Possible roadblocks getting automated cars on the road

Possible roadblocks getting automated cars on the road.

Source: newScientist: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22530082.100-the-four-main-roadblocks-holding-up-selfdriving-cars.html#.VOHzWbDF-nC

Amazon: drones as delivery vehicles

Jeff Bezos: These generations of vehicles, it could be a 10-mile radius from a fulfillment center. So, in urban areas, you could actually cover very significant portions of the population. And so, it won’t work for everything; you know, we’re not gonna deliver kayaks or table saws this way. These are electric motors, so this is all electric; it’s very green, it’s better than driving trucks around. This is…this is all an R&D project.

Amazon's Jeff Bezos looks to the future

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazons-jeff-bezos-looks-to-the-future/

Jeff Bezos: I think, I, I am, I’m an optimist Charlie. I know it can’t be before 2015, because that’s the earliest we could get the rules from the FAA. My guess is that’s, that’s probably a little optimistic. But could it be, you know, four, five years? I think so. It will work, and it will happen, and it’s gonna be a lot of fun.

Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazons-jeff-bezos-looks-to-the-future/

In Sweden, 100 driverless cars to take to the streets

In conjunction with Swedish officials, Volvo plans to send 100 autonomous cars out on to the streets of Gothenburg.

The Swedish automaker says that 100 autonomous vehicles will be piloted under the project name "Drive Me -- Self-driving cars for sustainable mobility." In 2017, the cars will drive approximately 30 miles around the streets of Gothenburg in a number of frequent driver conditions, including around residential areas, moving pedestrians, motorways and queues. The vehicles will also be expected to park themselves.

Volvo's pilot is meant to show how autonomous vehicles could improve road safety and transport efficiency, as well as research what changes to city infrastructure would be necessary to accommodate autonomous cars.

Working alongside the Swedish Transport Administration, The Swedish Transport Agency, Lindholmen Science Park and the City of Gothenburg, the now Chinese-owned firm will begin planning next year, starting with customer research and technological development.

Source: http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/in-sweden-100-driverless-cars-to-take-to-the-streets/

Mercedes-Benz laat S500 Intelligent Drive 100km autonoom rijden

Mercedes-Benz heeft een nieuwe Mercedes in de S-klasse een autonome rit tussen twee Duitse steden laten maken, een afstand van 100km. De S500 kan al autonoom rijden in files en Mercedes-Benz verwacht dat zijn auto's rond 2020 geheel autonoom kunnen rijden.

 Volgens de autofabrikant is de r&d-afdeling erin geslaagd om de S500 zonder tussenkomst van een chauffeur van Mannheim naar Pforzheim te laten rijden: een afstand van 100km.

Volgens Mercedes-Benz kan de S500 Intelligent Drive autonoom in files rijden en zijn de systemen die nodig zijn om ook op hogere snelheden het voertuig geheel zelfstandig te laten rijden vrijwel klaar voor productie. De autobouwer durft verder de stelling aan rond 2020 geheel autonoom rijdende voertuigen op de markt te kunnen brengen, een schatting die ook door bijvoorbeeld Nissan is uitgesproken. Naast de nodige technische hindernissen moeten ook nog juridische hobbels worden overwonnen.

Source: http://tweakers.net/nieuws/91218/mercedes-benz-laat-s500-intelligent-drive-100km-autonoom-rijden.html

NYC was chosen for the Driverless City group project

Discussion on Reddit on a driverless city.

Background
Idea | Plan/Outline. We have chosen New York City as the target for our project. Our next step is to plan the content that will comprise our final products, which include:
Full written report
Financial analysis
Slideshow
Maps and photos

Parameters
NYC has completely and successfully adopted driverless car technology in the last 10 years. Regular cars have been banned and a consolidated industry of subscription public/private fleets has emerged with no major problems. NYC is the only city in the region that has fully adopted such a system. Cities just outside of NYC use a mix of driverless and normal cars.

Questions
Please post your own thoughts on what we should include in our content!

