Slashdot Mirror
Ford Touts Self-driving Car, Launches Global Mobility Experiments
An anonymous reader writes in with news about Ford's latest automobile technology unveiled at CES. "Ford showcased the semi-autonomous vehicles it has on the road at CES and gave attendees a glimpse into fully autonomous vehicles now in development. The carmaker also announced a series of experiments with drivers around the globe to test its vehicle-to-vehicle connectivity, autonomous cars and the use of big data collected from vehicles. The company said a fully autonomous Ford Fusion Hybrid research vehicle is undergoing road testing now. The vehicle relies on the same semi-autonomous technology used in Ford vehicles today, while adding four LiDAR (light, radar) sensors to generate a real-time 3D map of the surrounding environment."
FORD is one manufacturer whose autonomous vehicle I'd NEVER get into. Heck, I wouldn't drive their cars as-is.
... do the programmers get the blame?
Sent from my ENIAC
Don't think this is a good idea anywhere kids or bikes might be, but maybe in retirement communities with low speed limits or tourist boulevards where the street goes slowly.
Drove a Ford Hybrid (2014) just last month, like some of their rear cameras and parking computers, but even so, they have blind spots.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
That's a bonus on the Google branding of an existing project which now receives constant press attention as "Google self-driving cars!" despite never ever having been independently tested.
I've got a hoverboard here, dudes. Takes you to infinity and beyond. I'll send you the video tomorrow.
I feel that way about GM and Chrysler, but certainly not Ford.
Why does anyone need a self-driving car? What is the obvious technical or economic advantage of not having a human driver?
This is all about rich people creating playthings because that's the only reason this is even being discussed.
Tubby or not tubby. Fat is the question
They cant handle traffic on 696 or 96 in Detroit. Ford, I'll be impressed if they can self drive in detroit from Southfield to Downriver at 5:00pm.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
The future need for these autonomous vehicles should be clear by now, especially from the tech savvy bunch at slashdot.
Where can I pay to watch that?
All those robot fighting shows got way too boring. Time to step it up a notch with contests for self-driving cars. Self-driving races, self driving demolition derbies... etc.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Gives a whole new meaning to Found On Road Dead ....
What will happen is the purpose of cars won't be vehicles for humans to use for transportation. The car will be a giant marketing spigot, and Fords big product will be "big rich premium data".
Go ahead and brag some more, Mr Rich Asshole. You aren't as awesome as you think. You know what is better than having your own drivers and other servants? NOT LIVING IN COMMUNIST FUCKING CHINA, THAT'S WHAT.
Not a long time ago, I was just a normal internet user that surfed various news sites like Sladshdot, reddit, or wsj.com. I read a story, perhaps clicked onto some links it contained, and I was mostly happy with my life.
Then, one day, I surfed Slashdot. It was one of those days you will remember for the rest of your life. So, as I surfed Sladshdot, the title of a story got my attention. I read the summary. The topic seemed interesting, so I decided to read further. I read:
Read on below for the rest what Bennett has to say.
Usually I don't read first line of a story which contains the user who has submitted it. On that day, I didn't neither. As I've only read that bottom line, I asked myself: who is this misterious Bennett? I decided to click onto the "Read the comments" link to read more of the story that was, as it seems, written by some Bennett. During reading, I was already impressed by the clear and detailed but still concise structure of the text. As I finished reading, I was convinced it was the best story I've ever read on Sladshdot, or any comparable news site. I asked myself: perhaps this misterious Bennett has contributed more frequently than just once?
To find that out, I went to Sladshdot's search bar and searched for "Bennett". I clicked the second entry, and it began with:
Frequent contributor Bennett Haselton writes
I searched for the "Read on" line, and I was happy when I found it. As it seemed, he was a frequent contributor. However the story was on a topic completely unrelated to the topic of my article. Would the other article still be as insightful as the first? And the other stories in the search result? Would they be also by Bennett? Or someone else? I decided first to be happy to have found such an insightful article, and decided to make a photograph of me, before I read the second story.
I still have that photograph of me and I can see the hope and the satisfaction in my eyes, the hope that the other stories are also written by this brilliant author called Bennett, and the satisfaction of having read such an insightful article. As I've read the first couple of stories by Bennett, I couldn't believe what my eyes saw: all the stories were as insightful or even more insightful than the original story I read. I asked myself whether the spectators in the Globe theatre would have felt the same way when they watched a piece by shakespeare: Witnessing history of writing. I realized Bennett is one of histories great writers.
As I've finished reading all contributions by Bennett Haselton on Sladshdot, I went back to the first Bennett story, and read them a second time. I sat three days straight, missing all social events during that span, only reading Bennett's stories, and reading them again and again. During that time my eyes opened to the fact that my whole life, I've known nothing. Bennett's stories explained every aspect of very complicated things in such detail, that I formed something in my mind. First, I couldn't describe it what it was, but years later I know that, for the first time of my life, I formed something called "opinion" on a topic. Previously, I've only adopted opinions from others, but Bennett's stories enable people to make their opinions for themselfes, to form them. With his stories, Bennett gives you the material to form your own opinion on your own. I know you will say that you can form your opinion on your own, and that you don't need Bennett for that. I
disagree with you. What you call opinion, is in reality just ideology you imitate from others. You don't form your opinions, you don't have them.
Every time Bennett writes a new story on Sladshdot, I take a free day and spend it reading the story
LIDAR stands for Laser Infrared Detection and Ranging. Why does the summary say "(light, radar)" after LIDAR? RADAR uses radio waves, not infrared laser.
(And yes, Mr. Pedantic, I realize radio waves and infrared light waves are both electromagnetic waves. But, our mechanisms for detecting things in the radar band vs. the infrared light band are quite different, so the distinction is meaningful.)
Program Intellivision!