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Transportation

Self-Driving Golf Carts May Pave the Way For Autonomous Cars 63

Posted by Soulskill from the as-long-as-you-want-to-drive-your-car-on-a-golf-course dept.
itwbennett writes: Researchers from MIT and Singaporean universities are experimenting with self-driving golf carts that use less (and relatively cheap) gear than self-driving vehicles while relying on computation-efficient algorithms. In addition to a webcam, each cart is equipped with four single-beam LIDAR (light detection and ranging) sensors from German maker Sick that have a field of view of about 270 degrees. Two of the sensors were mounted in the cart's front and used for determining its position and obstacle detection. The other two were cheaper, shorter-range sensors and were mounted on the back corners of the cart to scan for obstacles behind and on either side of it. The cost of the sensors was still high (on the order of $30,000) but that's less than solutions used in more sophisticated robotic vehicles. (Google has used $80,000 Velodyne LIDARs on its earlier self-driving cars.) A YouTube video shows the carts traveling the winding paths of a public garden in Singapore at a leisurely 24 kilometers per hour — slow enough for the computers to process all the obstacles (mainly pedestrians and animals). The researchers envision the self-driving vehicles being used in a shared transportation system, as rental bicycles are used in many cities.
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Self-Driving Golf Carts May Pave the Way For Autonomous Cars More

Self-Driving Golf Carts May Pave the Way For Autonomous Cars

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  • Self driving golf carts (Score:3)

    by rossdee ( 243626 ) on Wednesday September 02, 2015 @11:30AM (#50444147)

    do they have self putting golf carts too?

  • Self driving cars... (Score:3)

    by Feral Nerd ( 3929873 ) on Wednesday September 02, 2015 @11:34AM (#50444175)
    I'm going to love self driving cars. I will never own one, they'll have to tear the steering wheel out of my cold dead hands, but pranking self driving car owners will be funny as hell: https://xkcd.com/1559/ [xkcd.com]

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Qzukk ( 229616 )

      Just think, you can finally be a huge dick to people on the road without worrying whether they've got a gun and a temper!

      Oh wait, they might still have a gun and a temper, and now they don't need to have either hand on the wheel while they're trying to fuck you up.

      • Just think, you can finally be a huge dick to people on the road without worrying whether they've got a gun and a temper!

        Oh wait, they might still have a gun and a temper, and now they don't need to have either hand on the wheel while they're trying to fuck you up.

        A gun and a temper? Think of making this upgrade to your driverless car::
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
        ....except with a remote control... or better yet, autonomous (and yes, it would run Linux).

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by DrXym ( 126579 )
      Not just pranking. Car robbers would be delighted by a self drive car's willingness to stop if they get an accomplice to stand in the way.
  • Are they able to automatically drive you to your ball after you tee-off, or does that only come with the deluxe package?

  • I doubt it (Score:4, Insightful)

    by DrXym ( 126579 ) on Wednesday September 02, 2015 @11:41AM (#50444231)
    Driving on a golf course is a relatively trivial problem to solve compared to driving on a road. Low speed, predefined routes, predictable conditions. Aside from putting some sensors on the cart to stop it running into something or someone, some basic navigation functionality and what to do in low power / fault scenarios it doesn't have a huge amount of complexity to worry about.

    A more pertinent question is why is this being done at all. Are people so fat and lazy that they can't even drive a golf cart now?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by khr ( 708262 )

      ...predictable conditions...

      That assumes it's not a golf course that supports a high school golf team.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by DrXym ( 126579 )
        Any golf course that can afford lidar controlled golf carts can afford security guards to stop the riff raff from getting in too.

        • Any golf course that can afford lidar controlled golf carts can afford security guards to stop the riff raff from getting in too.

          You're assuming that the golf team isn't also coming from an exclusive private high school.

    • Driving on a golf course is a relatively trivial problem to solve compared to driving on a road. Low speed, predefined routes, predictable conditions.

      Have you ever been on a public golf course?

    • Driving on a golf course is a relatively trivial problem to solve

      For crying out loud .. nobody is looking at this for a fscking golf course:

      As seen in a YouTube video, the carts transported 500 people along winding paths in public gardens in Singapore while autonomously navigating and watching for obstacles such as pedestrians and animals.

      The carts picked up people at 10 stations in the gardens. They traveled at a maximum speed of only 24 kilometers per hour, so that the computers had time to process all th

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by DrXym ( 126579 )
        Golf courses, parks, it doesn't make a damned bit of difference. Compared to an open road it is a trivial problem and hardly transferable. And yes carts can follow predefined route even in open spaces - arrange the map as a hierarchical series of graphs that allow a cart to calculate a route from one node / graph to another. Doesn't matter if the path a is windy or not, doesn't matter if it's a fairway or a road.

        • Not a golfer, but I remember a few courses dad took me on restricted the carts to paved paths and 'just off it' to park. I assume they didn't want their greens messed up.

    • I don't think they are planning on using these on actual golf courses. As you may know, golf carts are not used exclusively for golf. Any resort, or business with a large "campus" uses them to move people and objects around. Think about something like a large movie studio with lot of enclosed acreage and lots of different buildings that people need to get to and from relatively quickly, all while navigating through tons of foot traffic and other vehicles. There are even some gated communities (and even smal

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by kirkb ( 158552 )

      It's not a terrible idea. Golf is one of the only scenarios where it's somehow okay to hand somebody a set of keys and a bottle of beer at the same time. Self-driving cars could help clean up some sticky liability and risk issues with underage drivers, drunk drivers, bad drivers, etc.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by DrXym ( 126579 )
        The only place you might see vehicles in the forseeable future that legally permit drunk / impaired passengers is on closed circuit tracks - airport transfers and such like where the car doesn't even have a wheel. There are far many situations on the open road where a self drive car would screw up or require a human to takeover to seriously contemplate it being legal there any time soon.