View on the future from Audi: http://www.big.dk/#projects-audi

Blog on robocars: http://ideas.4brad.com/topic/robocars and http://www.templetons.com/brad/robocars/

Source: http://www.reddit.com/r/Driverless/comments/1lgb0d/nyc_was_chosen_for_the_driverless_city_group/

World’s Smallest Drone Autopilot System Goes Open Source

The Lisa/S chip, perched on the front of an aerial drone. Photo: 1bitsquared

The Lisa/S chip is 4 square-centimeters — about the same size as a Euro coin. But this 1.9-gram sliver of silicon includes everything you need to autopilot an aerial drone.

It’s the world’s smallest drone autopilot system — over 30 grams lighter than its predecessor — according to the chip’s designers at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. And best of all, both the hardware and the software is open source, meaning anyone can copy and use it — for free.

“The main reason we chose open source is that we want to make it available for society,” says the project’s leader, Bart Remes. “My vision is that within a few years, every fireman [will have] a drone in his pocket.”

The Lisa/S is the MAV Laboratory’s latest project. The chip’s software is based on Paparazzi, an open source drone autopilot system.

The chip was designed with the help of a U.S.-based electronics company called 1Bitsquared, which will sell Lisa/S chips starting in January 2014. But since both the hardware and software is open source, Remes says any company will be able to sell chips based on the technology.

Source: http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/08/drone-autopilot/

Nissan Promises to Deliver Autonomous Car by 2020

Nissan just got serious about autonomous cars. The automaker is promising to deliver the first “commercially-viable” self-driving system by 2020, and it won’t just be limited to a single model — Nissan says several vehicles will come equipped with its Autonomous Drive technology.

Nissan has begun working with dozens of research and educational institutions to make autonomous vehicles a reality, including MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, Oxford, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Virginia Tech, and nearly every major university in Japan.

“In 2007 I pledged that – by 2010 – Nissan would mass market a zero-emission vehicle,” Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said in the announcement. “Today, the Nissan LEAF is the best-selling electric vehicle in history. Now I am committing to be ready to introduce a new ground-breaking technology, Autonomous Drive, by 2020, and we are on track to realize it.”

“Nissan’s autonomous driving will be achieved at realistic prices for consumers,” the automaker stated in its release. “The goal is availability across the model range within two vehicle generations.” That’s ambitious. But it’s best not to bet against Ghosn and Co.

Source: http://www.wired.com/autopia/2013/08/nissan-autonomous-drive/

Next generation of military drones

The next generation of military drones are here, and they're controlled by algorithms and designed for sea combat. On May 14, the U.S. Navy successfully launched the experimental X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System from the USS George H.W. Bush and landed the drone at a naval air base in Maryland. When complete, the X-47B will be able to both take off and land on the same aircraft carrier.

But unlike conventional UAVs, there's something different about the X-47B. The X-47B isn't only unmanned... it's autonomous, too. The drone is descended from DARPA's Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-UCAS) program, which created UAV control systems that depend entirely on algorithms, sensors, and computer code. Although the X-47B still requires occasional human input, it operates mostly autonomously along pre-programmed flight routes. Humans only override the X-47B's programming if anomalies happen.

Source: http://www.fastcompany.com/3009724/inside-the-navys-historic-embrace-of-at-sea-combat-drones

Pilotless passenger planes prepare for take-off

“We believe that unmanned aircraft are the next big transformation in the aviation industry,” says Doug Davis, director of the unmanned aircraft programme at New Mexico State University.

Of course, the military already know this.  Automatic landing systems have been used for years to help pilots drop F-18 aircraft on to the narrow landing strips on top of aircraft carriers. Then there is the rise of drone warfare.  These planes are still flown remotely by pilots on the ground, but most have the capability to follow a predefined flight path and even land themselves if they get into serious trouble or the link between the ground is broken.

In some modern aircraft the pilot is only needed to taxi the aircraft to the runway. Everything else from take-off to landing can be automated. “The technology is here,” says Missy Cummings, an ex military pilot who is now associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

She points to the rise of so-called fly-by-wire technology, which has replaced the mechanical link between the pilot and the plane’s engines and control surfaces. “Any fly-by-wire plane can be an [Unmanned Aerial Vehicle],” she explains. “The controls are digital, not analogue, everything is done electronically so you don’t need a person in there to push a hydraulic actuator.”

