phone thingies. The cops find out you are speeding, and slowly drive you over to the shoulder to await their 'assistance'.

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    2. Re:Cars UI by term8or · · Score: 3, Interesting

      There isn't any new piece of technology that can't be used for evil, as well as good. All the technology does is give people more power to do what they were going to do anyway.

      Sig: In the old days, it took thousands of years to create the sahara desert. Now we can do it in decades! That's progress;)

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      "As a writer / novelist you might want to spellcheck your sig. :) " - AC
    3. Re:Cars UI by watzinaneihm · · Score: 2, Interesting

      For novel UI try this
      It looks like in capitalist Japan Cars really do drive you!!!!

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  4. A full-size remote-control car,1980s Toyota Camary by bsussman1988 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It looks as if they wanted to destroy the poor old Camary, it looked like fun, and it needed to be shown that Toyota's aren't any more invulnerable to mistreatment than any other car manufacturer may be.

  5. Not necessarily. by Midajo · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The suicide, and subsequent martyrdom, is a very important element in the process. It has a profound psychological impact on both sides of the conflict. I'm sure cars like these will be used for attack, but they probably won't eliminate the suicide bomber.

    BTW, why was parent post modded troll?

  6. It really is a cheap hack... by TWX_the_Linux_Zealot · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I won't claim to be a car expert, but having had to fix my own car's brake, steering, and throttle systems, I'm pretty sure that they specifically did this to wreck the Camry, rather than to demo the tech.

    First thing that I would do, if I were going to build one of these for real/permanent, is that I would change how the braking and throttle systems work. The way a modern car pulls input from the driver isn't very effective unless you're putting that level of pressure on pedals and steering, as evidenced by their rig that was applying force to pedals. Brakes, for one, could be operated off of a very small solenoid if you changed the brake power booster, which are designed to accomodate the right resistance to a human foot. Change that, and things become simpler. You can switch to a tiny activation system rather than something that looks like it was used to tilt a dump truck.

    From their video, I couldn't tell how they had worked the steering, if it was actually analog or if it was cheapo-RC "full left", vs "full right" steering. Analog would definitely be the way to go, but if one uses a really small control, it would be easy to oversteer, causing loss of control. Probably why they picked dirt (even assuming that there was the possibility of using pavement that was far enough away that no one would care).

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