  • The market for this (Score:5, Interesting)

    by gila_monster ( 544999 ) <traveler.in.black+sdNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Wednesday September 02, 2015 @11:44AM (#50444259) Homepage

    A month ago, my department at work held a golf outing (I did not attend, but they are remarkably popular here). Over 70 people participated. Over the course of that Friday, three golf carts were rolled, one badly enough that the driver ended up with a broken arm and had to be carted to the ER.

    Several engineers are now permanently banned from that course, and we may end up not having any more golf outings. So there is definitely a market for self-driving golf carts.

    The downside, of course, is that they may well end up designed by the idiots who rolled them in the first place.

    • If drinking was taking place then as long as the engineers are within the Ballmer Peak [xkcd.com] when they design the self driving carts there will be no issues.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      A month ago, my department at work held a golf outing (I did not attend, but they are remarkably popular here). Over 70 people participated. Over the course of that Friday, three golf carts were rolled, one badly enough that the driver ended up with a broken arm and had to be carted to the ER.

      Several engineers are now permanently banned from that course, and we may end up not having any more golf outings. So there is definitely a market for self-driving golf carts.

      The downside, of course, is that they may w

      • Well, the obvious solution is to stick to the paths intended for the golf carts in the golf course. Assuming the people who laid it out the course aren't idiots, the slopes on the paths are not going to be steep enough to roll a golf cart.

        I'm sure the problem is that they were out there hooning the carts, and yes, if you're being stupid it's pretty easy to tip one.

    • Millions of people drive golf carts every week and don't crash them. I think the problem is that the engineers that work for your company are idiots. Or they were driving drunk, which is pretty much the same thing. Sorry to be the one to inform you of that, honestly with that evidence you should have been able to reach the conclusion yourself.

      And seriously, they carted him to the ER? It was within golf cart distance? Or was that just an inappropriate choice of words? Maybe the problem isn't limited

    • It's proven most weekends, that golf is just an excuse to go drinking; either at the '19th' hole, or via that second golf bag crammed with ice and beer. But given the preponderance of lawyers, judges, and even cops playing, you'll rarely see DUI checkpoints at the nicer country club parking lot exits.
    • Yeah, but remember, you're talking about engineers. These are the sort of people who say, "I wonder what happens if I..."

  • and Wigs.

    See article on /. of Autonomous Cars and bombs

  • Many assembly factories (especially car factories) already have completely autonomous carts driving around specialized car parts. This allows the factory to use one line for every flavor or add-on of the car since the cart will bring that particular piece Just-In-Time the technician at that post needs it. This is probably much more complex that golf carts driving around a golf course.

    • On the other hand, the factory has the ability to 'control the course' much better and shouldn't have to worry about drunk workers on the floor doing stupid tricks. They can also do things like embed direction lines in the floor(or even the ceiling), so the pathing is simpler.

  • "Step aside, humanoid. Playing through."

  • I thought autonomous golf carts have been used as research platforms for years (considering that was MIT back then too).... [mit.edu]

    Well with this generation, it's new to you!

  • This is just one piece of the puzzle (Score:3)

    by dcooper_db9 ( 1044858 ) on Wednesday September 02, 2015 @01:50PM (#50445321)

    Here's how I envision the gradual expansion of these technologies.

    On the one hand we will have the open network; the public roads. Over the next two decades we'll see more and more automation integrated into our cars. Within 10 years we'll have the first vehicle-to-vehicle traffic negotiation devices show up. These will initially negotiate with the road signs, traffic signals and other vehicles. Within 20 years these devices will replace the signs and signals. The red light will be on our dashboard. The speed limit that currently shows on our GPS will have the force of law. At first the driver will be assisted by the automation technology. The computer will only take over when the driver is about to crash or run someone over.

    Gradually the computer will take more and more of the driving role. It will park itself. It will brake at intersections. It will let off the brake when the light turns green (but the driver will press the gas to move forward). It will control the speed of the vehicle so the car can't go too fast. If an emergency vehicle approaches the car might pull off the road to let it pass.

    In the meantime automation technologies will be integrated into private road and off-road networks. Golf carts will almost certainly be used in such a network. Standardization will allow industry to designate closed roads for moving goods between buildings and then within industrial parks. Then someone will want to connect the industrial park with the airport or seaport. Maybe they take a low use rail line and convert it to a closed road. Cities will probably close off downtown areas to non-automated traffic. People will hail a "cab" to get around downtown and use mass transit to travel outside the city.

    As the technology advances the closed and open road systems will start to interact. You might drive to the airport but have your car drop you at the gate and then find a place to park itself. You go shopping and your car pulls up so you can load the groceries. In perhaps 30 years time the industrial system and the public system will be mature. Eventually we reach a tipping point where we just switch everything over to automated transportation.

  • Why all these fancy Lidar systems? What is wrong with stereo vision. Full vision is a tough problem, but basic stereo was worked out decades ago. Have to cameras pointing in the same direction, recognize common features in both pictures (the tricky part), do a bit of trig (easy), and you know exactly how far away they are.

  • Child Labour (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Growing up near numerous golf courses as a child in Philadelphia Pennsylvania I was forcefully exploited having to drive and park golf carts .....Damn it was sooo fun! and anyone who plays or has played golf knows that the driving the cart is at least (possible beer included) the most fun they will have all week.

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