To prove the point, technology company BAE Systems recently flew a converted Jetstream aircraft – known as “The Flying Test Bed” – with no pilot in UK air space.

A plane will need to be aware of its surroundings and be able to plot a new path that is not disruptive to other users of the skies - intelligence known as “sense and avoid”. Look at the rise of the autonomous car to see that computers are getting better and better at viewing an interpreting their surroundings.

Dr John Tracey, chief technology officer at Boeing, agrees. He sees no need for decisions to always be made on the ground by Air traffic Control. He believes the current system based on ground based radar, and a controller who uses voice commands to “say to the pilot ‘turn left, turn right, go up, go down,’” is very inefficient. “The new planes that we deliver already have the capabilities built into them to use GPS satellites, to allow them to fly on the most optimum flight path,” Dr Tracy says. The next step would be to allow aircraft to make more decisions for themselves and respond to other planes and weather patterns by themselves.

Professor Cummings says the data is increasingly in favour of unmanned systems. “About three years ago UAVs became safer than general aviation, meaning that more general aviation planes are crashing than UAVs, per 100,000 flight hours,” she says.  “So UAVs are actually safer than a weekend pilot, flying a small plane.”

Update from article newscientist:

Jim Scanlan, one of the designers of the world's first 3D-printed unmanned aerial vehicle is impressed. "I think it's great. It's good to see such progress in the UK – especially with the US hoping to open up its airspace to UAVs in 2015."

The main thing ASTRAEA needs to get right is that sensing and avoiding capability, says Scanlan. "That's the showstopper at the moment. Without a pilot they need a sensing system to replace the Mark 1 eyeball – one that can tell a hot-air balloon from a cloud."

Source:
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130502-pilotless-planes-plan-to-take-off/1
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23521-passenger-jet-flies-800-kilometres-without-a-pilot.html

Robot truck platoons roll forward

Will this be the first step toward autonomous cars?

Convoys of wireless-linked semi-autonomous vehicles could soon be hitting our roads, giving drivers a chance to put their feet up on the morning commute.

In February this year, a similar line-up of four large trucks circled an oval test track in Tsukuba City, Japan to help get so-called “truck platooning” technology ready for real-world use. This technology aims to create semi-autonomous road trains, where convoys of vehicles enter a snaking train of vehicles under the command of the lead vehicle.

“We think that this new technology can also lead to a reduction in the amount of road space used by vehicles, which would help to reduce traffic congestion,” says Nobuo Iwai, senior researcher on the project. In fact, some estimates suggest it could double the capacity of existing highways.

Platoon prototype

The Japanese demonstration was the latest of a couple of projects set up to trial and develop the technology. A couple of years ago a project at RWTH Aachen University in Germany operated a platoon of four trucks spaced at 10m (33ft) intervals. In the US, research at the University of California, Berkeley put three-truck caravans on the road with spacing from 3 to 6m. And last year, the Scania Transport Laboratory in Swedentested aspects of truck platooning on a 520km (325 miles) shipping route between the cities of Sodertalje and Helsingborg.

In addition, a recently completed European project led by Volvo calledSafe Road Trains for the Environment (Sartre) has explored using cars and lorries simultaneously. Its platoons cruised at 85 km/h (50mph) with a gap between each vehicle of 6m. The study vehicles put in some 10,000 km (6,200 miles) of road, and – like the Japanese study – indicated that platooning could offer substantial benefits.

Engineers and planners working on the technology that road trains could be cruising highways sometime in the next decade. Perhaps in the not-too-distant future, you yourself will commute to work on a robotic conga line, along with a line up of other drivers not paying attention to driving.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130409-robot-truck-platoons-roll-forward/2

Radical roads drive robot cars

A lot is written about the rise of autonomous cars, such as those developed by Google, but these vehicles will also change our highways forever.

