Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Your Car: Aerial Drone Launcher? (dice.com)

Posted by Soulskill on from the drop-watermelons-on-annoying-drivers dept.

Nerval's Lobster writes: Ford and Chinese technology company DJI (which manufactures drones that specialize in aerial photography) used the spotlight of this year's CES to announce a developer challenge: figure out how someone can use the dashboard touch-screen to launch (and land) a drone from the back of a pickup. While the challenge is framed as a "search-and-rescue system for the future," drone control from a moving vehicle has a lot more applications than search-and-rescue. In 2014, Renault designed a concept car that came with a small flying drone controllable via tablet or preset GPS waypoints. In theory, this "flying companion," launched from a retractable hatch in the roof, could prove especially useful at scanning the road ahead for possible traffic jams. (Renault hasn't yet announced a production model of the car.) So are drones-from-cars an odd sideshow? Maybe. But if they catch on, imagine the driver-distraction issues from trying to pilot a UAV while you're on the road.

5 of 65 comments (clear)

  1. Imagine, also... by vikingpower · · Score: 2

    ... the collision-avoidance logic you'd need if e.g. on a busy highway lots of cars had a drone companion.

    --
    Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
    1. Re:Imagine, also... by Incadenza · · Score: 2

      Plus the fact - in the Renault case - that there is no lack of surveying stations if you are looking for a traffic jam. Each and every car in the jam can tell you quite reliably that the jam is there, the problem is just getting that information distributed to other vehicles.

  2. Jams by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 3, Funny

    In theory, this "flying companion," launched from a retractable hatch in the roof, could prove especially useful at scanning the road ahead for possible traffic jams.

    Yes, jams caused by crashed drones littering the road ahead.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  3. But the Mach5 did this over 40 years ago! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    Go, Speed Racer, Go!

  4. Viper? by chrysrobyn · · Score: 2

    Wasn't this a feature in the 60 minute Viper commercials in 1994? I seem to remember that among the absurdities it had the ability to launch a flying drone type thing from the trunk.