[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by agambhandari

But I don't know if system will ever be possible to take control, at least in India!
Hope they can India-proof the system soon...or it will just keep stopping every yard

Saw this item in Hindistan times (web edition)
India’s self-driven car to hit the roads soon

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-...1-1116124.aspx

Scientists at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur are working on developing India’s first self-driven car and a prototype is likely to be ready by next year.
“We are in the development phase and expect the first trial on a prototype around April 2014, which will be the end of this academic year. But this is dependent on various parameters, that are needed to be synchronously working in order to develop and get this commercialised,” Dr D Chakravarty, associate professor, department of mining engineering, IIT Kharagpur who is heading the project team said.
This is a highly interdisciplinary research and development project, he said where we are developing a prototype vehicle which can navigate on its own, avoiding the static and dynamic obstacles and following the GPS way points to reach a target destination given by the user.
“While the first initial prototype is ready, this needs to be upgraded in terms of capabilities and modifications of the implemented algorithms for better functioning of the same.”
Highlighting the special features, he said it would not only be in a position to go for self driving, but the 3D environment mapping related data would be incorporated in the same along with pedestrian detection and intercommunication with other cars.
“The technology may also find its usage in underground spaces viz in underground mines, tunnels and metro railway workings which needs to be mapped and kept under surveillance.”

I wish the people working on this project all the very best and hope that these cars come here soon

[Guna]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

Saw this item in Hindistan times (web edition)
India’s self-driven car to hit the roads soon

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-...1-1116124.aspx



I wish the people working on this project all the very best and hope that these cars come here soon

It will be very useful (and interesting as well) to have the system which is self driving by default but that can be over-ridden by the driver's input whenever the driver wishes.

[saket77]

It would have been more valuable & full of insight if the Google CEO (or anyone else for that matter) had stated something like "Ridiculous that we still drive cars on non-renewable fuel".

[rahulsharma2008]

Credit & Full Article

WASHINGTON: Researchers led by an Indian-origin scientist have developed a new 'crash-proof' driver-less car that can safely navigate its way through busy roads.

The self-driving vehicle, developed by Carnegie Mellon University, demonstrated that it could negotiate congestion and highway traffic while safely changing lanes and merging during a challenging 53km drive from Cranberry, Pasadena, to Pittsburgh International Airport in US.

This uniquely capable vehicle nevertheless looks, from the outside, much like any other 2011 Cadillac SRX.

A human was in the driver's seat as a safety precaution, but all of the driving was done by its innovative software, relying on inputs from radars, lidars and infrared cameras.

[mayuresh]

Quite like post 163 of following thread:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ving-cars.html

Request to use the same thread for autonomous cars discussion.

[msdivy]

Now Daimler plans a self-driving car by 2020. In all likelihood, we will have self-driving cars in 6 years from now.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...98709A20130908

[Jeroen]

So let us for argument sake say that we will have full automated cars in 6 years. So we have the tchnology. What else needs to be changed/adapted before we will see them in real daily traffic?

So for instance, legislation. Today, cars need a qualified driver. Who, or which authority is going to "qualify" that these automated cars are allowed on the road, ie are road legal?

Let's also say that at least for now, you will still be required to have a regular Driver License before getting into a fully automated car. Still, do you need to be trained to use it? Would it e required to do a test, showing proficiency in using automation / versus regular driving?

What about insurance? Will there be sufficient underwriters in the market that are willing to insure these cars initially?

I see a lot of information about the cars and their automation, but very little on the overall ecosystem that needs to be in place before any of us will take to the streets in our fully automated car.

I'm sure it is going to happen though, but not until also the above mentioned points get sorted and adressed, country by country

Jeroen

[mayuresh]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I see a lot of information about the cars and their automation, but very little on the overall ecosystem that needs to be in place before any of us will take to the streets in our fully automated car.
Jeroen

Very valid point. Laws of the most lands would require revision. Even to allow test drives of such vehicles, revising the law is required and some of the states / nations have already done that - particularly for allowing testing on public roads. (See posts #154, #139, #127 etc on this thread.)

[AB@TVMBHP]

Its really weird that key companies are investing in such technology at a time like this. If at all they develop it will have to run on petrol or diesel . Even if its electric there is very limited range. I think they should focus on alternative energy for cars so that the investment has something useful for the future. The non renewable sources are estimated to run out in the coming 35 to 40yrs. If we still doesnt find an alternative then we can see an era of cycles instead of cars. If we say we are the smartest and the most intelligent then why do we want to rely on a peice of silicon chip...?

Though uncommon I have a valid point to share. . The cars steer themselves by the data they get from onboard radar and other electronic devices which emit radio waves. As the number of vehicles increases the amount of radiation also increases drastically. This can cause extremely harmful effects such as various cancers. If such a number of cars is reached then we would have to go out in special vests...we adapting for machines to work??? I won't support it anyway...