Los Angeles in California has just finished installing $400m of technology to synchronise its traffic lights. The Automated Traffic Surveillance and Control system uses an array of cameras and sensors in the road to measure traffic flow, and a centralised computer system to make constant tweaks and changes to the city’s 4,400 lights to keep traffic running as smoothly as possible. In theory, it is now possible to cross the city without ever stopping.

“By schronising our traffic signals we will spend less time waiting, and less time polluting,” says Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. It is estimated to increase travel speeds by 16% and cutting journey times by 12%.

The figures are impressive, but other congested cities looking on in envy may do well to wait a few more years before rethinking their own traffic systems. While the LA system may seem cutting edge now, it could seem as outdated as a traffic officer guiding traffic with white gloves in a few years time. That is because engineers are planning a radical rethink of our streets that will change just about every aspect of how we drive – including who is in control of the vehicle.

Autonomous cars

In this new world, cars are packed nose to tail travelling at speeds in excess of current limits. They weave their way through unmarked junctions, with no traffic lights. Lane markings are non-existent, and stretches of road switch from being one-way in one direction, to the opposite, with no warning. Perhaps most alarming of all, very few of the “drivers” have even passed a driving test.

It may sound like an impossibly chaotic scene, where accidents are inevitable. But this is one future based on predictions about the uptake of autonomous cars.

In the United States the Instititute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) predicts that driverless cars will account for 75% of all vehicles on the roads by 2040. Vehicles, such as Google’s self driving car,  are already leading the way.  And small-scale trials of linked-up roads are being conducted in some cities.

 “In the future smart intersections may not need lights,” says Azim Eskandarian, director of the IEEE’s Center for Intelligent Systems Research.  “These intersections will very efficiently harmonise and synchronise speeds in one direction, and then the other.” The groundwork for this is already being laid in the US by the Vehicle Infrastructure Integration Consortium, a group of car manufacturers trying to develop specific applications and protocols for a system.

The hub of the future will take this to an extreme - accumulating all the data across a metropolis and plan traffic loads and optimise routes accordingly. It will also send commands back to the vehicles about when to safely enter an intersection, and what speed to hold to minimize stop-start driving.

Meanwhile the cars will also talk to each other, using vehicle-to-vehicle communication, constantly checking their environments and positions relative to other cars around them.

Vehicle-to-vehicle communication is already in development.  In 1999, the United States Congress set aside a region of the 5.9 GHz radio frequency band – already used for wireless – specifically for the purpose. And a host of manufacturers are already developing applications.

Cars that talk to each other can also match their speeds, and drive more closely together without risk of the car in front suddenly braking. As a result, many envisage the idea of “car platooning” that will link together cars on high-speed highways to travel faster, more safely, and using less space. Various trails of this technology are already taking place, with one of the most advanced run by an EU consortium called Satre, which demonstrated trains of vehicles travelling at speeds of up to 90km/h sometimes travelling just 4m apart.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130405-radical-roads-drive-robot-cars

Mercedes engineers expect autonomous cars by 2020

German ingenieurs from Mercedes expect that by 2020 series models can at least partially drive themselves.

Source: http://www.zeit.de/auto/2013-01/auto-autonom

Audi’s Cars Can Now Park Themselves; Driving Themselves Is Not Far Behind

Move over, Google. Audi just became the second company to be licensed to run autonomous vehicles in Nevada. That means the company can now test its autonomous vehicles on the state’s public roads.

Volkswagen Group works on innovative technologies, like advanced driver assistance, navigation, and of course, piloted driving (Audi prefers the term "piloted" to "autonomous" because it implies that the human in the car still has ultimate responsibility).

Audi representatives say that piloted parking will be commercialized in the next few years. Autonomous vehicles could be available by the end of the decade. In the coming years, automakers will take baby steps towards producing fully autonomous vehicles, starting with piloted parking technology. By the time self-driving cars hit the road, they won’t seem so sci-fi.

