RE: Auto-Pilot Audi TT Climbs Pikes Peak
Discussion
What's *really* impressive here is the rate at which this team has reduced the complexity(?) and size of its instrumentation.
This is the same team that produced the VW Passat Darpa-winning car (you can actually see it in the background of one of the shots). Okay, so the boot's still full of computery gubbins, but the roof rack full of sensors has been reduced to a hardly anything (visible at least).
That's impressive.
This is the same team that produced the VW Passat Darpa-winning car (you can actually see it in the background of one of the shots). Okay, so the boot's still full of computery gubbins, but the roof rack full of sensors has been reduced to a hardly anything (visible at least).
That's impressive.
In one of Harry Harrison's books he had the idea of cars being able to self-drive on motorways but you had to switch to manual when you left the motorway.
If you think about it, we already have a majority of the technology; the most important being radar cruise control.
In the book the protagonist's car also has a breathalyser built in and refuses to let him drive when he's had a couple of bevvies. Then, when he is framed and on the run, the car refuses to drive as it has been remotely disabled by the Police.
All this seems rather plausible now.
If you think about it, we already have a majority of the technology; the most important being radar cruise control.
In the book the protagonist's car also has a breathalyser built in and refuses to let him drive when he's had a couple of bevvies. Then, when he is framed and on the run, the car refuses to drive as it has been remotely disabled by the Police.
All this seems rather plausible now.
Mr Gear said:
dave_s13 said:
Seriously, why?
What is the ultimate aim of developing what appears to be utterly useless technology.
I for one take no pleasure in driving the length of the M4. I would love to be able to sleep through that.What is the ultimate aim of developing what appears to be utterly useless technology.
Although it would be nice to get a bit more sleep on the way to work!.
JonRB said:
In one of Harry Harrison's books he had the idea of cars being able to self-drive on motorways but you had to switch to manual when you left the motorway.
If you think about it, we already have a majority of the technology; the most important being radar cruise control.
In the book the protagonist's car also has a breathalyser built in and refuses to let him drive when he's had a couple of bevvies. Then, when he is framed and on the run, the car refuses to drive as it has been remotely disabled by the Police.
All this seems rather plausible now.
I think the theory is fine, but what about the real world?If you think about it, we already have a majority of the technology; the most important being radar cruise control.
In the book the protagonist's car also has a breathalyser built in and refuses to let him drive when he's had a couple of bevvies. Then, when he is framed and on the run, the car refuses to drive as it has been remotely disabled by the Police.
All this seems rather plausible now.
It's the unknown and unexpected that I can't see these systems coping with. Such as water run off and aquaplaining, mud, cow muck, actual surface you are driving on and likely many others (oil and diesel spills, pot holes). Even large puddles at the side of the road, most humans can see and react to all of these in advance. I don't yet know of a computer system even able to detect them, let alone do anything about it.
300bhp/ton said:
p1doc said:
that is amazing as pike's peak isnt exactly straight!
martin
Why is it amazing??? martin
A 1979 BigTrak toy could do the same in reality....
Edited by Mr Gear on Monday 22 November 10:22
300bhp/ton said:
It's the unknown and unexpected that I can't see these systems coping with. Such as water run off and aquaplaining, mud, cow muck, actual surface you are driving on and likely many others (oil and diesel spills, pot holes). Even large puddles at the side of the road, most humans can see and react to all of these in advance. I don't yet know of a computer system even able to detect them, let alone do anything about it.
I only said road trains on motorways was plausible. It's a very controlled environment so long as you stay in lane and match the speed of the car in front. I wasn't for one moment suggesting that coping with normal roads was plausible. Mr Gear said:
dave_s13 said:
Seriously, why?
What is the ultimate aim of developing what appears to be utterly useless technology.
I for one take no pleasure in driving the length of the M4. I would love to be able to sleep through that.What is the ultimate aim of developing what appears to be utterly useless technology.
It would cost countless bilions (?trillions?) in infrastructure alone. Also, where's the opportunity to generate revenue from us all trundling up and down the Mway at legal speeds tucked up in our jim jams?