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by AB@TVMBHP

Though uncommon I have a valid point to share. . The cars steer themselves by the data they get from onboard radar and other electronic devices which emit radio waves. As the number of vehicles increases the amount of radiation also increases drastically. This can cause extremely harmful effects such as various cancers. If such a number of cars is reached then we would have to go out in special vests...we adapting for machines to work??? I won't support it anyway...

Good point and again something that the regulators need to look at. What would be safe? Who determines that? Etc.
In addition, little bit more technical how are all these cars with radar and lasers going to deal with interference? Say a crossing or a roundabout, several dozens if not hundreds cars very close proximity of one another, coming from all directions, every car sending radar signals and these signals bouncing all over the place?

I'm sure there are technical solutions, but again some authority needs to approve that it is actually safe. I doubt very much that the current authorities dealing with road and car safety are equipped or are even remotely competent to investigate this. Let alone set standards, test and validate and help put together legislation.

Different manufacturers have different approaches to how they automate their cars. That will make it even more complex to regulate it. Standardisation in the way these automated cars work and operate would be helpful, but I don't think that's happening yet.
Jeroen

[mayuresh]

Originally Posted by msdivy

Now Daimler plans a self-driving car by 2020. In all likelihood, we will have self-driving cars in 6 years from now.

Daimler seems a little late to talk about it, but not so far behind in development:

http://www.latimes.com/business/auto...,5195752.story

Excerpts:

The test, which happened at the end of August, used a full-size 2014 S500 with only slight modifications beyond what is available on the production car.
...
Mercedes added two long-range radar systems to the front and one to the rear of the car, four short-range radar systems for the corners of the vehicle, a camera to detect traffic lights, and an additional camera aimed out the rear window to scan the surroundings and compare them to a previously installed 3-D digital map.

Hilarious...

...there were still kinks in the system to work out. Among these are how to communicate with other vehicles on the road, such as at intersections where another car or pedestrian waves the autonomous vehicle...

... [sometimes comical situations occur like] "the vehicle gets waved through by the pedestrian -- yet our car stoically continues to wait, because we failed to anticipate such politeness when we programmed the system."

On state of the law:

In the U.S., only California, Nevada and Florida currently allow driverless cars. In Europe, the laws allow "corrective steering functions" but not automated steering above 6.2 mph, Mercedes said.

Furthermore, European Union law dictates that a driver be in constant control of the vehicle and able to override the autonomous system at any time, the automaker said.

"As autonomous vehicles were still out of the question at the time this convention was adopted, clarification is needed with regard to what this means for highly or fully automated vehicles," Mercedes said.

[mayuresh]

Originally Posted by mayuresh

Daimler seems a little late to talk about it, but not so far behind in development:

There are some more photographs and a video released in daily mail.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...-unveiled.html

They aspire to be the first to launch autonomous functions. At the same time they say that will take a decade. Don't know whether that will be too late to be the "first" as the competition is strong.

`We want to be the first to launch autonomous functions in production vehicles. You can be sure: we will accomplish that in this decade,'

Again not sure how true the following claim is given the competitors having shown a lot of prototypes already. Perhaps the claim below might be having become the first to demonstrate in rural traffic as well.

[They] "recently became the world's first car manufacturer to demonstrate autonomous driving in rural and urban traffic."

[karthikpra]

Don't worry, Autonomous cars are not going to come to india any time soon. No processor will be capable of handling the amount of chaos that happens on indian roads for some time to come. I would love to see these people develop these systems on indian roads. It will have enough heart break and emotion to become a reality show on MTV.

[k_nitin_r]

Originally Posted by karthikpra

Don't worry, Autonomous cars are not going to come to india any time soon.

These autonomous driving systems like the kind fitted on the Chevrolet Impala are built to work with the white lines separating the lanes and to maintain a safe distance from the vehicle ahead.

Now, change the scene over to an Indian street: there are no white lines, just a single stretch of tar with pot-holes and dual-carriage of traffic. Forget safe distance - if you have enough space for a tire in front of you, a 2-wheeler will cut you off and you have to smash the brake pedal into the floor to avoid hitting it. Still not enough of a challenge? When you near a junction with another road running perpendicular to the road you are on, a 2-wheeler will suddenly come charging through going from left to the right, paying no heed to traffic or the signals - and the rider wouldn't even have his helmet on.

What you need for Indian roads isn't an autonomous system that costs Rs.68,000 with updates every year costing extra. You need a low-paid driver who charges Rs.7,000 per month and can roll down the window to yell obscenities at other drivers while driving like he's in an F1 race. Welcome to the Indica cabs of Bangalore

[mayuresh]

Articles contains a video of autonomous landing of a helicopter and animation explaining how it determines a safe place to land.

http://spectrum.ieee.org/robotics/ae...to-the-rescue/

Aviation will of course have its own challenges, different from the road transport, but from point of view of autonomy road transport must be a far more complicated problem than aviation.