Hi
Copying a posting which failed to get to the list.
Harish Kotian
Quoting:
Good morning, folks !
Came across this heartening news item which holds promise for
independent
mobility of the visually challenged in the future. Pardon me if
this was
posted earlier…
Chao
RS
+098 472 76 126
--
Google’s Self-Driving Cars Gaining Acceptance
February 21, 2012 | By John Newman
We’ve talked about Google’s self-driving cars before, and now
they’ve taken
another step forward. I doubt I’m alone in wishing for a car that could
drive itself, especially for those long drives in the middle of the
night
when you roll down the windows and turn up the radio to keep awake. The
whole notion of self-driving cars becoming a reality just crept a
little
closer with Nevada’s decision.
As a sort of icing on the cake, the regulations were even approved
of by
police and insurance companies, two groups I’d have thought would
have been
the most likely suspects to impede progress. The Google test cars
will be
given red license plates to differentiate them from other cars.
The fleet of modified Toyota Priuses used by Google has covered more
than
190,000 miles. While chaperoned by an actual human, the cars have
performed
astonishingly well in city, highway and long distance travel. To
date, the
only accident involving one of these cars was when a human was
actively at
the wheel!
How Google's car sees the world. Courtesy of Google.
If you aren’t familiar with how the cars operate, the autonomous
vehicles
rely mainly on Velodyne LIDAR laser range finder, which is the thing
you’ve
seen in pictures on top of the car. The laser guidance is combined with
detailed maps of the area to give the computer that drives the car
some idea
of what to expect, and allows it to check between stationary objects
(like
telephone poles) and mobile ones (like people).
The cars are equipped with a number of other data gathering
instruments as
well. These include radars mounted on both bumpers, a camera that
watches
for traffic lights, GPS and a number of other systems that help the
car to
know where it is and how far it has travelled.
The most important part of all the ingredients that go into the
autonomous
car stew is possibly the detailed maps created by Google
researchers. GPS
alone could be off by enough to cause accidents, but the combination
of the
maps, GPS and Velodyne Lidar keep the cars on track.
I wonder how long it’ll be before Google introduces an app that takes
measurements of how and where you drive to add more data to their maps.
Google self driving technology with laser lidar: Autonomous car
accurate to
2 cms
Google has introduced a new concept of driverless vehicle or self
driving
vehicle technology that is specially designed for those with mobility
issues. Google driverless tech can help drivers deal with crowded and
congested areas. With autonomous cars being the focus at Google, these
vehicles will be guided to less congested roads with the help of
computers
and the car would be guided by instructions received to steer the
vehicle.
Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google said that there were a number of
people
who find it difficult to get around. These people would benefit by
this
technology as these cars would be able to tackle congested roads,
ensure
parking facilities, etc.
The car would be guided by a special laser fitted to the hood of the
car
called a lidar. This at a cost of $75000 would give drivers a 360
degree
and 3D view of the cars surroundings. The car would be guided
through every
road and traffic signal, and would also detect other cars,
pedestrians, and
would work in any weather, and at all times of the day. The
autonomous car
was taken on a test and managed to complete a 1000 mile challenge
without
any difficulties and without human intervention. The driverless
tech car is
in its development stage and it would be some time before it is
finally seen
on our roads.
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