Source: http://www.fastcoexist.com/1681188/audis-cars-can-now-park-themselves-driving-themselves-is-not-far-behind?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+fastcompany%2Fheadlines+(Fast+Company)#1

Unmanned aircraft project leads push to civilian drones

UK-led, £62m Astraea project - which has participation of the UK Civil Aviation Authority - is attempting to tackle all facets of Unmanned aircraft systems (UAs).

The aim of the ASTRAEA programme is to enable the routine use of UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) in all classes of airspace without the need for restrictive or specialised conditions of operation.

A recent report by the UK's Aerospace, Aviation and Defence Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) found that applications for unmanned aircraft are said to be worth some £260bn - replacing costly or dangerous work done by manned planes, or opening up new applications that are currently out of reach.

Crop or wildlife stock monitoring, search and rescue, and check-ups on railway lines are some of the envisioned uses of UAs.

Plans for UAs envision that a pilot will always be on the ground controlling them, but they must have on-board technology that can perform in an emergency - in the eyes of aviation law - as well as a pilot.

"These things are going to have a level of self-determinism, particularly if you ever lose the communication link with the ground control," said Lambert Dopping-Hepenstal, Astraea project director. "They've got to be able to operate fully safely and take the right decisions.

Gary Clayton, head of research and technology for EADS Cassidian, another project partner, said the CAA's publication CAP722 is being held up internationally as a template for aviation legislation around UAs.

But Mr Dopping-Hepenstal said the project is aiming much further than the technology and safety legislation.

"What this programme is trying to do is look at this holistically," he said. "It's not just the technology, we're trying to think about the social impact of this and the ethical and legal things associated with it. You've got to solve all this lot if you're going to make it happen, enable it to happen affordably."

Chris Elliot, an aerospace engineer and barrister, is acting as consultant to the project. He told reporters that the licensing and privacy questions were points "to debate, not to pontificate".

Sources:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20327991
http://www.astraea.aero/

Self driving autonomous cars

Driverless cars at Griffith University

Dr Jun Jo from Griffith’s School of Information and Communication Technology, Professor Kiesu Kim from a Korean University and Helensvale State High school students are currently developing the first driverless cars in Australia.

"Our aim is to develop an eco-friendly car as well as a driverless intelligent car" Dr Jo said.
"It will be man controlled by early 2010 and driverless by 2012 which is not that far away".

The most significant obstacles facing these vehicles could be human rather than technical: government regulation, liability laws, privacy concerns and people's passion for cars and the control it gives them.

Source:
http://www.griffith.edu.au/create-whats-next/driverless-cars
http://www.griffith.edu.au/science-aviation/intelligent-control-systems-laboratory/research/research-topics/cooperative-driverless-vehicles
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/23/android_powered_autonomous_vehicle/

Date: 14-08-2012

Autonomous Flying cars: Grounded reality or ready for take off?

Ever increasing number of cars on the roads means that a vehicle that can soar into the skies remains an attractive option.  “We need to try to relive congestion on our road, and one potential solution is an aerial vehicle” says Dr Michael Jump, a lecturer in aerospace at Liverpool University in the UK.

The team intends to draw on drone technology to automate as much of the flying as possible. Current fly-by-wire technology, as well as some of the features being used in the development of autonomous or robotic vehicles could all help fleets of these vehicles fly along predefined highways – and crucially avoid each other.

But perhaps the biggest problem the team aim to tackle are the regulatory and safety issues, as well as those of public opinion.  “The technology is the easiest bit,” says Dr Jump.

When pressed about a likely launch date, the project scientists are reluctant to commit but have no doubts that it will come to pass. “We are trying to apply rational scientific engineering approach to this problem” says Dr Jump. “What sounds strange and wonderful today can very often become tomorrow’s reality.”

Date: 06-06-2012

Permission to test autonomous functions on Berlin roads
07.12.2011 AutoNOMOS Labs finally received an exceptional permission to test autonomous functions in real traffic situations. The matured safety concept which we developed with the support of TÜV NORD and our new sponsor HDI Gerling Industry Insurances includes a safety driver (acting as a “driving teacher”) and a copilot who both can take control of the car in situations which seem too risky for autonomous driving.

