Who’s Behind the Driver’s Seat?
Kathryn Hodorek
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In 1977, the Tsukuba Mechanical Engineering Lab in Japan built its first driverless vehicle prototype. Since then, an organization called DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) holds the Urban Challenge, an annual race of autonomous vehicles which navigate city streets without a driver, in order to encourage research, development, and awareness of this concept.
Italian engineers have developed a team of driverless cars which will travel for 8,000 miles from Italy to China, taking about three months for the journey. The test trek will carry two technicians who will work with a manned leader van – a key component for the trial run before going completely driverless. The driverless vehicle will be responsible for negotiating traffic and responding to its environment. The drive will help VisLab, in charge of the technology, collect information en route to improve the expedition.
There are hopes that this technology will be used to freight cargo, run military convoys, and reduce accidents and traffic congestion. Much of the knowledge for this idea is already developed, such as radar-based cruise control, sensors, and satellite tracking. There are also challenges for the crew, such as making sure there are stations for charging the electric vehicles. However the main obstacle is not the technology, but the human perception of the feasibility and safety of such an experiment. Another issue includes liability for accidents, since no person will be in charge.
GM hopes to develop their own fleet of similar cars by 2015, and have them on the road by 2018. Their concept is to develop a train-type concept, either on tracks or designated corridors, on or near freeways to save space. Who knows what we will see going down the road in days to come.
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