Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Ford Disguised a Man As a Car Seat To Research Self-Driving (techcrunch.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the master-of-disguise dept.

According to TechCrunch, Ford put a man in a car seat disguise so that a Ford Transit could masquerade as a true self-driving vehicle in order to evaluate how passers-by, other drivers on the road and cyclists reacted to sharing the road with an autonomous vehicle. From the report: The trial, conducted with the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, also made use of a light bar mounted on the top of the windshield to provide communication about what the car was doing, including yielding, driving autonomously or accelerating from a full stop. The Transit Connect van used for the trial would indicate its behavior using signals including a slow white pulse for yielding, a rapid blinking for accelerating from a stop, and staying solid if it's actively in self-driving mode. The bar is positioned roughly where a driver's eye line would be, to try to catch the attention of those around it who would look in its direction.

46 of 84 comments (clear)

  1. That outfit would have made a great viral YT video by JoeyRox · · Score: 3

    Been done before but the Ford setup is much more convincing.

  2. No useful data by taustin · · Score: 1

    on how people would react, since it is presently illegal to send out a self driving car onto public roads without a person there ready to take control. If it were legal, people would react differently (like, probably, fewer of them would call the cops).

    1. Re:No useful data by mikael · · Score: 2

      They tried with drive throughs (with an invisible driver):

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    2. Re:No useful data by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      "...while wearing back rain coats..." What an interesting fashion idea, thanks.

    3. Re:No useful data by n3r0.m4dski11z · · Score: 1

      "If it were legal, people would react differently (like, probably, fewer of them would call the cops)."

      Unless its been on TV, no one knows whats legal and whats not. Especially with weird new technology. So you are assuming a lot there. More likely they would video it and upload it to be some kind of superstar, which is this generations "thing".

      --
      -
    4. Re:No useful data by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Any 80s kid has seen a self driving car on TV.

      Actually even with a similar costume for the actual driver.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    5. Re:No useful data by kaatochacha · · Score: 1

      I'd suggest mounting a large Green Goblin head on the front of a truck, if you're really looking for a reaction.

  3. old story about talking cars.... by turkeydance · · Score: 3, Informative

    waaay back in the day, when Ford/Chevy made "talking cars", as in the female (always female) voice "your door is a jar" or ajar or something like that, a new Buick bought by a church-going lady ran off the road after leaving the dealership. she said that "haunts are in my car" (haunts are ghosts). this experiment has a little "haunt" potential, even if it's only distracted drivers calling 911 to report it. and yes, those would be data points.

    1. Re:old story about talking cars.... by tomhath · · Score: 1

      Studies have shown that people (especially men) are more likely to listen to a female voice. Even fighter jet pilots get directions from women.

    2. Re:old story about talking cars.... by sconeu · · Score: 1

      When Chevy tried this in the Astro van, it kept malfunctioning, by saying "Ruh-roh, Reorge! Roor is ropen!!!"

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    3. Re:old story about talking cars.... by Lordpidey · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Female voices tend to come out better after deep compression, that's a big part of the reason why they were used so much in 80s technology, because they were easier to understand.

      --
      Some people encrypt by using rot-13 twice. I prefer the more secure method of using rot-1 a total of twenty six times.
    4. Re:old story about talking cars.... by Chewbacon · · Score: 1

      My first car with remote start had pretty good range if you parked strategically. I could start it from inside my building from about 200yds away as long as I had line of sight. Handy on cold mornings. I went out one morning to find a cousin fuckin' redneck wide eyed looking at it. I wished him good morning and started getting in the car and he said "I thought there was a ghost in that car!" He was absolutely serious. People still believe such shit.

      --
      Chewbacon
      The Bible is like Wikipedia: written by a bunch of people and verifiable by questionable sources.
    5. Re:old story about talking cars.... by Buchenskjoll · · Score: 1

      What an adoring jar.

      --
      -- Make America hate again!
    6. Re:old story about talking cars.... by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 1

      Bad joke! Bad!! On the other hand, how many people remember the Jetsons these days?

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    7. Re:old story about talking cars.... by Imrik · · Score: 1

      They later learned that those studies only applied in the US, other countries had to be studied individually to find out what voices got better results in the local culture.

