Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
AutoNOMOS Robotic Taxi Called By iPad App
The AutoNOMOS project has created MadeInGermany, an autonomous Volkswagen Passat that can be called with an iPad app. The user can check the location of the car as it approaches; once picked up, the user sets the destination through the app.
The car is also equipped with Drive-by-Wire technology, meaning that the CAN-Bus, which is the control center of modern vehicles, can be accessed directly by our computers. This way engine, brakes, steering and other actuating elements are able to send their sensor-values via CAN-Bus and can also receive commands. For example, a processor connected to the CAN-Bus is therefore able to use the brake or accelerate the pace.
Most of the required electromechanical modifications on the original vehicle were performed by the Volkswagen Research Garage. The "Operating System for intelligent cars" is one of the key research topics of the Artificial Intelligence Group at the Freie Universität Berlin. The Innovation Lab AutoNOMOS is funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research in the framework of the German High-Tech Strategy."
"MadeInGermany is a modified Volkswagen Passat Variant 3c. Latest LIDAR/ RADAR sensor technology, as well as cameras, help to overview its surrounding area (see sketch below for details). A special GPS system gives information about the position. The car's intelligence is based on software, which is implemented on computing systems located in the trunk compartment.
(AutoNOMOS project video)
SF fans recall the robot cabs from Philip K. Dick's 1952 story A Present for Pat, as well as the autonomous Tin Cabbie from James Blish's Cities in Flight.
Fans of Larry Niven's A World Out of Time recall the autonomous bubble cars:
She gestured him ahead of her, toward a bubble-car...Mirelly-Lyra gestured to him to slide over... and climbed in beside him. She bent to the console, hesitated, then punched in numbers.
The car moved smoothly away. Mirelly-Lyra half relaxed; she was not steering. Already, Corbell knew that he could not return by car. He didn't know the destination number of the house.
(Read more about Niven's bubble car)
Learn more at the AutoNOMOS autonomous car project.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 10/14/2010)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 1 )
Related News Stories - (" Vehicle ")
GoSun EV Solar Charger Drapes Onto Your Car
'...six square yards of sunpower screens.' - Robert Heinlein, 1940
'Autonomous' Waymo Improves Driving With Remote Human Operators
'...some bored drone pusher in a remote driving centre has got your life... in his hands.' - Charles Stross, 2007
Heinlein’s Controlway - Connected and Automated Vehicle (CAV) Corridor In Michigan
'Well, that's us,' said Lazarus.
CyberCab - Tesla Renames The Robotaxi
'A cybercab dogged their heels...' - Michael Swanwick, 1987.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Chaffeur Robot Musashi Will Drive Your Regular Car
'What would you do,' Eric asked the robot cabdriver, 'if your wife had turned to stone, your best friend were a toad, and you had lost your job?'
Space Exporers! Now, You Can Drink Your Own Urine
'those suits they wear -- call them 'stillsuits' -- that reclaim the body's own water...'
SpaceX EVA Spacesuit Tested By Polaris Dawn Crew
'Now, except for weight and heat, the same conditions prevail in this chamber as in space.'
Automatic Bot Traffic Is 38 Percent Of HTTP Requests
'there were so many worms and counterworms loose in the data-net...'
Shanghai Guidelines For Humanoid Robots
'Now, look, let's start with the three fundamental Rules of Robotics...'
Desktop TARS Robot From Interstellar
What's YOUR sarcasm setting?
Robots Can Now Have Smiling Faces With Human Skin
'I am a cybernetic organism...'
Virtual Rat Predicts Actual Rat Neural Activity
'..the synthetic intellects at the Place of Knowledge had far outstripped the minds of men.'
GoSun EV Solar Charger Drapes Onto Your Car
'...six square yards of sunpower screens.'
Rizon 4 Ironing Robot
'But after washing and drying clothes had to be smooth - free from fine lines and wrinkles ...'
Cognify - A Prison Of The Mind We've Seen Before In SF
'So I serve a hundred years in one day...'
Robot With Human Brain Organoid - 'A Thrilling Story Of Mechanistic Progress'
'A human brain snugly encased in a transparent skull-shaped receptacle.'
Goodness Gracious Me! Google Tries Face Recognition Security
'The actuating mechanism that should have operated by the imprint of her image on the telephoto cell...'
With Mycotecture, We'll Just Grow The Space Habitats We Need
'The only real cost was in the plastic balloon that guided the growth of the coral and enclosed the coral's special air-borne food.'
Can A Swarm Of Deadly Drones Take Out An Aircraft Carrier?
'The border was defended by... a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats.'
WiFi and AI Team Up To See Through Walls
'The pitiless M rays pierced Earth and steel and densest concrete as if they were so much transparent glass...'
