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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."

16 of 414 comments (clear)

  1. This is cool by AviLazar · · Score: 5, Funny

    For the inept :) Then again I know a few women (no offense) who could really use this. Especially suburbanites :)

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    1. Re:This is cool by robertjw · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Personally I feel that any person that can't manage to park their car shouldn't be allowed to drive it at all.

      Of course I also think that at least 80% of the people on the road are scarier than hell and shouldn't be allowed to drive. Don't believe me? Turn on your local news for the first snow storm of the season (if you don't get snow, find the Denver newscast - it's always humorus). I'm always amazed at the way people who live in an area that gets bad weather EVERY YEAR will wreck their car the first time there is three inches of snow. Maybe if we actually taught people how to drive there would be less traffic fatalities in this country - actually, probably not, Everybody knows that traffic accidents are caused by people not wearing their seat belt.

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    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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  2. that space would almost fit two cars by funkdancer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    video is cool, but now try doing it in a real world situation where you've got 60% of that space...

    I was surprised to be able to download the vid at full speed, though. :)

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  3. Why they used Linux... by EvilTwinSkippy · · Score: 5, Funny

    It crashed less than windows.

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    1. Re:Why they used Linux... by Ilgaz · · Score: 5, Funny

      No, first

      modprobe volvo.o
      chmod /dev/volvo 666
      etc etc etc

  4. Linux-powered car by amliebsch · · Score: 5, Funny

    Gee, mine's still powered my gasoline.

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  5. Re:what the? by Patrik_AKA_RedX · · Score: 5, Funny

    Another fine example why we need more women in engineering.

  6. mirror by Chalex · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's a mirror of the 3.84MB video.

  7. Yep - good call.. by oz_ko · · Score: 5, Funny

    Write an article about linux parking your car - post the video in WMV format...

  8. Re:It seems it has but one flaw by ideatrack · · Score: 5, Funny

    You're failing to see the potential in making a joke about Darl McBride being rammed from behind repeatedly, with a huge metal object.

  9. And while they're at it... by Last_Available_Usern · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...can they also add a subroutine that will automatically slow down your car when you pass an accident?

  10. More information by Creamsickle · · Score: 5, Informative

    One of the students on the project is actually the kid of an old friend of mine. In case you're wondering, the Linux system they are using is a custom system based on the Gentoo-HA (High Availability) distribution. In addition to parking cars, the optimized P4 box is also allegedly used for many games of Quake. :)

    Also, according to my friend, large quantities of pizza were consumed as an essential part of this project.

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  11. Toyota by pyreblade · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is exciting and all, but the Japanese version of the Toyota Prius already does this.

    1. Re:Toyota by gearry · · Score: 5, Informative

      If you RTFA, and then read this, you will see that what the two cars do is quite different. The Prius requires quite a bit of user interaction, whereas the system engineered with Volvo appears to require very little driver interaction, as well as the flexibility to be applied in vehicles with different steering systems.

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  12. Future Car concepts by Colourspace · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I see a lot of people scoffing here but were on the brink of the next revolution in personal transport here and nobody seems to be taking notice. Just how long will it be before cars are wirelessly networked together, an onboard PC on each vehicle doing black-box, GPS navigation, localised proximity sensing and collision avoidance, parking, MP3 and entertainment etc - All of which we have the technology for now (but have not quite driven the cost out of yet) When these vehicles are networked via a mesh system to a basestation this could be used to the greater good for traffic networking (ie using data to redirect away from traffic hotspots) and accident/emergency uses. Of course there's privacy issues too - all of which need to be discussed. But if I see another 'linux won't crash' comment...