Ford Predicts Self-Driving, Traffic-Reducing Cars By 2017 388
An anonymous reader tips a story about comments from Ford Motor Company showing how confident they are in the autonomous car technology currently in development. They say self-driving cars will be here within just five years, and that the tech to do so is available already. They also think these cars will dramatically affect the flow of traffic. Quoting:
"Ford makes this projection, based on simulator studies: If one in four cars has Traffic Jam Assist or similar self-driving technologies, travel times are reduced by 37.5% and delays are reduced by 20%. In other words, if the freeway part of your rush hour commute takes 60 minutes, it will drop to 38. That’s because adaptive cruise control (ACC) is better at pacing the car ahead without continual brake, speed-up, brake cycles. Here’s how it works: Stop-and-go ACC keeps pace with the car ahead, using a look-ahead radar and mirror-mounted camera. Lane keep assist keeps the car centered, also taking advantage of the camera in the mirror. Electric power steering is better for remote control than mechanical power steering; it can be guided by the Traffic Jam Assist black box. Sonar units — for blind spot detection and cross traffic alerts (cars crossing behind when backing) — monitor traffic to the side. Combine all those and you have a car that’s smart enough to guide itself during predictable, low-speed conditions."
I see this not working well... (Score:5, Interesting)
I commend their efforts to make self-driving cars, but I see a lot of problems that I don't see a practical solution for. If they've come up with solutions then I'd really, really like to know how they work.
what about the courts and law 2017 may be too soon (Score:1, Interesting)
what about the courts and law 2017 may be too soon.
What if that camera / radar and mirror systems fails?
What if you get a ticket for something who is at fault?
What about a accident liability??? Thing about all sides of a accident.
What about criminal liability??? what if the auto car fails and does a hit and run who does the time??
What about makeing so the cars get updates? Will they be able to force to go to the dealer for all oil changes and other service work?
GPS fails and bad, poor, out of data map data + auto car useing that data can end in a real bad way.
Re:I see this not working well... (Score:5, Interesting)
Believe me, I'm well aware of that. That's why I said that I want to know how the solution works.
I wouldn't be so sure. My grandfather grew up in the era of the horse and buggy, where one burned oil for light at night and hand-pumped water for use in the house. They did have a windmill for powering water distribution on the farm, but basically it was all mechanical energy, with a little bit of chemical (ie the lights). He was introduced to electricity, telephones, automobiles, self-propelled farming equipment, flight, electronics and computers, automated home appliances, and members of his species walking on the Moon, all in his lifetime, all in about 70 years. He had to learn how to deal with all of the changes he saw in his life in a very short time, relatively speaking, and managed to do so without too much trouble, and without a formal education beyond eighth grade.
It's a shame (Score:4, Interesting)
It's a shame that we need technology to do something that most of us should be doing automatically - and yet most fail to do.
That’s because adaptive cruise control (ACC) is better at pacing the car ahead without continual brake, speed-up, brake cycles.
I see this all the time and odn't understand it. When I'm in traffic, I hang back - I try to stay at a constant speed. This has a couple of interesting effects:
1) I almost never use my brakes and consequently avoid the resultant acceleration - better gas mileage
2) Unless it's a complete traffic stoppage such as from a full road closure, I never need to stop.
3) It seems to influence people behind me to do the same thing. I tend to create a small island of slow-but-steadily moving traffic until the overall slowdown is done, while everyone else follows the brake/accelerate cycle.
Yes: there are asshats who weave in and out. They get impatient and zoom around me (and promptly slam on the brakes when they realize they really can't go anywhere). They also get impatient and cut back out from in front of me when they get stopped again, so it's zero-sum as far as I can see. Don't get me wrong - I love driving fast, but there are appropriate times and places.
I don't understand the mentality of people who follow the "accelerate/brake/accelerate" cycle. LOOK at the road ahead of you, LOOK at what hte cars are doing. Don't accelerate if you see that a car or three ahead everyone is stopped - there's no point. If you want to change lanes to get ahead fine - but LOOK - observe more than that empty space and make sure you're really going to go somewhere.
Then again, I've come to expect nothing more from most drivers. They're capable of looking as far as the end of their hood and a few inches beyond - no further. I'm amazed only that so many people survive to old age.
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:I see this not working well... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I see this not working well... (Score:5, Interesting)
Its only the lane tracking part that I see as not currently practical. And you doesn't have to be in snow country to see this as a problem. Its probably un-workable with anything other than a guide wire embedded in the roadway, because as you point out simple wear and tear removes paint quickly.
Radio advertising of braking would probably also not work, just due to the nut jobs that would hack it, but it would also be very useful if they could solve that.
But I have Adaptive Cruise Control now, and I absolutely love it. My car uses a Bosch radar-based system, but there are multiple technologies [wikipedia.org] already deployed. Its been around for about 10 years, and its still in its infancy, but from my experience it works very well. Works in fog too.
Small subtle differences in the speed holding capability of vehicles running cruise control no longer drive me nuts. The car follow the one ahead at a set distance (adjustable), and its pretty reliable. The only problem with it is you may find yourself following the slowest guy on the road. But as long as there is one guy somewhere paying attention to speed limits or safe driving speeds it works great. Throw in Blind Spot monitoring and things become far less stressful.
(This is where everybody is going to jump in and say how dumb this is due to people becoming less vigilant, and lecture me on being an idiot for relying on technology to do my driving for me. I drive the same way when I have this technology or not, as I switch vehicles frequently. I would never take off on a cross country trip without Cruise Control, and having Adaptive Cruise Control is even better. Try it before you knock it. We've heard all the nay-saying we need to hear).
I find it interesting that the industry is finally adopting some of the very same techniques [trafficwaves.org] that Jim Beaty was so soundly criticized for back in 1998 when he posted his Traffic Wave and Jam Busting experiments. Although now they are putting it into the vehicles.