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Researchers Test Drive Bus With Automated Steering

Posted by Soulskill on from the watch-out-for-the-t-rex dept.

An anonymous reader tips us to news that researchers at University of California, Berkeley, have successfully test driven a 60-foot bus that controlled its own steering. Sensors on the bus detected magnets that had been embedded in a San Leandro road, and it was able to reach stops within one centimeter of its desired position. Acceleration and braking during the test were controlled by a human operator, but the system is capable of handling those as well, and has done so on test courses. "... sensors mounted under the bus measured the magnetic fields created from the roadway magnets, which were placed beneath the pavement surface 1 meter apart along the center of the lane. The information was translated into the bus's lateral and longitudinal position by an on-board computer, which then directed the vehicle to move accordingly. For a vehicle traveling 60 miles per hour, data from 27 meters (88 feet) of roadway can be read and processed in 1 second. Zhang added that the system is robust enough to withstand a wide range of operating conditions, including rain or snow, a significant improvement to other vehicle guidance systems based upon optics."

4 of 180 comments (clear)

  1. Sabotage? by maeka · · Score: 4, Interesting

    But can it survive intentional sabotage?
    Placing magnets on the surface of the pavement would not be hard to do.

    1. Re:Sabotage? by TheLink · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Yeah it does sound unsafe to me.

      I've been thinking how about "just don't do that then"?

      After all, placing stuff on railway tracks can derail a train and kill people. Doesn't even have to be anything fancy.

      Someone could just as easily pour motor oil on a dangerous bend and get people killed.

      As a species we really have to start growing up.

      If technology continues improving, the amount of power the average individual is able to wield is likely to increase dramatically.

      So the alternatives are grow up, or lose freedoms (not good), or experience "some random idiot thinks it's funny to kill everybody" (also not good).

      The odds are we're doomed, but who knows we might get lucky.

      --
  2. Robobus vs. stupid drivers by rah1420 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I would've liked to have been on a Robobus back in July. An idiot driver in an SUV cut our bus off, and the driver firewalled the brake to avoid hitting him. My 3 year old daughter planted her face in the fiberglass seat ahead of us, I was in a side-facing seat and almost went through the windshield and my wife got thrown into a stairwell.

    My guess is that Robobus would've kept going right into the SUV. Would've served him right.

    (No, he didn't stop and we didn't get the plate number. He took off into the night.)

    Hey SUV driver; if you cut a bus off at 100th St. in Ocean City, MD on August 2nd, you're a bastard.

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens.
  3. Seen it, driven it, didnt bother with the t-shirt by TheLuggage · · Score: 5, Interesting

    wow, i'm almost impressed except we have those already for a while. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phileas_(public_transport) They were supposed to be driverless, but dutch laws reuires a driver to be behind the wheel of a vehicle... Don't know where they got that idea ;-)