Facts:

• Exceptional permissions for the State of Berlin are examined and approved by the LABO (Landesamt für Bürger- und Ordnungsangelegenheiten) according to official StVO regulations.
• The name of our latest test-vehicle is “MadeInGermany” (MIG) our first car was named “Spirit of Berlin”.
• AutoNOMOS Labs is a project at the Freie Universität Berlin, Artificial Intelligence Group, financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in a market-oriented program called ForMaT.
• The car is equipped with several cameras, RADAR- and LIDAR-(Laser) sensors to “perceive” its surrounding and a high-precision GPS System. The Laser-Scanner on the roof detects obstacles around the car. It does not take pictures for google street view
• The vision of autonomous driving is shared with fellow robotic researchers around the world. Many of them – like ourselves – are former contestants of the DARPA Challenges.

Source: http://autonomos.inf.fu-berlin.de/news/permission-test-autonomous-functions-berlin-roads
Links:

• DARPA urban grand challenge autonomous cars 
• MIT DARPA Grand Challange
• Standford University DARPA Grand Challange
• Tartan racing 

Datum: 29-05-2011
Autonomous road train project SARTRE completes first public road test

SARTRE, also known as Safe Road Trains for the Environment, aims to develop strategies and technologies that will allow vehicles to operate on normal public highways with significant environmental, safety and comfort benefits. Basically, the idea was to have a lead driver tow a train of cars behind it. Tests have been going on at Volvo’s test track in Sweden last year.

“People think that autonomous driving is science fiction, but the fact is that the technology is already here,” says Linda Wahlström, project manager for the SARTRE project.

SARTRE is a joint venture between Ricardo UK Ltd, Idiada and Robotiker-Tecnalia of Spain, Institut for Kraftfahrwesen Aachen (IKA) of Germany, SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, Volvo Car Corporation and Volvo Technology of Sweden.

Source: http://www.ubergizmo.com/2012/05/autonomous-road-train-project-sartre-completes-first-public-road-test/

Datum: 09-May-2012
Google gets Nevada driving licence for self-drive car

Engineers at Google have previously tested the car on the streets of California, including crossing San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge. According to software engineer Sebastian Thrun, the car has covered 140,000 miles with no accidents, other than a bump at traffic lights from a car behind.

Bruce Breslow, director of Nevada's Department of Motor Vehicles, says he believes driverless vehicles are the "cars of the future". Nevada changed its laws to allow self-driven cars in March. The long-term plan is to license members of the public to drive such cars.

Google's car has been issued with a red licence plate to make it recognisable. The plate features an infinity sign next to the number 001.

Other states, including California, are planning similar changes.

"The vast majority of vehicle accidents are due to human error," said California state Senator Alex Padilla, when he introduced the legislation. "Through the use of computers, sensors and other systems, an autonomous vehicle is capable of analysing the driving environment more quickly and operating the vehicle more safely."

Datum: 20-Feb-2012
Nevada approves self-driving cars on public roadways

If you happen to be driving around in the state of Nevada, don’t be surprised if you encounter an unmanned vehicle on the streets or highways. The state became the first to officially approve rules for self-driving cars on public roads earlier this week.

Bron: http://www.ubergizmo.com/2012/02/nevada-approves-self-driving-cars-on-public-roadways/


Datum: 11-Oct-2010
Google Working on Cars That Drive Themselves



Google CEO Eric Schmidt, the search engine giant is currently at work on cars that are completely automated. In fact, their progress is so far along that they’ve already got a whole slew of self driving Toyota Prius that have logged over 140,000+ test miles.

Read: Google Working on Cars That Drive Themselves [Google Said to Be Working on Self Driving Cars, Have Already Logged 140,000+ Test Miles] » TFTS – Technology, Gadgets & Curiosities

Google Working on Cars That Drive Themselves [Google Said to Be Working on Self Driving Cars, Have Already Logged 140,000+ Test Miles] » TFTS – Technology, Gadgets & Curiosities