    8. Re:old story about talking cars.... by sh00z · · Score: 1

      Studies have shown that people (especially men) are more likely to listen to a female voice. Even fighter jet pilots get directions from women.

      Woman with an Australian accent, please. And her name is Gigi.

  4. That is nothing! by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 4, Funny

    Equifax disguised a music major as Chief of Security!

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    1. Re:That is nothing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Its ok though because she's a woman. Women can do anything better than men, even things they have no training in or no understanding of. Anything other than complete agreement is sexist, misogynist, man-splaining, white/male privilege.

  5. This would be a great test by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    Just let me get my shotgun, a barrel of whiskey, and we can try it again where you surprise me by having a car drive itself down my rural road.

    No guarantees it will return, mind you. Don't truck with ghost cars round these here parts.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
    1. Re: This would be a great test by Fwipp · · Score: 1

      I dunno, but hopefully drinking an entire barrel of whiskey is enough to fix it for good.

    2. Re:This would be a great test by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      Just let me get my shotgun, a barrel of whiskey, and we can try it again where you surprise me by having a car drive itself down my rural road.

      There are places where cars with flashing lights are regarded as revenuers and shotguns are the standard welcome.

      How nice for Ford to put a car with flashing lights on the road to try distracting other drivers, all in the name of proving how safe AVs are.

  6. Insulting by JThundley · · Score: 3, Funny

    This is so insulting. Didn't we all as a society agree that actors in blackface is racist and offensive? Why is putting a man in carface any different?

  7. Re:That outfit would have made a great viral YT vi by mikael · · Score: 1

    http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multi...

    --
    Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
  8. Re:Terrible article by PopeRatface · · Score: 1

    It would have been a better story if they had the guy who was dressed as a car seat walk into a bar.

    --
    Oy vey! It's anudda Shoah, I tells ya! Anudda Shoah!
  9. Knight Rider by Neo-Rio-101 · · Score: 2

    I think I saw this trick done in the Knight Rider TV series from the 1980s

    I specifically remember one scene in an early episode where KITT drove itself and came to a park. You can barely make out the hands on the steering wheel before they quickly pulled themselves away - but it wasn't edited out ;)

    --
    READY.
    PRINT ""+-0
    1. Re:Knight Rider by antdude · · Score: 1

      Ooh, I want to see this. What season and episode? Or maybe a clip online?

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    2. Re:Knight Rider by TheCastro1689 · · Score: 1

      Watch any episode where KITT has to do some high speed turns or J-turns and you'll see the driver's hands.

  10. Legality? by xlsior · · Score: 1

    Isn't it illegal to drive on public roads wearing masks or other things that obscure the drivers field of view? (if not, it should be...)

    1. Re:Legality? by SeaFox · · Score: 1

      It's only illegal when it's not a large corporation doing it.

    2. Re:Legality? by fisted · · Score: 1

      Looks roughly equivalent to wearing sunglasses to me, those aren't illegal either.

      --
      CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
  11. Earthquake at VaTech...cooincidence? by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    BLACKSBURG, Va. An earthquake shook the ground just 22 miles from Blacksburg, Virginia Wednesday afternoon. The 3.1 magnitude quake occurred at 1:33 p.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

  12. Re:Terrible article by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

    And be greeted with the statement, "we don't serve your kind here." Apologies to Star War fans.

  13. That's a heck of a length to go through by Kargan · · Score: 1

    Just to try to hide a driver. I bet 95% of the drivers this car passes wouldn't even register a driver or a lack thereof.

    Not only are most people just plain not that observant, but what's the difference between this and a car with darkly tinted windows? I can't see the driver of that car, either.

    --
    Palaces, barricades, threats, meet promises
    1. Re:That's a heck of a length to go through by n3r0.m4dski11z · · Score: 1

      "what's the difference between this and a car with darkly tinted windows? I can't see the driver of that car, either."

      Well you dont really look twice when you see darkly tinted windows, because everyone knows you cant see through them. So that right there is a different reaction than a driverless car.

