Driverless Cars?

January 18, 2008

When you get out on the freeway these days, it’s a bit unsettling to notice the number of drivers who are talking on their cell phones, eating, fixing their hair — and sometimes doing all of those things simultaneously. It’s almost as if actually driving the car is an unwanted distraction from the other stuff they’re doing, rather than the other way around. Such multitasking by drivers, of course, is extremely dangerous. One federally funded study found that the risk of a crash increases three-fold when a driver is dialing a cellphone, and that reaching for a moving object — such as a coffee mug or sandwich sliding across the dashboard — increases the likelihood of an accident by a factor of nine.

But the New York Times reports that U.S. automaker General Motors has come up with an interesting solution for the problem of distracted drivers: a car that drives itself.  GM is unveiling a prototype of a self-driving Chevy Tahoe SUV, developed with the help of Carnegie Mellon University robotics researchers.

Here are some pictures of  “Boss,” as the vehicle has been dubbed, winning the $2 million first prize in the Urban Challenge competition for robot cars sponsored by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The military is interested in autonomous unmanned ground vehicles that could someday venture into urban battlefields and maneuver around amid hostile fire. But GM spokesman Scott Fosgard told the Times that the company envisions Boss’ future production progeny, which could be in showrooms within a decade, as a civilian road warrior  that would “know where all the vehicles are around it, dramatically reduce accidents and even reduce congestion.”

As a story on All Headline News explains, most of the technology needed to create a functional driverless car — such as radar-based cruise control, motor sensors, lane change warnings, electronic stability control and satellite-based digital mapping — already is on the market. The trick, apparently, is getting them to work together without a human at the controls. As an Associated Press story on Newsvine notes, GM envisions linking driverless vehicles in a wireless network, which presumably would allow them to pass along data about road and traffic conditions to one another.  (The military is trying to build a similar network capacity for robotic attack vehicles that will roam the battlefields of the future.)

Car owners wouldn’t have to cede control unless they wanted to — one option would be to choose driverless mode on the Interstates, and then take the wheel themselves on local streets. But it’s not hard to imagine a lot of drivers turning the responsibilities totally over to the robot. That way, you can concentrate on texting, firing up that in-car espresso maker, or playing a little Mario Kart DS. Cool, huh?

Of course, that’s assuming you’re willing to trust your safety to a robotic chauffeur, one that operates totally without fear of crumpled bumpers, speeding tickets or getting his insurance canceled.  As this video clip demonstrates, some robots apparently have driving skills that are, well, roughly equivalent to those of teenagers.

So what do you think? Are driverless vehicles the way to ride in future style? Or should we leave the driving to humans? Express your opinion below.

Comments

[Mothra]

hey, where can I get one of those in-car espresso makers? Seriously, it would be really great to have a robot driver that also makes a good cup of coffee, changes CDs in the stereo and gives foot massages.

[FredforPrez]

I think letting robotic vehicles on the road would be inviting a catastrophe to happen. You could have tens of thousands of these vehicles on the highways in an area, all dependent upon a wireless network and central computer servers for vital information that they need to operate safely. What if someone infects the system with a virus that gives the cars' own computers deliberately wrong information or instructions to, say, smash into each other instead of avoiding collisions? All it would take is some malicious teenaged hacker to cause incredible property damage, injuries and possibly loss of life. And such a system would be an even more inviting target for terrorists. Besides, we should be trying to reduce the amount of individual cars out on the road in this country, in order to reduce carbon emissions. The novelty of robotic cars would only encourage people to spend more time in their cars.

[Perez da Dude]

sorry dude you must be bummed that your man Fred just dropped out of the race. Hes a real lamer tho.

Im really stoked to have a robot car!!!! Espesially if we can programm them to smash into other robots like bumper cars. THAT will be a bigger hit than NASCAR!

[FredforPrez]

What are you, 12 years old? Having a demolition derby with robotic cars is about the stupidest idea I've ever seen on this blog. On the other hand, if some idiot likes you hacks into the wireless network and creates chaos, that may be exactly what happens. Which is a good argument for not having robotic cars.

[Jim Washburn]

Both of you are totally missing the point. Scientists have studied traffic jams and found that they're caused largely by driver behavior, rather than by accidents or traffic density.

http://www.physorg.com/news117283969.html
Mathematicians from the University of Exeter have solved the mystery of traffic jams by developing a model to show how major delays occur on our roads, with no apparent cause. Many traffic jams leave drivers baffled as they finally reach the end of a tail-back to find no visible cause for their delay.
Now, a team of mathematicians from the Universities of Exeter, Bristol and Budapest, have found the answer and published their findings in leading academic journal Proceedings of the Royal Society.

