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SMART Begins Live Public Robocar Tests In Singapore

Posted by samzenpus on from the give-it-a-whirl dept.

Hallie Siegel writes Robocar R&D is moving fast in Singapore, and this week, the National University of Singapore (NUS) announced they will be doing a live public demo of their autonomous golf carts over a course with 10 stops in the Singapore Chinese and Japanese Gardens. The public will be able to book rides online, and then summon and direct the vehicles with their phones. The vehicles will have a touch tablet where the steering wheel will go. Rides will be free, and will take place Oct. 23-25, Oct. 30-31 and Nov. 1.

13 comments

  1. I can't get up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What's the catchy term going to be for people who jump in front of autonomous vehicles and then sue?

    1. Re:I can't get up by stephanruby · · Score: 2

      What's the catchy term going to be for people who jump in front of autonomous vehicles and then sue?

      Those would be called youtube idiot celebrities.

      Because if you're going to jump in front of a car to try to scam someone, you better make sure that car doesn't have a dash cam that contradicts your story.

  2. Smart ass /. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do you have any idea what /. said when I booted it today? SMARTASS Belgians Live IN Robocar in Singapor.

  3. UNIX certification by Phroggy · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    The article makes a big deal of Mac OS X's UNIX certification. Although it didn't hurt, the certification really had nothing to do with the rise in popularity of the Mac. Using open source code certainly allowed Apple to take advantage of (and then build upon) the cool stuff we've enjoyed on Linux for years, but what broke Microsoft's stranglehold on the consumer mindset was really the iPod, and later the iPhone. That's what made people think that buying a Mac might be a viable alternative to Windows. Of course once they made the switch, users were able to see that the technology really works, but without the iPod, most people would never have considered the Mac as an option.

    There were other factors at work too:

    • Poor support for Vista when it launched made people desperate for an alternative
    • The rising popularity of Firefox made web developers stop building sites that only worked in IE on Windows
    --
    $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
    $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
    1. Re:UNIX certification by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      wrong article. I know we all suffer from beta but somehow we have to endure it just like trolls.

    2. Re:UNIX certification by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just play it off like you were talking about S.M.A.R.T.

  4. So it begins... by coofercat · · Score: 2

    For anyone thinking that we'll never see the google car, or that autonomous vehicles will never drive on our roads - this is how it starts. At first, it's a specially designated track and a crappy car. Then it's a much bigger track, occasionally crossing legacy roads and railway tracks. Then it's a much nicer car you might actually want to sit in for more than 10 minutes, then it's able drive almost anywhere except city centres or places where it's considered too dangerous/complex, then it's about a variety of fancy cars from various manufacturers all cooperating to provide a seamless service (although maybe a tiered one). Then finally, legacy cars are side-lined, banned or otherwise taxed into oblivion.

  5. Golf cart or a Smart? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Misleading title. There does not seem to be any relation to the Smart car.

  6. Golf cart or a Smart? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    OK someone could have explained that: SMART = Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research & Technology, http://smart.mit.edu/
    And: No chance that you get hurt by these things, more the other way around. Currently mostly a traffic obstacle for bicycles (rare in SG anyways) :)