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
 |
Autonomous Cars: The Year Of Driving Dangerously
Afraid that your autonomous car will drive like a little old lady? Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have your back, speed demons. They're trying to make sure that driverless cars can go fast even under hazardous road conditions.
(Autonomous Dirt Track Car for Aggressive Driving video)
Up until now we’ve seen driverless cars performing comfortably on roads in good condition, but by using advanced algorithms and onboard computing, together with installed sensor devices, the Georgia Tech team was able to maintain control of a driverless vehicle when roadway adhesion was limited.So a driverless car would be able to perform in icy or, as the researchers tested, rally-style conditions.
“An autonomous vehicle should be able to handle any condition, not just drive on the highway under normal conditions,” said School of Aerospace Engineering professor and expert on the mathematics behind rally-car racing control, Panagiotis Tsiotras.
“One of our principal goals is to infuse some of the expert techniques of human drivers into the brains of these autonomous vehicles.”
The Georgia Tech researchers used a method called model predictive path integral control (MPPI) to keep their cars at the edge of their limits.
To create their MPPI control algorithm the team combined large amounts of car handling information with data on the dynamics of the vehicle, to calculate the most stable trajectories from the numerous possibilities.
“Aggressive driving in a robotic vehicle – manoeuvring at the edge – is a unique control problem involving a highly complex system,” said School of Aerospace Engineering assistant professor and project leader, Evangelos Theodorou.
“However, by merging statistical physics with control theory, and utilising leading-edge computation, we can create a new perspective, a new framework, for control of autonomous systems.”
Thanks to the tireless efforts of sf writers, I've already seen this future. The AutoM8s from Daniel Suarez' outstanding 2009 novel Daemon is driven by an AI with an interest in hazardous driving:
Suddenly, the car engine roared into life. It revved several times. The wheels turned left, then right.Khan grinned. "It's alive! Bu-wahhahahah!"
Suddenly the car's engine raced, and it laid down rubber, accelerating madly along the asphalt track...
The Lincoln was weaving from side to side, then it suddenly slammed on the brakes and screeched to a halt. It peeled out suddenly again and went into a power slide, whipping its tail around. It roared forward again, building up speed on the straightaway, then wrenched its wheels into another slide, and came out facing in the other direction - still accelerating into a bootlegger reverse.
McCruder smiled. "It's testing the properties of the car."
Via Factor-Tech.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 5/24/2016)
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 ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Vehicle ")
Martha Stewart Approves Ojai 'Living Room On Wheels'
'Young people found the driverless car admirable for petting.' - David H. Keller, 1935.
Orb Nomad Zero-Emission Electric Aircraft
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair or to perch on a flagpole in imitation of a giant bird, even in the windy city of Chicago.' RH Romans, 1929.
The Amazing Lightfoot Electric Scooter With Solar Assist
'The steel tortoise gave MacKinnon a feeling of Crusoe- like independence.' - Robert Heinlein, 1940.
Leader-Follower Autonomous Vehicle Technology
'Jason had been guiding the caravan of cars as usual...' - Gordon R. Dickson, 1954.
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
'If Anyone Is Watching Earth...'
'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'
Epirus High-Power Microwave Defeats Drones
'...the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and Then one toppled and fell. Then another.'
Cloud Of Space Rubbish From China's Long March Rocket
'Within seconds the material was spread out over fifty yards, in a matter of hours it might occupy several cubic miles of space...'
Biomimetic Tendons From Rochu Robotics
'... the curious parallelism to animal motions.'
Living Human Neuron Biological Compute Rack
'The men are dead, but their acquired wisdom lives on and I am the beneficiary.'
Martha Stewart Approves Ojai 'Living Room On Wheels'
'Young people found the driverless car admirable for petting.'
ESA's Draco To Study Heat Of Reentry
'...a synthetic which air-friction would erode.'
Buy A Galaxy? Maybe Start Smaller
'The sky is the limit' just got higher.
The United States Space Academy Is Official
'Is our orbit to Space Academy clear?'
Is There A Global Problem With Who Is Having Children?
'After twenty generations of shillyshallying...'
You Will Eat The Cookies Made From Plastic...
'Our planes are going to start bringing in bales of discarded plastics...'
It's A Giant Robot! You Reporters Have Been Warned!
'... completely forgetting the ship at sight of the awesome figure and great head of the giant Gaut...'
Birds Learn To Sing Pictures ala Frank Herbert's Distrans
'We will fight in the time of fighting.'
ElectionSim: China's 'Ender's Game' Battle Sim, Or Lem's 'Kingdom In A Box'?
'So, Ender, we will now begin your education.'
Tactile Skin Supplier Map
'What strange sensitivity! What an amazing development of science was manifested in every move and act and word of this Robot!'
Flock Stymied By 'Adversarial Fashion'
'Forget the head atop it, the legs below, feet, arms, hands. It compels erasure.'