It would be a kind of motoring utopia, granted. Never happen though.
g4ry13 said:
Is the car pre-programmed with the track or is it actually reading the road and adapting?
It has a map and is trying to navigate it, but it's sensing its surroundings.There are videos (I will have to hunt them down at home) of what the Passat "sees" when it's navigating traffic and it's astounding. LIDOR information overlaid with its sense of where it is in the map, then overlaid with obstacles it was not expecting (cars, people, etc) but this final "layer" is an AI classification layer that's making sense of what it needs to react to. Truly astounding stuff!
I'm not so keen on society moving towards a completely driverless automobile however if the AI systems can provide super safe long distance travelling (e.g. motorways) at much faster speeds (200mph+ should be easy) than I am all for the continued development of this sort of technology.
be more impressive if it were actually going at pace and with huge amounts of automatically applied opposite lock. the video of the steering wheel being span round would be quite cool. Whats the point of crawling up so slowly that a people carrier behind can keep up? the only thing you need then is for the sun visor to come down automativally when the suns in your virtual eyes - cue the peugeot Pikes Peak video 
I think this is being looked at in the wrong way by many on here.
I think audi are doing this for the same reason they go racing every year.
its mainly for marketing, this gives audi the image that they are cutting edge.
secondly, some of the technology will filter down to road cars (same as racing technology) the same as radar cruise control etc. I'm sure some kind of hazard avoidance devise will come along some time.
I think audi are doing this for the same reason they go racing every year.
its mainly for marketing, this gives audi the image that they are cutting edge.
secondly, some of the technology will filter down to road cars (same as racing technology) the same as radar cruise control etc. I'm sure some kind of hazard avoidance devise will come along some time.
wildman0609 said:
I think this is being looked at in the wrong way by many on here.
I think audi are doing this for the same reason they go racing every year.
its mainly for marketing, this gives audi the image that they are cutting edge.
secondly, some of the technology will filter down to road cars (same as racing technology) the same as radar cruise control etc. I'm sure some kind of hazard avoidance devise will come along some time.
Quite right. I don't think VW are planning on making a driverless car any time soon, but this simulation is the ultimate test of accident avoidance systems and the like. I think audi are doing this for the same reason they go racing every year.
its mainly for marketing, this gives audi the image that they are cutting edge.
secondly, some of the technology will filter down to road cars (same as racing technology) the same as radar cruise control etc. I'm sure some kind of hazard avoidance devise will come along some time.
dave_s13 said:
It would cost countless bilions (?trillions?) in infrastructure alone.
I don't see why. Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz already have very advanced Adaptive Cruise Control (Clarkson demonstrated a Merc stopping itself at the approach to a roundabout as the car in front was slowing to a stop) and Peugeout (I think it is) has a Lane Deviation Warning system that uses a camera or light sensor to look for the white lines. Couple that with accurate GPS maps for where the bends are (to supplement reading the white lines) and I don't see a lot of need for infrastructure. JonRB said:
300bhp/ton said:
It's the unknown and unexpected that I can't see these systems coping with. Such as water run off and aquaplaining, mud, cow muck, actual surface you are driving on and likely many others (oil and diesel spills, pot holes). Even large puddles at the side of the road, most humans can see and react to all of these in advance. I don't yet know of a computer system even able to detect them, let alone do anything about it.
I don't know of any life on Mars but that doesn't mean it isn't there.JonRB said:
dave_s13 said:
It would cost countless bilions (?trillions?) in infrastructure alone.
I don't see why. Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz already have very advanced Adaptive Cruise Control (Clarkson demonstrated a Merc stopping itself at the approach to a roundabout as the car in front was slowing to a stop) and Peugeout (I think it is) has a Lane Deviation Warning system that uses a camera or light sensor to look for the white lines. Couple that with accurate GPS maps for where the bends are (to supplement reading the white lines) and I don't see a lot of need for infrastructure. Or they could just put black paint over the white lines on a dodgy corner!
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