[saion666]

Originally Posted by T1000

I dont believe a GPS and sensor combination can navigate a car in such a crowded place. This guy is pulling a quick one on all.

I second you on this. BMW went to the extent of paving a road with inbuilt sensors for driverless cars. It would take lot of 'hajmolas' to digest that a person in Bangalore has built a driverless car using smartphone and sc-fi sensors and driving it on the busy Indian roads.

Originally Posted by T1000

Steering control? Well, this is where things get interesting.
In a electric power steering cars, a small torque sensor is attached to the steering column.

I am not quite sure but the Esteem VXi probably came with hydraulic power steering and not the electrical one. So, is it possible to use this trick in a hydraulic unit?

Originally Posted by Blue Thunder

In fact, it is the exact same pic from one year earlier .

This makes the thread quite fishy. Mr. thread starter please clarify on the origin of the pic.

[T1000]

Originally Posted by saion666

I am not quite sure but the Esteem VXi probably came with hydraulic power steering and not the electrical one. So, is it possible to use this trick in a hydraulic unit?

No, I dont think its easy to do in hydraulic unit...Its very simple and easy to do with electric power steering.

Im not sure about earlier models of esteem, mostly maruti car comes with power steering.

In electric steering. the torque sensor does two things
1. Senses direction of movement
2. Effort required to turn the steering

Turn the sensor slightly the steering turns gently, turn further more to increase the torque input to the wheels.

He has increased the length of the wire, pulled the sensor to the left hand side of the car and controlling the steering using the torque sensor.

[shankar.balan]

I have seen this vehicle. He was alongside me for a good five minutes or more near Adugodi, after Bosch where the road narrows down a lot before it widens out again prior to reaching that Tata Docomo office. I am absolutely sure of what I saw. The chap was sitting calmly in the passenger seat and the car was buzzing along quite happily by itself. How he was doing it beats me completely. Anyway I did not stop to investigate further, merely noting it down as one of those interesting things one sees in one's lifetime.
To all the doubting Thomases out there, I was not hallucinating when I saw this vehicle and nor was my wife. My regret is not having taken a photo to prove that I saw this oddball vehicle!

[ZMG]

I saw the same car sometime back too. Near anand sweets in koramangla. It was around 7 pm, and he had rolled his Windows down and pulled the driver seat over the steering wheel. He made a desperate attempt for people to see his innovation. Either ways, it is indeed awesome. I highly doubt use of gps in koramangla area. There are many roads that are not marked well and quite a few one ways exist which are not seen always on Google maps. I think it could be the use of his smart phone to control the steering. That is very much possible, considering the advancement in droid technology.

[audioholic]

How can an EPS motor, that too of an esteem, be strong enough to turn the wheels on its own? I guess it can only assist the force exerted by the driver. Initially, the eps is hard until the moment we begin to turn it. Starting effort is mainly borne by the driver after which the motor begins to provide an assisting torque.

Fine, lets put that apart. Was this an automatic esteem? If yes, add one point to truth. If not, either the manual transmission must be automated or else the car must permanently drive in a single gear. To automate a manual transmission is not a simple job. More hardware + software to control it + logic behind the software to ensure the right gear is selected.

Leave transmission. Clutch, brakes as well as accelarator need actuators. That too quick ones for the brakes and clutch(yeah, it is bangalore or any city as such). Again hardware to control all these. Next comes the inputs of the system. Radar? Sonar? Laser? How is this worked out? IMO it is very tough to make a machine read a detailed input, like what is in front and where. We have low slung cars as well as high trucks whose GC can fool a simple sonar system like the parking sensors. How could it even know what is in front?

Guided by GPS is fine. But how on earth will the car know where exactly to turn? Too late can mean running into opposite traffic and too early means hitting pedestrians.

In all, this is more of a trick made to amuse people around. If a single person or a small group of persons have really achieved this feat, I dont think big manufacturers with a hige no. Of R&D engineers couldn't have come up with a production ready model by now.

[MHG]

As a guy who has seen lots of good engineering, especially in robotics and algorithm design, this doesn't seem the least bit impossible, even if it was the single handed effort of an individual. This guy is a genius, but certainly not an alien from another galaxy with advanced technology which humans don't posses.

