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Linux-Powered Auto-Parking Car

Posted by timothy on from the safe-in-a-crash dept.

megmag writes "A really cool project using a Linux P4 machine for automatic parking of a Volvo S60 was presented last week. Take a look at the video. That's how your parking problem should be solved. It is a final-year student project within the mechanical engineering department at Linköping University, Sweden."

5 of 414 comments (clear)

  1. Questions... by Whispers_in_the_dark · · Score: 4, Interesting

    1) Who gets the bill when the system screws up and slams the nice $200K car instead of parking neatly next to it?

    2) How does the system deal with engine/linkage issues. Cars don't provide smooth power/steering at all times. If the engine is out of tune or has a catchy throttle, can the system deal with that as well as/better than a human?

    3) How is it told where to park? It would have been nice if it was clear in the video what the driver did to tell it that. The article alludes to some sort of analysis system for this, but I like pretty pictures. ;)

    Pretty nifty anyway!

  2. Re:This is cool by Paulrothrock · · Score: 5, Interesting
    There was a show on the Discovery channel a while back about the differences between men and women. They were given the task of parking a car (VW New Beetle) in a space 1 foot longer than the length of the car. All of the men who tried could do it. Only 70% of the women could get it in. While not a definitive study, it does provide some non-anecdotal evidence that this is the case.

    To be fair, in the same show they did an experiment where men and women were given a list of things to do in a time limit. Things like answering the door, the phone, cooking, cleaning, writing out a grocery list, and other basic household stuff. All but one of the men failed to finish in the time period, and experienced significantly more stress in accomplishing these tasks. They also tended to do one thing at a time and got flustered when their concentration was broken. All of the women had no trouble finishing the same tasks from the same list in the same environment.

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    I'm in the hole of the broadband donut.
  3. Re:that space would almost fit two cars by dcsmith · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Hell, even I could park in that spot. They did a good job, but until they can park in a spot 8 inches longer than your car like in NYC, it doesn't have so much practical purpose.

    Hell, I can carry a disk between computers faster than that 300 baud modem. If it can't transmit data any faster than that, it doesn't have much practical purpose. What's that? It'll get faster once people start using it and the technology improves? Huh. Who'd a thunk it?

    Sheesh, people, lighten up. Proof of concept.

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    This has been a test. If this had been an actual Sig, you would have been amused.
  4. Re:This is cool by Paulrothrock · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Same show, different experiment.

    Men and women were asked to draw a bike from memory. Women always had all the right parts, but rarely in the right places. Men rarely had all the parts, but always in the right places. There is a difference in how men and women's minds work. It's not that one is better or worse than the other, it's that they're different.

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    I'm in the hole of the broadband donut.
  5. Re:This is cool by jswhiting · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There are exhibitable differences in how men and women think and behave, no doubt, but who can show that these differences are not the result of a lifetime of training in a complex social environment under intense pressures?

    Maybe you could do an experiment to show that men "have a higher capacity for algebra", or "have a higher capacity for mechanical engineering," by doing some basic tests. However, in our society, women are encouraged NOT to understand algebra and engineering. Why? Because a woman who does is unattractive!! Think about the stereotypes and the status quo here - imagine what the general student opinion would be of a girl in high school who took and aced advanced calculus? Do you think the guys would be "all over her"? What would her friends think? In the greater scheme of the social environment, we enforce gender difference in a very complex interlocking web of pressures.