We can't wait for the new Transformers movie to come out! What is it about autonomous cars that are so appealing? Well, you might not get the mental equivalent of an Einstein at the press of a finger but you'll definitely be getting hands-free driving soon!Imagine playing your PSP or working on a steak while your car drives itself through traffic and gets you to a preset destination! 'Autonomous Vehicle Navigation' is a new technology that's going to make 'driverless' driving a reality!
Unfortunately for us (since we're not into weapons of mass destruction), the technology has interested the military who want to create self-navigating vehicles for war zones. Great...so you can reduce the loss of lives and increase metal scraps for the robots (or probably poor humans) to pick up!
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) conducted a contest at a former air force base in California a couple of years back. The prize money of 3.5 million dollars was for designing the fastest and safest vehicles that could traverse a 60 mile urban course in moving traffic in less than six hours. Contestant vehicles were autonomous and had to complete a simulated military supply mission, maneuvering through a mock city environment, avoiding obstacles, merging into moving traffic, navigating traffic circles, and negotiating intersections-while conforming to California driving rules! That's reasonably tough, we assure you!
Only six could make it to the finish line in the allotted time out of 86 contestants!
The winning vehicle finished with an average speed of 13 miles per hour! Wende Zhang of General Motors was part of the design team and GM vehicles can already assist in parking and detect lane markers to trigger alarms if drivers are coming too close to the shoulder of the road! Looks like the man had an edge!
However, Zhang said that a commercially viable autonomous driving product might still take a decade to hit the markets. And GM's not exactly doing too well so let's hope this thing happens before Transformers 3!
