[rameshnanda]

Source - KFWB NEWS TALK 980 - AP News

Driverless car navigates Berlin streets
By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER, Associated Press – 3 days ago

BERLIN (AP) — It can talk, see, drive and no longer needs a human being to control it by remote. The car of the future — completely computer-controlled — is on the streets of Berlin.
All summer, researchers from the city's Free University have been testing the automobile around the German capital.

The vehicle maneuvers through traffic on its own using a sophisticated combination of devices, including a computer, electronics and a precision satellite navigation system in the trunk, a camera in the front, and laser scanners on the roof and around the front and rear bumpers.

"The vehicle can recognize other cars on the road, pedestrians, buildings and trees up to 70 meters (yards) around it and even see if the traffic lights ahead are red or green and react accordingly," Raul Rojas, the head of the university's research group for artificial intelligence, told reporters at a presentation Friday.

"In fact, the car's recognition and reaction to its environment is much faster than a human being's reaction."
The scientists have worked on their research car, a Volkswagen Passat worth euro400,000 ($551,800) with lots of built-in special technology, for four years.

Several other groups have also been working on such technology recently, notably Google, which has been testing a robotic Toyota Prius in Nevada.

"There's a big trend for completely computer-controlled cars — many companies and research centers in several countries are working on it and it is hard to say, who's got the most-developed vehicle at the moment," Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, a professor for automotive economics at the University of Duisburg-Essen, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Dudenhoeffer estimated that with the technology advances, it could only take another decade for the fully automatic cars to start becoming available for consumers. "Even today's cars are often partially computer-controlled, for example when it comes to parking or emergency brakes."

However, he said, that besides the technological issues, the legal challenges would be another issue that needed to be regulated: "Who will be responsible when there's an accident — the owner or the passenger of the computer-controlled car or the company that produced it?"

"However, all in all, one can definitely say that computer-controlled cares will be much safer than human drivers," Dudenhoeffer said. "Especially if you keep in mind that most of today's accidents are caused by human error."

In Berlin, the university researchers received a special permit from the city's security and safety controllers in June to use it in regular traffic — under the condition that a safety driver sits behind the steering wheel, even if he doesn't touch anything — not the steering wheel, gas pedals nor brakes.

On a special testing ground, the team has also been allowed to let the car run without anyone on board.

"This kind of technology is the future of mobility," Rojas said, who had a more conservative estimate than Dudenhoeffer, saying that it may be 30 to 40 years before they become available to the average consumer.

The key to the automobile's intelligence is in the way the computer program runs.

"In the beginning with had trouble with the robotic driving style of the car," said Rojas. "But we've worked on the programming and now its driving style is as smooth as a human being."
Rojas estimates that once the technology — specifically the sensors — gets less expensive, such cars will eventually conquer the roads.

"It is similar to the beginnings of the computers: 40 years ago, only research labs could afford computers, now everybody is walking around with a computer in his pocket."
Ideally, the car will respond to orders by remote control, for example on an iPad or an iPhone. With a click or a touch, the passenger can call the car to his personal location and then order the car to drop him off at his desired destination.

"This kind of car is actually perfect for car sharing," said Rojas. "There will be no more need for owning a car — once the automobile has dropped off its passenger it will drive on to the next passenger."

[90BHP]

Will be a very interesting thing to see how this car navigates itself on andheri - kurla road at peak hours !

That said I think we don't need completely driver less cars, we would rather be happier with intelligent cars which can predict that something is about to go wrong. Some features which are in Mercedes top line cars.

[AlphaKilo]

Great technology. But will it ever work in our country? Especially I would give them a crore euro if they can guess how a biker or a autowallah or the new gen cab driver will behave or when will he cut lines. This system will work only in countries with good road sense. Good try. Such a parkassist system is already in Ford Cmax and toyota.

[Ascari]

The main problem I see in such a system being implemented is incase of an accident who would you blame? Would you blame the driver,the car or the manufacturer? In such a system the driver would need to be on guard.This is highly impossible as taking away the controls would mean we are distracted and would be doing things like watching a movie or having a conversation with your fellow passenger.However much you test a system for loopholes there could be untested scenarios and result in catastrophic consequences.A modern jet could pretty much fly on its own however a pilot is still better when the going gets really tough.I also have doubts on the Intelligence system being better than humans atleast in Indian driving conditions.For example Can it know that morons in India drive on the wrong side of a dual carriage way? Do you think it would have what do you call "COMMON SENSE" about our driving culture???

