One of my favorite scenes in the last terminator movie was the one with the motorcycles. The probably could program a bot to drive that hill and do it better than a human at some point. Just as big blue was able to beat a human in chess once. :)
On Thu, Apr 1, 2010 at 3:40 PM, Martin Baxter <martinbaxt...@gmail.com>wrote: > > > Here come those 'bots again... now they'll be able to bump us off on the > highways. > > > On Thu, Apr 1, 2010 at 5:55 PM, Mr. Worf <hellomahog...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> >> >> Audi’s Robotic Car Drives Better Than You Do >> >> - By Chuck Squatriglia<http://www.wired.com/autopia/author/wiredchuck/> >> [image: >> Email Author] <chuck_squatrig...@wired.com> >> - March 31, 2010 | >> - 8:00 pm | >> - Categories: Cool Cars<http://www.wired.com/autopia/category/cool-cars/> >> - >> >> >> >> >> The race to the top of Pikes Peak is among the most harrowing in >> motorsports, a flat-out sprint through 156 turns on a 12.4-mile road to the >> clouds. It is a test of grit and skill that demands the best from drivers as >> they brave perilous drops at 130 mph. Audi thinks it can do it *without*a >> driver. >> >> The German automaker will send an autonomous TTS barreling to the summit >> in September. It will navigate the course at race speeds — the best drivers >> make the run in around 12 minutes — with no one at the wheel or even in the >> car. No one’s ever attempted anything like it before. Although robocars have >> driven the course, they haven’t done it at more than 25 mph. Audi says it is >> pushing autonomous-vehicle technology to its very edge in an effort to make >> the cars the rest of us drive smarter and safer. >> >> “We’re interested in the safety opportunities this technology presents,” >> said Dr. Burkhard Huhnke, executive director of the Electronics Research >> Laboratory. Volkswagen Group, which owns Audi, works alongside Stanford >> University at the lab in Palo Alto, California. “We want to understand the >> best way to use this technology to provide additional support to drivers in >> critical situations.” >> >> [image: >> audi_fb]<http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/autopia/2010/03/audi_fb.jpg> >> >> Audi, Volkswagen and Stanford are building on their success with Stanley, >> a VW Touareg <http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.01/stanley.html> that >> won the DARPA Grand Challenge in 2005, and Stanley, a VW >> Passat<http://www.wired.com/cars/futuretransport/news/2007/10/grandchallenge_walkup?currentPage=all>that >> took second in the DARPA Urban Challenge in 2007. Those vehicles used >> radar, sensors and cameras to track the road at relatively low speed on a >> closed and controlled course. The TTS will use differential GPS and an >> inertial measurement system to tackle a road where anything can happen. >> >> “We’re aiming high,” said Chris Gerdes, director of the Center for >> Automotive Research at Stanford. “Pike’s Peak has been a challenge since the >> first race in 1916. It is a place where you have to push to the very limit, >> and there’s a very stiff penalty if you get it wrong.” >> >> The car won’t compete in the Pike’s Peak International Hill >> Climb<http://www.usacracing.com/ppihc>in June. But the all-wheel drive TTS >> will follow the same course the racers >> use. It’s a mix of pavement, dirt and gravel that rises 4,721 feet at an >> average grade of 7 percent. The current record for a production-based >> all-wheel-drive car stands at 11:48.434. No one expects the TTS to hit that >> mark, and it won’t achieve the kind of speeds rally driver Marcus >> Gronhölm <http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/07/fiesta-pikes-peak/> or >> four-time winner Nobuhiro Tajima have, but it will make the run faster than >> you ever could. >> >> “I want to go up the mountain much faster than anyone with any sense of >> self-preservation would go,” Gerdes said. >> >> The robocar is a 2010 TTS. The team chose it because it features a >> fly-by-wire throttle, adaptive cruise control, a semiautomatic DSG gearbox >> and other gadgetry. That made it relatively easy to make the car fully >> autonomous using electronics developed at the Electronics Research Lab. >> [image: Differential GPS tracks the car's location to within 2 >> centimeters.]