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Oxford Tests Self-Driving Cars
halls-of-valhalla writes "Using advances in 3D laser mapping technology, Oxford University has developed a car that is able to drive itself along familiar routes. This new self-driving automobile uses lasers and small cameras to memorize everyday trips such as the morning commute. This car is not dependant on GPS because this car is able to tell where it is by recognizing its surroundings. The intent is for this car to be capable of taking over the drive when on routes that it has traveled before. While being driven, the car is capable of developing a 3D model of its environment and learning routes. When driving a particular journey a second time, an iPad on the dashboard informs the driver that it is capable of taking over and finishing the drive. The driver can then touch the screen and the car shifts to 'auto drive' mode. The driver can reclaim control of the car at any time by simply tapping the brakes."
Everything is done better when done in private industry.
on your car, you have "brakes". if the brakes break, then you have big problems.
Kindly consult the Oxford English Dictionary.
there are 3 kinds of people:
* those who can count
* those who can't
For a prototype it's OK but I wouldn't bet my life on anything running on consumer-grade devices.
... a shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist...
"breaks" for vehicle brakes keeps coming up here. Is this an Americanism?
But this is a story about Oxford FFS, the cultural heart of the English language, UK version.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary
Jeeze, I have enough problems with cruise-control being enabled when it should be disabled, or vice versa. Now it will steer for me too? No, wait, it's not! Gaaahhhh! "Sorry!" "Asssss-hhhooollllleeee...."
Although it's great that Oxford is testing self-driving cars, this isn't news, at least in my opinion.
Don't have one to check.
What if I need to accelerate to avoid a hazard? How does "braking", which I assume the poster meant but does not understand, help me regain control?
I've heard that "cruise control" systems allow temporary acceleration, then fall back to the desired speed, while braking puts them into a sort of standby mode which can be resumed. Maybe they should consider something similar.
You'd think it would be obvious to the folks at Oxford: if you're building 3D maps, and storage is getting relatively cheap, why not just build 3D maps of whole regions so the car knows its way around? Then the human can pick any route, rather than having to teach the computer.
So an iPad is telling me it knows the way and is able to guide me through Oxford traffic safeley? Erm, not thank you.
I like how tapping the brakes gives control back, it's like complete cruise control. Wonder what happens when it snows 3 ft (guess what part of the country i live in) or a different situation where the landscape changes. Even after the roads are clear there are still walls of snow that would block any sensors abilities. Maybe we need something up on the phone poles or in the center lane embedded that tells cars where they should go. Seems more reliable that way, but I guess that would be more public in nature than the scope of this project. But anyway you look at it, driving is way too important a responsibility to let any adult that wants to/can afford to do it whenever they want, in whatever condition they happen to be in. Hope this project bears fruit.
So, what happens if, say, a building gets demolished, or a set of trees are cut, or it snows? If the software is looking for specific topography, which it learned from previous trips, isn't it as likely as humans to get lost when things change?
can it change lanes? can it route around road blocks? can it stop for red lights with out getting messed up?
Theoretically this mixed with a service that has surveyed the entire road network could be amazing. It would remove the need to have travelled the route previously.
Although I do wonder how it copes with changes in road layout/diversions etc.
"I see you are driving down Laurel Ave and I can drive you to your destination. Are you heading to:
- Bosco's Liquor Store (1.73 mi)?
- The Bouncing Pasty Gentleman's Parlor (2.64 mi)?
- The Purple Nurple Tobacco Accessory Shop (1.25 mi)?"
".... Siri, change profile to 'Mom'."
"Okay. Changing user profile settings to 'Mom', please wait"
"Not all who wander are lost" -- JRR Tolkien
All that time and engineering effort. All that programming expertise. And yet.... it still drives on the wrong side of the road.
"He took a duck in the face at 250 knots." -- William Gibson, Pattern Recognition
To 1 and 3: almost certainly. To 2: probably not unless it has already "learned" the alternative route.On the other hand, one difference between computers and humans is that you can copy the "learning" from one computer in a way you cannot copy from one brain to another. So it would not strike me as unreasonable for a net-connected car to download the images of a detour route within a few seconds of recognising a roadblock.
Consciousness is an illusion caused by an excess of self consciousness.
Where is the "break" pedal?
It can probably change lanes and handle red lights, otherwise it wouldn't be very usable.
As for road blocks it's no longer "routes that it has traveled before" and one would have to assume that it needs to give back control to the driver for him/her to drive around the road block back to familiar territory.
Who writes these summaries?
Hey, I've been down this road 200 times, and you've went three different ways! Want me to drive the rest of the way? All I did was RTFS, but that's a problem with bad summaries...unless that's what the article implies. How does it know which of the three ways you want to go? That sort of thing could kill this innovative idea if it's indeed the case.
I have been a captive in America my entire life. Everybody and everything uses customary units instead of metric.
...till the first foggy day.
Rome taught me patience and assiduous application to detail. Virtues which temper the boldness of great, general views.
No, it is not misspelled: initially they put the iPad on the hood
Hood? That's the leaky fabric bit you get on top of convertibles. Perhaps you mean "bonnet"?
Silly Americans naming the metal flap that covers a car engine after a type of headwear... oh, wait... :-)
Meanwhile, if they're going to test these things in Oxford I hope that they're fitting the car with an industrial strength bike-catcher and an AI that can cope with one-way systems designed by M.C. Escher.
In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
"This new self-driving automobile uses lasers..."
don't drive past The Mirror Store.
Apple Corp. (AAPL) announced that with its wide array of personal electronics, it is now testing self-driving people. Basically it's people walking around cities on autopilot. The test is to see if other people can avoid running them over or colliding with them on sidewalks, etc., while they're busy playing with their toys instead of looking where they're going.
So far, mixed results.
the google cars have been.
So it would not strike me as unreasonable for a net-connected car to download the images of a detour route within a few seconds of recognising a roadblock.
Especially if the workers have a small beacon that broadcasts at, say, 5 GHz the map of the area that shows how to drive around the work area. All cars in vicinity receive that and can act upon these instructions if they are signed and the chain of trust is good enough.
That would be better than what we have now - a mass of cars trying to get by the work area, and nobody can reliably know what path is safe until you see the cones and have to change the lane. If there is a sign "<< RIGHT LANE CLOSED <<" it still doesn't tell you how many lanes are closed, and where are the transition zones, and whether there is a worker with a STOP sign. The broadcast could easily contain all that, tied to the GPS and to local markers.
Obviously nothing but an iPad would do as a user interface. Considering the tech they've come up with, you'd think that was the trivial bit and they could have saved quite a lot of dosh by creating their own interface. Or are they trying to be trendy (sorry "nextified")?
The new Oxford automatic-driving car should be called the "Comma".
That would be awesome.