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Vans Drive Themselves Across the World

Posted by Soulskill on from the next-up-beer-runs dept.

bossanovalithium writes "Four driverless electric vans successfully ended a 13,000-kilometer test drive from Italy to China which mirrored the journey carried out by Marco Polo in the Middle Ages. The four vans, packed with navigation gear and other computer software, drove themselves across eastern Europe, Russia, Kazakhstan and the Gobi Desert without getting lost. They had been equipped with four solar-powered laser scanners and seven video cameras that work together to detect and avoid obstacles."

6 of 157 comments (clear)

  1. More Importantly by Ltap · · Score: 4, Funny

    Did they bring back any spices or silk? And we can't trust their tall tales of two-headed men without proof!

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    1. Re:More Importantly by snspdaarf · · Score: 4, Funny

      Oh, great. First, my GPS tries to kill me by directing me down a one-way road the wrong way, now my automated van is going to stop for some Manson wanna-be on the side of the road. No, thanks!

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    2. Re:More Importantly by tophermeyer · · Score: 4, Funny

      At one point, a van stopped to pick up hitchhikers.

      I thought you were joking, so I checked TFA. This actually happened. Which is crazy. Horror movies start with stuff like this.

      Robot vans picking up hitchhikers? In what twisted universe does a hitchhiker: 1) flag down a van 2) discover that it is driven by nobody and 3a) trust the van's occupants that they are "researchers" 3b) trust that "it's totally cool, nobody's going to steal your organs".

  2. Re:Autonomous vehicles by RivenAleem · · Score: 2, Funny

    And keep the porn. There should be a mechanism whereby I can get off whenever I desire.

  3. Re:really... by RivenAleem · · Score: 2, Funny

    Does this mean there was always a woman on standby to ask for directions?

  4. I wish they followed someone else's path.. by JargonScott · · Score: 2, Funny

    Every time I see the name Marco Polo I'm instantly 12 again, screaming MARCO!!!! while at the city pool. All my "friends" left me and went to the snack bar.

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