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Carmakers Prepare For Augmented Reality Driving

Posted by Soulskill on from the we-have-enough-trouble-driving-with-the-regular-reality dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Car manufacturers at CES are showing off their future integration of mobile computing technologies and automobiles. Quoting CNN: 'As digital tech — and our expectations for it — becomes more mobile, carmakers are taking notice. Many automotive designers here seem to have taken inspiration from smartphones, with their promise of being always connected and their vast menu of apps for every purpose. ... Simply point your hand at them, and the icons open to show real-time information: when that bridge over there was built, what band is playing at that nightclub on the left, whether that new café up the street has any tables available. Wave your hand again, and you've made a restaurant reservation. ... All these advancements may make driving more interesting. Or they may spoil one of modern society's last refuges from the hyper-connected digital world. Either way, they are coming soon.'"

21 of 177 comments (clear)

  1. Stop multi-tasking! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How about when you are driving, you pay attention to driving?

    1. Re:Stop multi-tasking! by i+kan+reed · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Maybe we'll get lucky and the car will drive itself?

    2. Re:Stop multi-tasking! by dintech · · Score: 4, Funny

      You have a wife too?

    3. Re:Stop multi-tasking! by dintech · · Score: 3, Funny

      (bonus points if you're actually in the car)

    4. Re:Stop multi-tasking! by youn · · Score: 3, Funny

      he is a slashdotter... bonus points if he actually leaves his parent's basement :)

      --
      Never antropomorphize computers, they do not like that :p
    5. Re:Stop multi-tasking! by timeOday · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Augmented reality doesn't have to be about multi-tasking.

      Ask yourself, why do people have to die in huge multi-car pileups? There is no reason your car shouldn't have radar-augmented vision.

      (And no, simply asking "why don't people just slow down?" does not fix this problem. The pileup begins when somebody does exactly that!)

  2. Stupidity knows no bounds by Magada · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Get out of jail free cards for everyone, guys! Just claim the HUD malfunctioned and gave you a seizure (or simply obscured your view) if you happen to run over some pedestrian.

    Who's to say it ain't so?

    --
    Something bad is coming when people are suddenly anxious to tell the truth.
    1. Re:Stupidity knows no bounds by alendit · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The same people who won't let you get away with claiming that your brakes malfunctioned?

  3. Thump! by PPH · · Score: 5, Funny

    And here's the Facebook page of that pedestrian you just ran over.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  4. put your pencils down by Twillerror · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Stop doing this and make my car drive itself first..thx

    Seriously I need that sort of thing like I need another whole in my head. Make my be a better car, not try to turn it into a smartphone.

    You want to augment my reality...make some sunglasses that do...make my eyes better.

    1. Re:put your pencils down by jeffmeden · · Score: 4, Funny

      Another whole what in your head? Spelling and grammar correction subsystem?

    2. Re:put your pencils down by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 5, Funny

      Another whole what in your head? Spelling and grammar correction subsystem?

      I believe you can make another whole in someone's head with a whandgun.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    3. Re:put your pencils down by ColdWetDog · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I thought that between them the DARPA challenge entrants pretty much had that one sorted? Admittedly the regulatory process to get them on the roads will be long and arduous, for good reason (for once), but the tech's looking good.

      Right. The tech is all settled out, just like Thorium Cycle Reactors, holographic storage and hydrogen powered cars. A few prototypes do not an entire technological infrastructure make. It's going to be a long time before you can cruise down the Freeway maxed out on Ecstasy and Caffeine, mindlessly updating your Facebook page and Twittering about the asshole in front of you.

      Oh. Wait.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    4. Re:put your pencils down by geekoid · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You really had to stretch t make the 2.50 sound like a deal.

      More likely to get sick, robbed, injured or delayed on a bus. So if you value your health, you would never ride a Bus, hell you are paying 2.50 to have people make you sick.

      Funny, I drive 12 miles to work. If gas break 4.50, and bus fair doesn't go up, I would break even. Yes, that include maintenance. and the INCLUDE my work paying a percentage of the fair.
      I also have the perk of getting to work in 15 minute instead of 90 minutes.

      "But your car also requires thousands of dollars a year of insurance, " what are you, a manic? insurance for 2 vehicles cast my just under 1000 dollars. and since I can't take the bus everywhere, I would STILL have to pay this.

      "maintenance"
      How much do you thin it cost to maintain a vehicle? I spend 100 dollars on maintenance last year. This year I will hit 100K miles. So it will be and addition 450 dollars. Unless I do it myself.

      ". Probably maintenance will be minimal in the first year or so, but averaged over 8-10 years you'll be spending between $500 and $1000 a year to fix stuff,"
      WTF? have you ever owned a car? I have two cars, both bought in 2001. I have had 1(one) expensive incident, and that was because the mechanic put the wrong fluid in the transmission. Maybe that's the benefit of buying American, reliability is outstanding.

      " and plus all that collision insurance which is much higher at first, "
      no it isn't.

      "When you spend $20 to replace your wipers, that's several bus rides right there.
      I replace my wipers about every 3 years. They cost 8 bucks.

