Tag: autonomous

Report: GM intends to offer semi-autonomous vehicles by 2020

Filed under: Safety, Technology, Crossover, Cadillac, GM, Luxury

2013 Cadillac SRX

Prepare for a few years of technological saber-rattling, as the world’s automakers begin pushing to bring self-driving cars to market. Earlier this week, Nissan announced that it aims to offer autonomous vehicles by 2020, while Google, BMW and several other marks are working on similar efforts.

General Motors is doing things differently, though. Rather than push for a fully autonomous car, it’s continuing to refine its semi-autonomous Super Cruise, a product that we tested in April 2012 and that will eventually see use on some Cadillacs before trickling down to the rest of the General Motors family. Super Cruise, which is undergoing testing in the Cadillac SRX, doesn’t take complete control out of the driver’s hands. Rather, under a very specific set of circumstances on the freeway, it will marry the capabilities of things like lane departure warning and adaptive cruise control to allow the driver to take their hands off the wheel. All of which sounds a lot like the system Mercedes-Benz is launching on the 2014 S-Class.

The system is still in development, according to John Capp, GM’s director of electrical controls and active safety technology. Now that that the biggest hurdle, steering control, has been cleared, GM’s engineers can focus on things like teaching the system to adapt to differing road conditions and visibility levels. As we reported in 2012, Super Cruise is still befuddled in low-visibility situations or when road markings aren’t particularly clear.

And for those who are worried that semi-autonomous cars will lead to drivers treating the cars as fully autonomous (a seriously dangerous situation), GM engineer Charles Green tells USA Today, “Super Cruise will be designed in a way to help keep your visual attention on the road ahead. The ‘how’ is something that will become more apparent as we show Super Cruise in its later versions.”

GM intends to offer semi-autonomous vehicles by 2020 originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 30 Aug 2013 15:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Official: Nissan promising autonomous car production by 2020

Filed under: Safety, Technology, Nissan, Electric

Nissan Leaf Autonomous Drive demonstrator

Nissan will bring the autonomous car to consumers by the end of this decade. The announcement was made by CEO Carlos Ghosn at the company’s US headquarters in Irvine, CA. Nissan has already begun construction of a dedicated proving ground for the self-driving cars in Japan, with completion targeted for the end of 2014.

Teaming with MIT, Stanford, Oxford and others, Nissan has already outfitted Leaf EVs with the Autonomous Drive (Nissan’s brand name for the tech), a suite of new technologies developed from the brand’s existing Safety Shield technology. The current iteration of Autonomous Drive uses the Around-View Monitoring system and laser scanners to analyze the environment, while artificial intelligence systems have been installed to help navigate and operate in a changing environment.

While it’s easy to say that Nissan will bring the technology to market within the next six or seven years, it’s more difficult to say at what price Autonomous Drive will be available. Most remarkable about all of this is Nissan’s claim that self-driving cars will be both commercially viable and available at “realistic prices for consumers.” It’s expecting Autonomous Drive to be available across its range within two vehicle generations.

Nissan’s motivation rests largely with the number of accidents that happen on US roads alone each year – six million accidents that cost consumers $160 million and kill more people between the ages of four and 34 than anything else. Considering the overwhelming majority of those accidents are caused by human error, this tech seems like a great idea.

Carlos Ghosn demonstrated Nissan’s resolve towards bringing the tech to market, saying, “In 2007 I pledged that – by 2010 – Nissan would mass market a zero-emission vehicle. Today, the Nissan Leaf is the best-selling electric vehicle in history. Now I am committing to be ready to introduce a new ground-breaking technology, Autonomous Drive, by 2020, and we are on track to realize it.” Those are some bold words, but what Nissan is promising now is far more complex than a new drivetrain. We look forward to seeing what it comes up with.

