Slashdot Mirror
Driverless Cars Begin 8,000-Mile Trek
apoc.famine writes "Driverless technology from the University of Parma's VisLab was deployed in a real-world test on Tuesday. Two driverless chase vehicles will attempt to follow two lead vehicles across multiple continents, from Italy to China, over the course of three months. The journey will cover over 8,000 miles, (~13,000 km) as the chase vehicles use lasers and cameras to navigate hazards along the way. The team expects to collect about 100 TB of data, which requires a hefty electronics and battery load — the scale is such that the cars can only run for about three hours before needing 8 hours to recharge the batteries. This journey is being billed as just a test, and far from a real-world application. The vehicles don't go more than about 35mph, and need a person behind the wheel to take over at a moment's notice. 'What we are trying to do is stress our systems and see if they can work in a real environment, with real weather, real traffic, and crazy people who cross the road in front of you and a vehicle that cuts you off,' said project leader Alberto Broggi. The goal is not to produce just road vehicles, but to improve the technology so it can be used in military and agricultural roles as well. The team hopes to have helped mature the technology within the next 10-20 years to the point that it can be used on the road."
While I can't wait to see how this pans out, I still wouldn't like to be so close to the bleeding edge of the future that I get run over.
So, basically, they have a compost heap in the trunk. Dude, Dr. Emmett Brown has sooooo much "prior art" on this thing.
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
This is amazing, if it is a success it would completely change the face of transportation.
The only problem is when it goes in to get serviced and the mechanic convinces it that it needs a bunch of expensive repairs...
When you are unable to provide insight or interesting arguments to a discussion, you blindly criticize, troll in other words. Let's hope that at some point of time we will find some real expert in the field to RTFA, and write something that's actually worth reading.
Hack your mind out of its sandbox.
So we would end up with tons of empty cars searching for parking spots everywhere and clogging up roads instead?
It is unmanned......apart from that guy.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
do while NOT there
print "Are we there yet?"
loop
rewriting history since 2109
Baby you can't drive my car.
Mod Me Up. You'll make a grown man cry.