PS: I'd love to stop him and casually ask, "Automatic wali gaadi hai kya, kitna deti hai ?" just to see his reaction

[audioholic]

In the image I could make out it was an esteem Lxi. Records say its a VXi. Guess that itself gives us good insights, unless he did an AT swap, which is again not so easy. Did the last version of esteem even come in the AX variant?

[Nuract123]

Whoa Whoa Whoa! This guy is definitely pulling a really really fast one! If he is so much of a genius, what's he doing here in India? I guess he should drive into BOSCH (Adugodi) and speed up his visa process to reach Germany! Either there's a kid/small man in the driver's seat or he is manipulating from the passenger seat!
When I was in school in Chennai almost 18 years back, I remember being stunned after seeing a Maruti OMNI van with only a co-passenger out in full traffic- this was later telecast in one of the local channels with a "driver" interview as well. Maruti van doesn't have a "flowing dashboard" running in to the centre console between the front seats, giving him space to access all the normal pedals from the passenger seat itself. Steering inputs were deftly given so as to appear that the passenger was not really doing anything. Guess this guy is doing something similar, albeit with the learner pedals on the passenger side. Top Gear regular viewers would remember the TerraMax vs Range Rover challenge and the crazy number of radar/sensors and computing power of the TerraMax. An Esteem with that kind of computing power, really??!!

On a lighter vein, since people seem to be very interested, this remote - controlled Chinese car is up for sale already: http://venturebeat.com/2012/09/01/fi...control-china/, sadly with a top speed of just 1.2mph in remote mode

[longhorn]

Originally Posted by audioholic

In the image I could make out it was an esteem Lxi. Records say its a VXi. Guess that itself gives us good insights, unless he did an AT swap, which is again not so easy. Did the last version of esteem even come in the AX variant?

Yes the Esteem did have an AX variant. Guess it was a 3 speed auto box.

[srishiva]

It could be a driver less car if we think the driver's seat is empty. He could be remote controlling it. However genius he could be the car wont be able to navigate the traffic even with a thousand sensors. It needs a fairly controlled environment which our country laughs at.

[a*ed]

Originally Posted by saion666

This makes the thread quite fishy. Mr. thread starter please clarify on the origin of the pic.

Are you talking about the pic in the opening post and the pic provided by GTO in post #8 being same?
If yes, GTO added the pic in the opening post. Mentioned in the editing comments at the end of that post.

I have seen this car twice in Koramangala.
The first time was near the KFC opposite Lifestyle at Koramangala Sony World signal. My attention was drawn to the car by the flashing LED-style light on the rear bumper.
The next time near the Tata Docomo building after Adugodi signal and before Forum.

Both the times the car was spotted by me and my girlfriend. The same guy was sitting in the passenger seat. The driver's seat was pulled forward with a jacket on it. The guy didn't seem to pay any attention to the road, rather he was fiddling with a smartphone with a serious look on his face.

The driver-side and passenger-side windows are always open and the rear windows are closed.

No idea how he's doing it but would love to know.

[abhisheksircar]

I drove alongside this guy for quite sometime although I regret not stopping him to take the details. I did manage to speak to him over the window when he said, he uses a remote to drive it along. And his reply to this being a test car or not was, "No, all required tests are done and it proven to work properly without any incidences. I use it for daily commuting now".

Hope to see him again and stop him next time. What I did not understand is all the windows pulled up with dark tints and the big thing that is covered on the steering. I just hope it was not a prank. If yes, I am going to be on TV soon

[Parthasarathig]

It would be interesting to know what is going on in the backseat especially since everyone of you have spotted him in the front passenger seat.

If the car drove itself or even by remote, then why doesnt he relax in the backseat and do all the magic? Is there someone in the backseat doing all the driving with an actual steering unit placed at the back?

And how come his tints havent been removed from the windows? And he crosses all the signals that are laden with traffic cops.

Also another query - does the steering turn when the car is turning? Or does it stay fixed?

[bimi]

Please read these articles:
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jan...prank-20130111
http://www.bitrebels.com/geek/driver...nk-drive-thru/
http://betabeat.com/2013/01/mcdonald...n-viral-prank/

true bhp-ains don't get conned. What say mates?

[allajunaki]

I do not know if this car is real or not,
but those who think EPS is not strong enough to turn on its own needs to see this :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNtay71rHoI

EPS motors have enough power to turn the wheels all by itself.
However, If I recollect right, the Esteem came with a HPS and not EPS.