      " Whereas, as a bus passenger, you can read, surf over 3G, or sleep, "
      When I take the bus, it's packed full of people who can't afford a car, standing room only, and the jostling make it nearly impossible to read. And I would not sleep on a bus, even if I could.
      It doesn't mater, because the bus turns my 15 minute drive into a 90 minute ride. So I have and extra 2.5 hours to do stuff.

      AS a side note, when gas was high, they raise the fair, but when the gas price lowered they didn't lower the fair. Then the next time gas spike to the same spot as the previous spike, they raised the fare, and blamed gas prices. Again they didn't lower it when gas price went down.

      Since I have a car made the millenium, I get over 20 miles to the gallon.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  5. Lets just focus on Driving. by monzie · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Driving is sometimes a pleasure and often a pain. However it demands focus and attention for your safety and for others on the road.
    Quoting the article- "Simply point your hand at them, and the icons open to show real-time information: when that bridge over there was built, what band is playing at that nightclub on the left,"
    This might be entertainment for the people sitting in the backseat - it might even be informative for kids.
    This would definitely be a major nuisance for me if I were driving. Don't get me wrong – I am not against technology – but I also believe that there are some places where technology can be a hindrance and IMO this is one of them.

  6. A likely story. by mosb1000 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Car manufacturers aren't exactly known for making good user interfaces (apart from the vehicle's primary controls).

  7. Head-Up Displays are double edged swords by awtbfb · · Score: 5, Informative

    In reality, the auto companies and their partners in university labs have been doing work research on HUDs for a while. The augmented reality approach has been tried in research studies as a result of successes in the aviation community. However, there are huge differences between augmented reality for cars when comparing to planes and pedestrians. The point of this post is not that HUDs are bad or unlikely to succeed, but rather that the designers of trade show concepts are ignoring much of the existing research. The concepts in TFA are unlikely to be used for actual products due to safety issues. Expect simpler HUDs focused on safety oriented problems. Here are some of the safety problems:

    First, cars tend to hit things quicker. This is a crude point about recovery time, but a major one.

    Second, there is considerably more variation in scene brightness due to driving speeds and local factors like buildings and trees. This leads to challenges perceiving the HUD imagery. Demos on trade show floors and labs usually gloss over this factor.

    Perhaps the biggest concern is that there humans have perception errors due to the way our brains integrate augmented reality with the real world. First is the issue of cognitive capture. This is when you ignore the real world and just use the HUD for your information. For example, the collision warning system may highlight all the moving vehicles, so you learn to just look for the highlighting. Unlike a video game where every object is known, automotive sensing doesn't work 100% and objects will be missed. Cognitive capture is when you fail to perceive the kid running into the middle of the street because he wasn't highlighted. This can be demonstrated easily in the lab and many studies have concrete evidence of this.

    The second perception problem is that HUDs can lead to misperception of distance. A HUD can only have one focal length while the real world has an infinite amount. Mismatches can lead to the driver misinterpreting the distance of an object. This isn't a problem when flying (everything is at optical infinity) or walking (you're moving to slow), but can cause problems when driving.

    The third perception problem is masking. This is when the information about the new cafe covers the pedestrian crossing the street.

    If your organization has access to this paper, it is an excellent primer on the issues. And yes, it was written in 1997.

  8. Perhaps helpful things by realisticradical · · Score: 3, Informative

    I don't want info about bridges and stores. How about it shows the speed of the other cars on the road? Or just some sort of indicator that I'm too close to the car in front of me to stop in time if he slams on his brakes. I'm sure there's plenty of other information that could assist my driving as long as it's displayed as unobtrusively as possible. Distracted driving already causes plenty of accidents.

  9. Strip Club by sycodon · · Score: 3, Funny

    In local news, police are struggling to deal with the startling increase in traffic around local area strip clubs. Apparently the new "augmented reality" displays in the new cars are showing 30 second previews of their wares.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  10. Re:Augmented pedestrians by blueg3 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Highlighting pedestrians and other features, particularly at night, would actually be really useful. There are a lot of things at night or during heavy rain or snow that can be picked up visually, eventually, but are challenging for humans. (Likewise for road signs at dusk.)

  11. please by unity100 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Mass transit has been a world wide failure

    keep such american bullshit in america.

    100 million people are using mass transit comfortably and safely in japan. many more, in europe. in europe, the standards for mass transportation varies depending on country, but in japan, there is no such variance. fast trains are a feature of life there. even in germany, where 200 km/h heavy luxury cars and a culture of expensive highways are present, mass transportation is much more convenient as long as there is a mass transport reaching the destination you want.

    dont pose shitty opinions as facts or statements next time. or, keep them in america. it is stupid to drive to a destination by going through all the hassles and effort instead of arriving there by swinging your arms about as if in your back garden with a mass transport vehicle. it is you americans' fault that you let mass transportation to be neglected, and your metros, undergrounds have became hellholes of crime and shit. and dont even get me started on amtrak.

    --
    Read radical news here