[arun_sharon]

Recently i am spotting Esteem in Bangalore which is driven around without anyone on the driver seat .
Today got a chance to see it near and can confirm it is a drive by wire vehicle. Guess it’s a prototype / test car. One person is available on the co-driver seat and he is not the one who is driving the car. I am just fascinated / astonished to see it on the roads. It’s driving perfectly fine and is miles ahead of the technologies what i have seen read about.
Anyone have any insight to the technology / details on the same.

[akshay4587]

Must be a learner's car with controls on left as well.
So a co driver/instructor can drive it while sitting in passenger's place.

[alok9345]

Possibly Google's project car being tested in Bangalore. What beats me is why esteem coz there are cars with better OEM technology? But if it actually is the Google's project, it's a great thing for India. I believe they've completed the testing/feasibility of this in UK and US already.

@akshay4587 do learner's cars have steering wheel as well on passenger side? I know they have clutches and breaks. If they do have steering then that might be a possibility.

[dZired]

I remember seeing such a report on a news channel some years back. It showed a person sitting on the passenger seat of a car and reading newspaper while the car was moving without anyone at the driver seat. This report was broadcasted for an entire day and at the end it was concluded that the man on the passenger seat had his legs stretched till the pedals on the driver side and hence was driving even whilst sitting on the passenger seat.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by arun_sharon

Recently i am spotting Esteem in Bangalore which is driven around without anyone on the driver seat .
Today got a chance to see it near and can confirm it is a drive by wire vehicle. Guess it’s a prototype / test car. One person is available on the co-driver seat and he is not the one who is driving the car. I am just fascinated / astonished to see it on the roads. It’s driving perfectly fine and is miles ahead of the technologies what i have seen read about.
Anyone have any insight to the technology / details on the same.

I have seen this too. Around two months ago when my wife and I were returning from 'town' we observed this car alongside us near Adugodi. It was a warm summer afternoon on a Saturday around 4pm and there was, as usual, a lot of traffic on that stretch of road. The scenario is exactly as you said above. It is an esteem which is apparently driving itself on 'auto-pilot' and the person in the car is sitting happily in the front passenger seat and apparently not doing anything to influence the car's behaviour on the public roads! At first I also surmised that it would be a learner car with dual controls but this vehicle occupant absolutely did not seem to be doing anything at all and the car was buzzing around quite happily on its own.

[EagleEye]

Wow!! I am not aware of anyone else working on driverless cars other than Google.
It would be really amazing if it was Google that was testing their project here, but why an Esteem? Maybe because it was so nondescript that no one would notice it?

I wish someone had some pics of the car showing the inside.

[jkrishnakj]

Presume not a "Left Hand Drive" car ?
Jokes apart, if indeed its the Google project, it would be really fabulous.

So, one sighting around Audogodi area, where else was this seen? Pictures?

[GTO]

Here's a pic of the same car from another Team-BHP thread

Link to Post

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

Saw this DRIVERLESS esteem near EC 1st gate few minutes ago.
I saw it from inside my company cab.

I saw it for more than a few seconds enough to confirm that:
1. There was no dwarf sitting
2. tThere was no steering wheel on the passenger side
3. There was a person in the passenger seat but he was sitting without doing anything

BUT THE CAR WAS DRIVING!!!!

Originally Posted by dZired

I remember seeing such a report on a news channel some years back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc1_Yi8lu5o

[hellmet]

A driverless car working in India is indeed fantastic, but I suppose it has to be equipped with front, front-bottom, front-rside, front-lside, front-top, rear, rear-bottom, rear-rside, rear-lside, rear-top, similarly for sides, and then an extra sensor on the roof - all just to be able to make it through a day without being hit or hitting something or someone.

Would be incredible to watch it manoeuvre itself through traffic one day, although I would rather not be inside or anywhere around it.

[mayuresh]

Originally Posted by EagleEye

Wow!! I am not aware of anyone else working on driverless cars other than Google.

There are quite a few makers working on this actually. A few of them mentioned on following thread along with a number of videos:

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

Most, who find this thread interesting would like above one as well.

Mods, may be these could be merged?

[arun_sharon]

Just keep your eyes open on the koramangala indranagar stretch. Its a black esteem with the an f1 flasher in the back and two very bright drl in the front. Usually the driver seat will be folded towards the steering and will be covered with a cloth. Will be cruising on the leftside of the road and no exta gadgets attached like the google car.

[mac187]

This is no Google car. My brother had seen this car couple of months ago and also had a chance to speak to the person. The owner told him that he has designed the system on his own.

How it works is the route is planned on a GPS enabled smartphone and the car drives based on the route. It has sensors placed infront of the car which avoid collision with other cars or objects. The sensors help the vehicle slow down based on the speed of the car infront. The car is capable of taking turns and U-turns based on the route. The person however had a small joystick which he used for minor inputs, this is required because straight road isn't always straight.

Some pictures:

[JayD]

This car is very famous in Bangalore, and has been driving around like this for quite a while now. I used to regularly spot it in Koramangla area.

Hats off to the guy who has done it!

[mmmjgm]

Have our laws been modified for a driverless car ? What is the legality in a hypothetical situation involving a mishap, violation ?

[saket77]

That's really a good job technically, but is this street legal? Also, this mod would have not passed any certification and who knows that it may turn into a hazard due to a technical snag.

But kudos to the guy who has done it.