<http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/autopia/2010/03/audi_fd.jpg> >> >> Differential GPS tracks the car's location to within 2 centimeters. >> >> “The components we added that actually interface with the car would fit in >> a shoebox,” said Marcial Hernandez, a senior research engineer at the >> Electronics Research Lab. “The largest component by far is the gyroscope, >> and it’s an 8-inch cube.” >> >> The TTS is named Shelley in honor of Michèle >> Mouton<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mich%C3%A8le_Mouton>, >> an Audi rally driver and the first woman to win at Pikes Peak. Shelley uses >> differential GPS to track its location to within 2 centimeters, though >> Gerdes says the margin will be closer to 1 meter on the mountain. >> Wheel-speed sensors and an accelerometer measure its velocity and a >> gyroscope controls equilibrium and direction. The algorithms that make it >> all work run on hardware developed by Sun Microsystems. >> >> “The computational power needed to do this is less than you’d find in your >> laptop,” Hernandez said. >> >> Redundant systems ensure a measure of safety, and Shelley can shut itself >> down if the system detects a problem. The car also transmits real-time data >> to the team, which can shut it down from up to 20 miles away. >> >> Audi set up a dirt oval about the length and width of a football field and >> let us ride shotgun for half a dozen laps (video at top of post). Although >> there was a grad student behind the wheel, he was there only to monitor test >> data and hit the kill switch should things go sideways. >> >> Shelley accelerated to about 40 mph — Audi wouldn’t push harder with a >> journalist in the car — fast enough to push us back in the seat. The car >> applied the brakes as it approached the first turn and nailed the >> apex<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apex_%28racing%29>. >> It swept through the curve at 25 mph just at the limits of adhesion. The >> back end broke loose once, but Shelley quickly counter-steered to bring >> things back in line. The ride was as exhilarating as it was amazing, and >> could only be much more so at a race pace. Shelley hit 130 mph at the >> Bonneville Salt Flats, and the team hopes to top 150 later this spring at El >> Mirage in Southern California. >> >> “We’re developing the car to drive itself right at the very limits of its >> performance,” Gerdes said. >> >> The question, of course, is why. >> >> Audi believes autonomous systems could make cars safer, easier and more >> fun to drive. It isn’t trying to remove the driver from the equation. >> Rather, it wants to create a car that can take over when you get in over >> your head. If, for example, you hit a patch of black ice, the car could take >> corrective measures to keep you from going off the road. Or if you blow it >> on a downhill double-apex turn, the car could bring itself back in line. >> >> “The safety aspects of this technology are very important to us,” Huhnke >> said. >> >> And that, Gerdes said, is why Audi is testing the technology on Pikes >> Peak. >> >> “We’re modeling this on a race car,” he said, “because we want to design a >> system that can assist even the best drivers.” >> >> *Photos: Jim Merithew/Wired.com >> More photos below.* >> >> *See Also:* >> >> - MIT Robot Rides Shotgun to Make Us Happier >> Drivers<http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/11/mit-robot-rides-shotgun-to-make-us-happier-drivers/> >> - Wired 14.01: Say Hello to >> Stanley<http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.01/stanley.html> >> - Darpa’s Robot Car Race: Gentlemen, Start Your >> Processors<http://www.wired.com/cars/futuretransport/news/2007/10/grandchallenge_walkup%3FcurrentPage%3Dall> >> - VW Lifts a $5.75 Million VAIL at >> Stanford<http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/10/vw-vail/> >> - The Car of the Future Will Know You Can’t >> Drive<http://www.wired.com/autopia/2008/05/the-car-of-the-future-will-know-you-cant-drive/> >> >> [image: audi_f]<http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/autopia/2010/03/audi_f.jpg> >> >> Although the back of the car is loaded with electronics, the components >> that actually interface with the Audi’s control systems would fit in a >> shoebox. >> >> [image: >> audi_ff]<http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/autopia/2010/03/audi_ff.jpg> >> >> The interior is bone stock, except for the big red kill switch in front of >> the gearshift. It’s mounted where the cigarette lighter would go. >> >> [image: >> audi_fe]<http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/autopia/2010/03/audi_fe.jpg> >> >> Mick Kritayakirana, a mechanical engineering doctoral candidate at >> Stanford, keeps close watch on Shelley during testing. The car transmits >> real-time data to the team, which can shut the car down remotely from as far >> as 20 miles away. >> >> [image: >> audi_fc]<http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/autopia/2010/03/audi_fc.jpg> >> >> The odds are this car can drive itself harder and better than you could >> drive it. >> >> Read More >> http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/03/audi-autonomous-tts-pikes-peak/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29#ixzz0jt7iVpfN >> >> >> -- >> Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! >> Mahogany at: >> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ >> > > > > > -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
