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Researchers Test Drive Bus With Automated Steering
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."
Why would anybody investigate this goofy plan? [ An oversupply of government and foundation grants from brain-dead administrators? ]
Why would we automate the driving of vehicles when there is a serious unemployment problem? Automating the driving would greatly reduce the jobs for drivers. Isn't the Teamsters Union rather strong?
What does putting hundreds of thousands of expensive magnets in the road systems do to solve the problem of oil depletion?(which leads to fuel costs that exceed the value of the goods being shipped?)
How does putting hundreds of thousands of expensive magnets in the road systems lead to the massive increase in transportation efficiency needed to offset the increase in fuel costs arising from peak oil depletion in the coming decades?
The oil-based system of single isolated vehicles worked when there was (or seemed to be) an endless supply of cheap oil and raw materials. But the 20th century is over. And so is the era of isolated vehicles endlessly blasting up and down ribbons of highways.
What we need is a system of advanced high speed railways criss-crossing the North American continent. Instead of having thousands of trucks carrying goods from LA to Phoenix, we need to be able to have a big diesel 'rig' truck be able to be loaded in Long Beach from ship containers, drive to the rail terminal, and drive right onto the high speed train car and be secured. Then the train will carry the entire truck to Phoenix rail central. The truck will then be driven off the train (by a local driver) and the contents be delivered to their local destinations.
A vast and efficient 21st century rail system is the only way that we are going to be able to get the order-of-magnitude efficiency increases needed to keep our transportation system operating in the coming decades of massive transformation due to peak oil shocks and fossil-fuel depletion.
Not by some stupid idea of putting thousands of magnets in the roadways and having robots do steering.
What's wrong with these people? What are they thinking?