AdrianH
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| posted on 7/4/12 at 09:20 PM |
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The future of driving I hope not.
Just because we can do this, it does not mean we should
http://www.google.com/racing/
It looks as though the automated cars of the Sci-Fi films is getting closer.
If already posted, sorry have not spotted it.
Adrian
[Edited on 7-4-12 by AdrianH]
Why do I have to make the tools to finish the job? More time then money.
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mookaloid
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| posted on 7/4/12 at 09:24 PM |
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Quote from the bottom of the web page
"Surprise! As you might have guessed, Google Racing is an April Fools joke brought to you by Google and NASCAR. And while we won't be
providing self-driving cars to compete in the races, we look forward to working with NASCAR on future projects"
"That thing you're thinking - it wont be that."
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AdrianH
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| posted on 7/4/12 at 09:27 PM |
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Oh shucks I was hoping for a longer run then that!
Adrian
Why do I have to make the tools to finish the job? More time then money.
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coyoteboy
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| posted on 7/4/12 at 10:10 PM |
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However I'm all for automated racing, not as a replacement but as an addition. I think it would/does provide some massive engineering and
computing challenges and some of the major safety advances we see these days would have come along a lot sooner if it'd been required by a
motorsport.
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AdrianH
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| posted on 7/4/12 at 10:24 PM |
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OK, going back to the idea of automated driving, I know there have been tests trials etc around car parks in the UK by University students. And to
some extent there is already some automation in new cars to apply the brakes when a threat is in front as discerned by sensors, speed etc. I think
the new Focus can have it.?
When I look at F1 now, I think that there is a 90% chance if one starts in pole one finishes first unless there is a driver error. Get rid of the
driver and it would be purely down to the back room boys and we could all go down to virtual races.
You do have a valid point on some of the technical aspects. Disks, ABS and even Kers as used as regenerative braking in hybrids, the technology has
been around before the racing but gets finely honed with the amounts of money is thrown at it.
I just wonder why I prefer watching motors TV rather then the BBC F1 series.
Adrian
Why do I have to make the tools to finish the job? More time then money.
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coyoteboy
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| posted on 8/4/12 at 02:12 AM |
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There have been entirely robotic "races" across mock urban/off-road etc environments in the US, the technology is fairly well known but
still requires a boot full of computers and still makes mistakes. These are multi-million pound competition vehicles, not just a few uni students in a
car park (although they are often made up of mostly postgrad students).
For me F1 is all about the engineering, I'm not so bothered about the driver or the spectacle, more bothered about how well the car has been
created and what methods were employed to get around certain problems - that pleases me the most. You don't go to a military airshow to hear
about the pilots, you go to see the tech doing what it does best, you just hope the pilot can do it justice.
For me an autonomous race scenario is great, it removes that one annoying factor that stops the engineering being tested on a level playing field. I
can see that others don't think that though 
FWIW there are entirely autonomous virtual races already - some clever folks program "robot" pilots for various physics-real
simulations/games and see who can programme the best "driver". This is totally different to making an autonomous system that has to deal
with real life situations. If you removed the driver the results would be spectacular - humans are not very good at making machines that can do things
as well as humans unless the task is VERY simple and repetitive. Driving a car is not a simple task and add that to the fact that the lack of
driver-danger would allow higher powers and speeds to return, I can see it being a really exciting way forward. Probably one that will never happen
though.
[Edited on 8/4/12 by coyoteboy]
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