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Cadillac's Hands-Free Driving Option Also Nags Inattentive Drivers (theverge.com)
Using LIDAR sensors, Cadillac mapped 160,000 miles of U.S. highways "within five centimeters of accuracy" to give its hands-free-on-the-highway cars the ability to better anticipate the roads ahead -- and to know when a human driver should take over. An anonymous reader writes:
"The car can see farther than the sensors on the car with the map..." says the chief engineer for Cadillac's new "Super Cruise" hands-free driving option for highways, "so if we have a sharp curve, we can anticipate that." The system also gives Cadillac's vehicles a safety check not available to Tesla, which can't stop drivers from using Tesla's semi-autonomous Autopilot even when they're not on a highway. "We know where the car is because of the LIDAR map and the other data in the car," says a product communications manager at Cadillac. "Therefore we have the ability to geofence it."
In addition, The Verge reports that if drivers look away for more than 30 seconds, "the car will know thanks to an infrared camera attached to the top of the steering column. Eyes closed? The car will know and start a sequence of alerts to get the driver's focus back on the road. It can even see through UV-blocking sunglasses." While the camera doesn't record or store data, it will flash a strip of red LED lights embedded in the top of the steering wheel "if the driver is caught not paying attention."
Cadillac plans to create and transmit an updated map every year, and will also regularly update its map by "constantly" checking the database from the Transportation Department, and deploying own trucks to draw new maps of construction areas.
In addition, The Verge reports that if drivers look away for more than 30 seconds, "the car will know thanks to an infrared camera attached to the top of the steering column. Eyes closed? The car will know and start a sequence of alerts to get the driver's focus back on the road. It can even see through UV-blocking sunglasses." While the camera doesn't record or store data, it will flash a strip of red LED lights embedded in the top of the steering wheel "if the driver is caught not paying attention."
Cadillac plans to create and transmit an updated map every year, and will also regularly update its map by "constantly" checking the database from the Transportation Department, and deploying own trucks to draw new maps of construction areas.
I dunno. I can buy a Tesla today with a pretty good auto-pilot that works now. Traditional car companies have, um, cruise control? Beeping if a car is in my blind spot?
Everyone who's anyone SAYS they have a group working on autonomous driving. Your pay-walled link (hidden nested behind 2 layers of fluffy blogs) doesn't seem to be based on anything but R&D department press releases.
I welcome the idea of multiple competent approaches to the problem - but I stand by my original post. Humans can drive just fine without memorizing roads to within millimeters. We drive by figuring out the road as we come to it. Makes sense for technology to use a flexible approach like that as well.
In the original article, the Cadillac rep seems to be bragging that their system doesn't work on roads in general, and has a very limited use case. Strange things to brag about.
Nissan is testing full auto diving at the moment on roads in the UK. I think it's sensible to go for the full no-driver-needed, but it seems that Tesla has forced their hand a bit and they are releasing a half baked auto-steering this year.
It's rubbish even by current standards. Doesn't work at low speed, doesn't start moving again when stopped, limited to 60mph maximum.
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