      On the other hand at a light, hopefully most people make eye contact with any turning drivers and such, so they dont get run down. So it would surely be an effective test if people noticed it in the situations where they would normally. I mean thats the point im sure. They did put a giant flashing light bar "positioned roughly where a driverâ(TM)s eye line would be, to try to catch the attention of those around it who would look in its direction."

      --
      -
    2. Re:That's a heck of a length to go through by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      On the other hand at a light, hopefully most people make eye contact with any turning drivers and such, so they dont get run down. So it would surely be an effective test if people noticed it in the situations where they would normally. I mean thats the point im sure. They did put a giant flashing light bar "positioned roughly where a driverÃ(TM)s eye line would be, to try to catch the attention of those around it who would look in its direction."

      That was the point of Ford's research - how much information do people on the road and street derive from being able to see the driver and communicate visually. We always assumed it was a lot (you're asked to look at the driver before stepping on the street, for example, to ensure you can see him and see his intentions).

      Of course, these days it's probably a lot less, as everyone is glued to their smartphone's screen anyhow to look at a driver and just blindly cross the road.

      It's an important bit of work - do autonomous cars need a way to signal intention to pedestrians and other vehicles other than what a standard car provides? Assuming predictability - like a car that slows down sees you wanting to cross the street and will continue to slow down and stop, versus when you step onto the road it then squeals its tires and floors it just to annoy you.

      So far, it appears that Ford discovered seeing a driver isn't important at all.

  14. Voice Synthesis by JBMcB · · Score: 2

    There was study done by the US Navy or Air Force in the 80's to see what kind of voice would work best for warning fighter pilots of various things. Higher pitched voices cut through cockpit noise and other distractions better than others, so they used women to record the warning signals.

    I think the overall theme is that higher pitched voices cut through noise floor better than lower pitched voices.

    --
    My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
    1. Re:Voice Synthesis by hawkfish · · Score: 1

      There was study done by the US Navy or Air Force in the 80's to see what kind of voice would work best for warning fighter pilots of various things. Higher pitched voices cut through cockpit noise and other distractions better than others, so they used women to record the warning signals.

      I think the overall theme is that higher pitched voices cut through noise floor better than lower pitched voices.

      This was known back in the 1960s. This is why the Star Trek ship's computer had a female voice.

      --
      You will not drink with us, but you would taste our steel? - Walter Matthau, The Pirates
  15. Re:That outfit would have made a great viral YT vi by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

    The VW trailer assist video was pretty good
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  16. Street Outlaws by Sooner+Boomer · · Score: 1

    They did this on Street Outlaws. Farmtruck and AZN bought a Hearse and hollowed out the seats so it looked like no one was driving. They got pulled over by Okla. City cops who had no sense of humor at all.

    --
    Chaos maximizes locally around me.
  17. It's been done before by Casandro · · Score: 1

    Back in the 1980s Austrian television channel ORF1 showed a TV show about a guy with a talking car solving crimes. It was called "Knight Rider".

    http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TL6J...

    Also note the size of that huge thumb on the left side.

  18. The KITT stunt did this all the time by davidone · · Score: 1

    Hello! The 80's are calling, they say this is old news!
    http://www.neatorama.com/2011/...
    https://geeks.media/knight-rid...

  19. Somebody filmed this by thisisauniqueid · · Score: 1

    Somebody noticed this and filmed it.

  20. Great by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    The Transit Connect van used for the trial would indicate its behavior using signals including a slow white pulse for yielding, a rapid blinking for accelerating from a stop, and staying solid if it's actively in self-driving mode.

    So their future truly-self-driving cars will cause accidents by causing seizures in the epileptic drivers around them.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
    1. Re:Great by cyberchondriac · · Score: 1

      Besides that, how are drivers supposed to know what those arbitrary signals mean? That's not on any standard driver's test.
      Even by watching and matching the car's behavior to the lights, that could take a number of instances before the correlation is perfectly clear.

      --

      Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
  21. Re:That outfit would have made a great viral YT vi by gmack · · Score: 1

    Been done before but the Ford setup is much more convincing.

    Don't know about that. Toyota's was pretty good.

  22. Re: Vaginia "tech" is the ACC... by kaatochacha · · Score: 1

    If that's standard business practice in Seattle, I wouldn't wanna work there either. That's just idiocy.