Ford Predicts Self-Driving, Traffic-Reducing Cars By 2017

An anonymous reader tips a story about comments from Ford Motor Company showing how confident they are in the autonomous car technology currently in development. They say self-driving cars will be here within just five years, and that the tech to do so is available already. They also think these cars will dramatically affect the flow of traffic. Quoting: "Ford makes this projection, based on simulator studies: If one in four cars has Traffic Jam Assist or similar self-driving technologies, travel times are reduced by 37.5% and delays are reduced by 20%. In other words, if the freeway part of your rush hour commute takes 60 minutes, it will drop to 38. That’s because adaptive cruise control (ACC) is better at pacing the car ahead without continual brake, speed-up, brake cycles. Here’s how it works: Stop-and-go ACC keeps pace with the car ahead, using a look-ahead radar and mirror-mounted camera. Lane keep assist keeps the car centered, also taking advantage of the camera in the mirror. Electric power steering is better for remote control than mechanical power steering; it can be guided by the Traffic Jam Assist black box. Sonar units — for blind spot detection and cross traffic alerts (cars crossing behind when backing) — monitor traffic to the side. Combine all those and you have a car that’s smart enough to guide itself during predictable, low-speed conditions."

Comments

I see this not working well...

[TWX]

...any place that plows their roads. Plowing roads not only means that the lane markers are obscured and harder to recognize as a pattern, but snowplows are very hard on the paint. When I've visited Boston I have a hard time seeing lane markers even in the summer, as they're often just bits of paint down among the aggregate, where all the high points have been scraped off. Wouldn't this wreak havoc on lane detection systems, when even humans have a hard time identifying the lanes? And what about the difference between de jure road markings, and de facto usage, where the actual markings are basically irrelevant and instead drivers choose the best fit path?

I commend their efforts to make self-driving cars, but I see a lot of problems that I don't see a practical solution for. If they've come up with solutions then I'd really, really like to know how they work.

Re:I see this not working well...

[TWX]

Just because you can't think of the solution doesn't mean there is no solution. Humans manage to figure it out somehow, and because us meat popsicles have lots of accidents that means the bar for par is set pretty low, IMHO, for an automated solution.

Believe me, I'm well aware of that. That's why I said that I want to know how the solution works.

Plus, this, like all other technologies, will evolve over time to become better suited for the problems at hand. Can't say as much for the human brain.

I wouldn't be so sure. My grandfather grew up in the era of the horse and buggy, where one burned oil for light at night and hand-pumped water for use in the house. They did have a windmill for powering water distribution on the farm, but basically it was all mechanical energy, with a little bit of chemical (ie the lights). He was introduced to electricity, telephones, automobiles, self-propelled farming equipment, flight, electronics and computers, automated home appliances, and members of his species walking on the Moon, all in his lifetime, all in about 70 years. He had to learn how to deal with all of the changes he saw in his life in a very short time, relatively speaking, and managed to do so without too much trouble, and without a formal education beyond eighth grade.