Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Smart Cars Tell You About Road Signs

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the everybody-loves-roland dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "There are many systems designed to help car drivers and to improve safety. In this article, New Scientist focuses on a system developed by the National ICT Australia lab (NICTA). This new driver assistance system uses three cameras, one to look at road signs ahead and two to check what the driver is looking at. The images are transmitted to a computer which decodes the road signs and the driver's reactions to them. If you're driving above speed limits, you will be alerted. Same thing if you're about to pass a stop sign without reducing speed. You still can choose to ignore the warnings, but if you're caught speeding, you'll have to tell the police officer why you refused to slow down. This system is currently being tested and appears to perform well especially in poor lighting conditions. Read more for other references about similar helping systems and to see how the road signs are analyzed."

6 of 348 comments (clear)

  1. Yes, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    does it also read the secret markings on the back of the signs used for tactical planning in the case of a UN invasion?

  2. AGAIN? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Slashdot editors - are you actually getting paid off by "Roland Piquepaille" for this, or just tremendously vulnerable to astroturfing?

  3. The voices.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Officer: You were doing 100 in a 50. Do you have anything to say for yourself?

    Speeder: The voices in my head. I was trying to get away from the voices...the voices...make it stop.

    Car: I see that you are stopped on the side of the highway. Do you want me to call the highway patrol and alert them?

    Speeder: Ahhhhhhhhh!

  4. maybe the cop can do some explaining too by SuperBanana · · Score: 5, Informative
    You still can choose to ignore the warnings, but if you're caught speeding, you'll have to tell the police officer why you refused to slow down

    And maybe he/she will have to explain why they use speed "enforcement" as a means of generating revenue and a means of generating an excuse to search people's cars.

    MA did a survey of traffic stops and found overwhelmingly black drivers were stopped, searched, and issued tickets more than white drivers. White women had the absolute lowest rates as well. There was one notable exception- the MA state police were almost dead even for all races, genders, and age groups. Town police departments were the worst "offenders".

    Speed enforcement is just an excuse for getting into your wallet, and your car. It's extremely selectively enforced; the cops don't pull over everyone(next time you're on the road, look down at your speedo. Notice the car in front of you and behind you and all around you- they're all doing the same speed), they only pull over who they want to. It's extremely abused and results in gender, age, and racial profiling. It has absolutely nothing to do with safety(number one cause of highway deaths? Drunk driving).

    Oh, and those laser speed guns? Guess who put them in the hands of your friendly local police officer? Geico. No conflict of interest there, no sir, not an insurance company giving police officers a device that, every time it is used, causes someone's insurance rate to go through the roof, despite no evidence speeding causes accidents. What a great money maker. No increased risk, but lots of increased revenue!

    --
    Please help metamoderate.
  5. Probably just doing this to get funding... by Goonie · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I knew Nick Barnes when he was a postgraduate at the University of Melbourne and I was an undergrad, and a mate of mine is going to NICTA to become his PhD student. He's been involved in Melbourne University's Robocup team at times, amongst other projects.

    Deep down in his heart of hearts, I'm sure Nick knows perfectly well that trying to use computer vision to read road signs is at best a temporary hack for a legacy system. However, it's a nice application to show to wowser politicians to get them to fund his real interest - computer vision algorithms.

    It's the same reason why a lot of American scientists take money from the armed forces; they're neutral at best about the application, but it's a great way to get funding.

    --

    Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
    --Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
  6. Re:Ummm... by aussie_a · · Score: 5, Funny

    I don't want anything I use to be "smart" or smarter than me, or approaching as smart as me.

    It's just too easy...

    Seriously though, why do you have a problem with stuff you use being smarter then you or nearly as smart as you? Are you that insecure?

    How freaking hard is it to learn to drive yourself anyways?

    "You know how it is, it's quite easy to accidently speed"
    "What stop sign? I was too busy watching that jack-ass in front of me."
    "I got lost. I forgot which road I'm suppose to turn down, hey give me a break, I've never been here before."
    "What's the speed limit again?"

    All those are close approximations to actual quotes I've heard from numerous drivers. This technology or other technology helps in making sure those situations don't happen. If everyone was such a perfect driver as yourself must be, there obviously wouldn't be any speeding cameras, people wouldn't get booked for going through a stop sign, etc. But seeings how not everyone is as perfect as you it does happen on a regular basis. This technology helps curb that.