Robot Cars
FIGURE 6. The Lexus LS460 parking itself.
few hundred million dollar study contracts to
aerospace and industrial firms. Hopefully, a few
military contractors can take the data learned from
these contests and build some nice, million dollar
robot military vehicles. In the same manner,
automobile manufacturers can take the same data
and build $50,000 robot cars for the average
driver.
Robot Cars Available Today
There are already some pretty smart features
available on today’s vehicles. Car manufacturers are
not even close to applying totally autonomous
sensor/computer systems that were used in the
DARPA contests, but the major manufacturers are
closing in. Automatic parking is one recent feature
that still amazes people as they watch the top-end
Lexus park itself. The LS460 Advanced Parking
Guidance System has been available for about five
years and assists drivers in one of the more difficult
driving scenarios: parallel parking.
Obviously, one has to pick a potential parking
space with enough room for your car because the
system will try to fit into any space you select.
When the proper space is selected, all the driver
has to do is pull up beside the ‘front’ car. An active
sonar transducer on the front bumper measures
the distance from the front car, as well as the
length of the potential parking space. The car is put into
reverse and a rear-mounted camera presents a wide-angle
view of the rear car area. You then push the ‘Parallel-Park’
icon on the dash-mounted navigation system touch screen.
When a green icon on the screen is centered on the space,
you press ‘OK,’ take your hand off the wheel, and the car
automatically steers itself into the space with only your foot
on the brake to stop it at the end. There are other
conditions to consider, but, for a person who usually has to
try multiple times to park, this system is a cool way to go.
Figure 6 shows the Lexus parking itself to the amazement
of the observing crowd.
Other car companies have jumped onto the
bandwagon with their own versions of automatic parallel
parking vehicles. The Toyota Prius would never be
considered a luxury car (or a particularly stylish vehicle)
but the top of the line Prius T-Spirit has an automatic
parking system similar to the Lexus, as they are both
made by Toyota. Cadillac has recently announced the
development of a hydrogen-powered, driverless car
nicknamed the ‘Boss.’ That famous center of robotics
technology — Carnegie Mellon University — has teamed
up with General Motors to make this car happen. Car
companies are anxious to bring out the latest in technology,
as well as offer drivers easier ways to drive long and boring
distances.
FIGURE 7. Four Robot Vans start out from Milan.
Cars have long had speed controls so a driver can take
his or her foot off the gas pedal and stay at a desired
speed. Ultrasonic sensors in the front and back bumpers
alert a driver to other cars or obstacles in front or behind
the car. RF (radar) sensors detect cars in excess of a
hundred feet in front of vehicles and adjust speed and
closing distance accordingly to avoid accidents. Add in real
time GPS data and moving maps upon a screen, GPS
enhanced voice guidance to a destination of your choice,
self-parking, weather, and traffic updates, and today’s top-end cars are truly marching towards total autonomy. Add-ons that were once considered cool gadgets are now must-haves for many car buyers.
Robot Vans Travel from
Italy to China
As you’re reading this, two driverless ‘robot’ vans
should be completing a trip from Milan, Italy to Shanghai,
China — an 8,000 mile journey. Developed by VisiLab (a
division of the University of Parma, Italy that specializes in
computer vision systems and AI), this test will pave the way
for the development of autonomous delivery vehicles. The
four small vans shown in Figure 7 have seven cameras and
four laser scanners each to develop a computer image of
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