The team developed a mathematical model to show the impact of unexpected events such as a lorry pulling out of its lane on a dual carriageway. Their model revealed that slowing down below a critical speed when reacting to such an event, a driver would force the car behind to slow down further and the next car back to reduce its speed further still.

The result of this is that several miles back, cars would finally grind to a halt, with drivers oblivious to the reason for their delay. The model predicts that this is a very typical scenario on a busy highway (above 15 vehicles per km). The jam moves backwards through the traffic creating a so-called ‘backward travelling wave’, which drivers may encounter many miles upstream, several minutes after it was triggered.

Dr Gábor Orosz of the University of Exeter said: “As many of us prepare to travel long distances to see family and friends over Christmas, we’re likely to experience the frustration of getting stuck in a traffic jam that seems to have no cause. Our model shows that overreaction of a single driver can have enormous impact on the rest of the traffic, leading to massive delays.”

Robotic cars connected in a wireless network would largely eliminate this problem, allowing freeways to function at maximum efficiency. That would save us all a lot of time--and conserve a huge amount of otherwise wasted fuel that human drivers burn up as their cars sit idle. (Even plug-in electric cars are going to require some fossil fuels to be burned to generate the electricity, unless we go to totally green power generation.)

It seems like a lot of people on this blog post really dumb comments, though I think the author encourages it by exaggerating things and taking extreme positions.

[Patrick Kiger]

Ouch! You raise some good points about the benefits of networking cars, though.

[DC Sybil 88]

I think the idea of networking cars on the highway is great, but I'm worried about people turning over the controls completely to a robot. I'd rather see some sort of setup where the robot advises you on what to do on the road, but where you actually have to stay at the controls all the time (unless, say, there's an emergency, like you black out at the wheel). I wouldn't feel completely safe with a robot drivinng my car for me, any more than I would with a robot deciding who I should vote for (BTW, GO OBAMA!) or performing surgery on a person.

[Eli Manning for President]

I LIKE the idea of turning the driving over to a robot. Driving, especially on interstate highways, is really BORING!!!!! I would love to have that time for gaming or watching a DVD. Once they have DirectTV dishes for cars, you could even watch a football game while the robot drives.

[Patrick Kiger]

Pretty soon we'll have robots playing football too. Or maybe we do already--the Patriots seem a little TOO perfect, don't they?

[Caffeine-Driven Stress Magnet]

Wouldn't it be simpler and easier just to take the bus? You can zone out on the road all you want, without having to spend all that money on a robotic car.

[Rajendra Chauhan]

( Please forward contents of this mail to proper authority for decision)

Dear Sir,
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From
(Rajendra Singh Chauhan)
B.E.(Mechanical)
M/s Design Engineers
India
Mob: 919893356526
e-mail:chauhan042000@yahoo.co.in

(Please check and ask for attachment for more details)
There shall be no harm to try our achievement

[Dankoozy]

Driverless cars are the most boring piece of technology ever invented. Seriously if you are so obsessed with 'convenience' that you won't even drive your own car you might as well jump off the nearest bridge anyway.

What will there be left to do in a world of driverless cars, sexbots and robotic appliances? play games and absorb other forms of 'digital entertainment' till you die? After a few years of doing that people will want a robot to play their computer games too. It seems a very depressing lifestyle.

[Royal empress tree]

The advantages of planting fast-growing tree are many. On the one hand, increasingly derive from the beauty of the garden or patio. There are many benefits to planting Royal Empress trees that grows fast.

[CPAP]

it should be better that we leave the driving to humans, it's because human has emotion, he can control...no matter how great robotics are, still humans are greater than them..:)

[Hermine Lindsie]

It depends on the scope of this project, Patrick. If this includes public transport vehicles such as buses and cabs, then this would probably be opposed by professional drivers for it would cost them their job. If this is made available only to private citizens, however, then it's up to them if they are willing to entrust their lives to robots or not. This is a great idea, though.

[Muscle cars]

With the roll out of the concept vehicle the future roads would be far more safer then the present.

[Used cars]

I really enjoy the act of driving. I like the feeling of being able to go anywhere. I also think older cars are more fun. They give you a viceral experience. Passively sitting in a self guided vehicle doesn't sound fun at all.