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Robotic Audi To Brave Pikes Peak Without a Driver
Scifi83 writes "A team of researchers at the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford (CARS) has filled the trunk of an Audi TTS with computers and GPS receivers, transforming it into a vehicle that drives itself. The car will attempt Pikes Peak without a driver at race speeds, something that's never been done."
would like to welcome our robotic driver overlords.
alias possession='chmod 666 satan && ls
The researchers have programmed Shelley to handle like a racecar by using a set of computer calculations called algorithms
Ha! So that's how they did it! Quite simple, really, once you know the trick.
Rome taught me patience and assiduous application to detail. Virtues which temper the boldness of great, general views.
Observe trials from uphill side of road.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
Having raced up Pikes Peak myself, I think this is pretty impressive. The road surface varies from almost-pavement-quality treated packed dirt, to completely loose gravel on rut-filled rock, with (as I recall) an average 10% climb. It'd be a great test ground for offroad stuff at a slow speed with nobody else on the road, but doing it at full speed requires a *lot* more than just the ability to see where the roadway is: giving a robot the ability to keep a fast car from skidding/sliding on loose gravel on an off-camber turn appears to me to be a wholly different type of challenge than previous autonomous driving projects.
Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
I already saw this on Speed Racer.
Spoiler Alert!
Speed wins the race anyway, and helps Inspector Detector catch the nefarious people behind the robot car
More music, fewer hits
I am not certain what will be more astonishing: watching this succeed or watching it fail.
The researchers have programmed Shelley to handle like a racecar by using a set of computer calculations called algorithms
See what happens when you let Liberal Arts majors playing journalist direct the public's understanding of technical things?
Soon: "John's car rolled out of his driveway all by itself and hit a fire hydrant, honey! He should sue General Motors for faulty algorithms!"
Shelley has reached speeds of 130 miles per hour without a driver on testing grounds at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
I could do much better with a brick.
But does Mount Washington have an annual, scheduled race period where the road is closed to everyone except racers? The Pikes Peak Hill Climb is one of the oldest auto races in the world and has been held for close to 100 years.
Life, the Universe, and Everything... in my image.
Audi, specifically Audi Quattros, have been rally car favorites for years. Big engine, good tranny, four wheel drive. There are a lot of people that know how to get them running well, and the cars are built well to do the job.
Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now, and let us slay him... and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
Ari Vatanen racing up pike's peak: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKgeCQGu_ug
The biggest event on the Mt Washington auto road is actually a running race held each summer. It's an intermediate distance road race - about 8 miles (12.7 km) long. But it's uphill all the way: there's 4600 ft (1400 m) of elevation gain, which tends to make it feel more like a half marathon. Also, it's held on the mountain that claims to have the "world's worst weather." It is not atypical for the course start to have temperatures in a 60s at the start of the race under clear skies, only to have the runners finish in near-freezing temperatures, fog, and 50 knot winds.
In spite of that, the winner of the race generally can finish in only one hour. Last year's winner made it in just under an hour.
My understanding is that this is generally solved but doesn't really lead to anything interesting unless you know the right formulas for the for the domain. Any news on whether they got passed formula 1?
I've never been on Mt. Evans, but being from Colorado Springs (at the base of Pikes Peak), I have driven up Pikes Peak. Not as a racer, mind you, just as a tourist, in my '02 Saturn SL2.
It's not a simple road. Even going slowly, you definitely have to pay attention. Lots of loose gravel and dirt where a moments inattention can result in a skid where you go driving right off the side of the mountain. And as others have pointed out, the difference in elevation wreaks havoc on engine efficiency - going from about 8000 feet elevation at the toll gate to just over 14000 feet at the summit, my car was noticeably more sluggish near the top than it usually is (Colorado Springs, where I do most of my driving, averages at about 6500 feet). As an indication of the hazards of the road, every once in a while there is a local news report of someone driving off the road to their doom.
Every summer, there is an organized race up the mountain, the Annual Pikes Peak Hill Climb. I assume that this robot will be doing its thing during that race. I look forward to hearing about how well it does.
Intelligent responses welcome, flames will be met with marshmallows.
Big engine, good tranny, four wheel drive.
I'll thank you to leave my mother/father out of this.
Sounds like a PERFECT time to unleash an autonomous racing vehicle.
Especially if the goal is AI research. We have chess-playing computers, we need GTA-playing computers.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Maybe they could require the development team to ride along. I'll bet the quality of the code would go way up.
'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
This is GPS navigation only. The article makes no mention of visual processing. Without much better "eyes" these cars will just run you over follwoing the map....
This is only safe because it is a closed road.
You let the engine destroy itself rather than turning off the ignition? Interesting choice.
Disclaimer: IANAL. This post is, however, legal advice, and creates an attorney-client relationship.
From what I remember, 4Motion does not necessarily refer to an AWD system with a torsen differential, although this has been the case in several instances (VW have also used a viscous coupling for AWD). Quattro, on the other hand, refers to a very specific set of technologies.
As far as the engines go, Audi make one of the better (if not the best) 2 Liter engines out there. They put most V6s to shame.
-- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose