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When an Algorithm Takes the Wheel

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the take-the-next-step-and-drive-for-me dept.

Wired has an interesting look at Jaguar's new automated driving dynamics system in their new XK convertible. From the article: "During an extreme test of the XK's handling capabilities, the car only fishtailed back and forth once after I jerked the steering wheel on a wet road around a 90 degree turn while driving at about 60 mph. The car's back wheels swung first left then right before the XK's sensors registered a difference in torque between the rear tires and, transparent to me, righted the fishtailing effect by a combination of de-acceleration, tire rotation and vehicle weight distribution control. More often than not, the sensation of flatness, as if there were a vertical force pinning the car to the road, was also felt then and when taking less extreme curves at high speeds."

4 of 676 comments (clear)

  1. gravity by shams42 · · Score: 5, Funny

    "More often than not, the sensation of flatness, as if there were a vertical force pinning the car to the road, was also felt then and when taking less extreme curves at high speeds."

    Yeah, if only there was such a force...

  2. Washington State Drivers by WED+Fan · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think I might love this idea being fully explored. Add some more IA, a social conscience. The I-5 and I-405 will get much nicer.

    Car: DAVE, I AM SENSING YOU ARE ON YOUR CELL PHONE AND DRIVING LIKE AN A**HOLE. I AM OVERRIDING AND MOVING YOU TO THE PREDESIGNATED IDIOT LANE.

    Or,

    Car: DAVE, THE RADIO STATION YOU ARE LISTENING TO HAS LITTLE REDEEMING VALUE AND IS OVERTLY REPUBLICAN, I AM TUNING THE RADIO TO NPR!

    Or,

    Car: DAVE, FLIPPING THE FINGER AT THAT NICE LADY IN THE BMW WAS NOT NICE. I AM ACTIVATING ON-STAR AND CALLING YOUR MOTHER.

    To be honest, I still want control of my car. I'll drive, thank you. (Still don't trust ABS since I hit that deer.)

    --
    Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong fix.
  3. Re:Safety, safety everywhere, nor any drop to drin by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, the safest thing you can drive is probably an M-1 abrams tank, for $5,000,000, but I doubt many people would actually buy one of those even if they were available to the public :)

    They are, they're called SUVs: same weight, same mileage, same damage to other cars in an accident, it just doesn't have the big gun and the tracks.

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
  4. Re:Intrusive. by Guppy06 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ah, yes, the United States, where every other driver on the road is an idiot except you.