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by Ascari

The main problem I see in such a system being implemented is incase of an accident who would you blame? Would you blame the driver,the car or the manufacturer? In such a system the driver would need to be on guard............................
....an it know that morons in India drive on the wrong side of a dual carriage way? Do you think it would have what do you call "COMMON SENSE" about our driving culture???

, that's the exact reason put forward by Mercedes Benz as to why it's not practical.
Merc has been testing a 'driverless' car in the 80s itself with the W126 S class, so it's not nothing new or groundbreaking.

[volkman10]

Nevada the first state in the world to approve driverless cars!


Nevada the first state in the world to approve driverless cars!

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Nevada the first state in the world to approve driverless cars!


Nevada the first state in the world to approve driverless cars!

That's actually funny. Las Vegas is already a strange place and now you'll see cars running around without drivers.

I guess in a way Vegas was the only place since there is no place on Earth like Vegas after all.

[ankurvirmani19]

Thanks for the info. Nice to see that such technologies have actually started coming into real world. What we could only have seen in movie.
However, the price would certainly be very high and I doubt if common man would be able to buy one of these.

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

Driverless car navigates Berlin streets

What if the thing mounted on top of the car gets blocked by birdpoop? The robot will get freaked out and the car will go ballistic!

[ankurvirmani19]

Originally Posted by clevermax

What if the thing mounted on top of the car gets blocked by birdpoop? The robot will get freaked out and the car will go ballistic!

Nice thought clevermax, in that case we can have a wiper and water sprinkler installed on the device.

[volkman10]

Toyota pursues 'co-pilot' car over self-driving vehicle system.

Toyota Motor Corp. said autonomous safety technologies it’s developing are intended to create a virtual “co-pilot” in vehicles to help drivers avoid accidents rather than self-driving cars and trucks.

“For Toyota and Lexus, an autonomous vehicle does not translate to a driverless vehicle, but rather a car equipped with an intelligent, always-attentive co-pilot whose skills contribute to safer driving,” Mark Templin, head of U.S. sales for Lexus, said today at a show presentation. “The driver must be fully engaged.”

Toyota said its test vehicle is a “platform” to develop systems to aid driver awareness of traffic conditions enabling motorists to make better decisions and improve driving skills. The company isn’t currently seeking authorization to operate its autonomous car on U.S. roads.

http://www.autonews.com/article/2013...#ixzz2HMRTKUUu

[babu.sundaram]

Good to see!

Thinking of positives:
- A driver less car would not do all the whims an irritated average Indian driver would do (no criss-crossing, no driving on wrong side, jumping signals, etc).
- Such a system would be less likely to over speed.
- May be it would dip head lights "every" time it sees another vehicle in opposite lane.
- No likely hood of road rages.
- No amount of driving would make it tired, it would be as safe as it is anytime.

Looks like a good option for cabs!

[volkman10]

Brazil , India and China are most willing to trust autonomous technology.



Cheers!

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/05/19/a...udy/#continued

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Brazil , India and China are most willing to trust autonomous technology.

Attachment 1086006

Cheers!

Eh?
I was hoping for the opposite, didn't expect Japan to be so distrustful of self driving cars, they are expected to be the most tech friendly people.
India,China and Brazil, maybe they are too lazy to drive what with the chaotic traffic, so have voted for it.

[volkman10]

Data Shows Google’s Robot Cars Are Smoother, Safer Drivers Than You or I



Data gathered from Google’s self-driving Prius and Lexus cars shows that they are safer and smoother when steering themselves than when a human takes the wheel basis results from two studies of data from the hundreds of thousands of miles Google’s vehicles have logged on public roads in California and Nevada.

One of those analyses showed that when a human was behind the wheel, Google’s cars accelerated and braked significantly more sharply than they did when piloting themselves. Another showed that the cars’ software was much better at maintaining a safe distance from the vehicle ahead than the human drivers were.


http://www.technologyreview.com/news...than-you-or-i/