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Nissan promising autonomous car production by 2020 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 27 Aug 2013 15:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Volvo demos autonomous self-parking car concept

Filed under: Safety, Technology, Videos, Volvo

Volvo autonomous parking demo - video screencap

A number of companies are developing autonomous vehicle technology – Google and Audi come to mind – but Volvo is applying its work in the area to a particular usage case: parking. The Swedish automaker has the technology up and running in a concept vehicle, which it says can be dropped off at the curb by its owner and left to its own devices to enter and navigate a car park, then find and park in an available parking spot. Volvo says the process can even be reversed when the owner is ready to go, with the car leaving the car park on its own to meet its key-holder again at the curb.

The vehicle first interacts with Vehicle 2 Infrastructure technology, which places transmitters in the road itself to inform the car (and driver) if the self-parking service is available. The driver then hops out, activates the Self Parking function on his or her smartphone and then leaves the car to do its work. The car uses sensors, all seemingly hidden from view (an advancement of its own in this field), to autonomously navigate the car park, which includes interacting and adjusting to other cars, people and objects.

The technology used here builds off of Volvo’s other work in autonomous vehicle research, namely the Safe Road Trains for the Environment (SARTRE) project in which the company managed to create a train of four cars autonomously following a lead truck at speeds up 56 miles per hour. Volvo says the first application of its autonomous research in a production vehicle will happen at the end of 2014 with some level of autonomous steering available in the next-generation XC90. See the system in action by watching the video below.

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Volvo demos autonomous self-parking car concept originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 20 Jun 2013 14:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: We lap Laguna Seca in BMW’s autonomous Track Trainer

Filed under: Safety, Technology, Videos, BMW

BMW Track Trainer at Laguna Seca

BMW 330i Track Trainer at Laguna Seca – Click above for high-res image gallery

You know what’s scary? Autonomous cars. What’s scarier? An autonomous car that can lap Laguna Seca at eight-tenths and post sub-two minute lap times all day long. BMW’s 330i Track Trainer can do just that. And we have the video to prove it.

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We lap Laguna Seca in BMW’s autonomous Track Trainer originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 26 May 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Autonomous Audi TTS successfully ascends Pikes Peak

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Technology, Audi

Audi Autonomous TTS

Stanford University Autonomous Audi TTS – Click above for high-res image gallery

The autonomous Audi TTS built by Volkswagen Group Electronics Research Lab, Stanford University and Audi has taken an important first step toward its ultimate goal: participating in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The self-driving TTS officially completed a test run – all the way to the 14,110 foot summit – earlier this year, clocking a time of 27 minutes, which is pretty good considering that race officials typically expect a human driver to do it in around 17 minutes.

Audi says that the car used a combination of brand-new software, algorithms and hardware to tackle one of the world’s most challenging hill climbs. The 12.42 mile course is a gauntlet of tarmac and loose gravel that snakes upward with a number of instant switchbacks. According to Audi, the autonomous TTS managed to hit a top speed of 47 mph during one stretch. Hit the jump for the full press release.

Gallery: Audi Autonomous TTS Pikes Peak

[Source: Audi]

Autonomous Audi TTS successfully ascends Pikes Peak originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 20 Nov 2010 09:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Georgia Tech pairs autonomous Porsche Cayenne with two R/C airplanes

Filed under: SUV, Technology, Porsche, Luxury

GTRI CUSTD project

GTRI CUSTD Project – Click above for high-res image gallery

By now, cars that drive themselves have become old news. Every time we turn around there’s another organization out to wander half the globe with a driverless van or tackle one of the world’s most demanding hill climb events with an automated Audi TT. It just never ends. But the guys and gals at Georgia Tech Research Institute have taken things one step further with its Collaborative Unmanned Systems Technology Demonstrator. During a demonstration for the US Army, the school effectively demonstrated how vastly different robotic vehicles could work together. You know, to get us coffee, take over the world or whatever.

As a part of the 2010 Robotic Rodeo, GTRI used two unmanned aerial vehicles to work in coordination with a roboticized Porsche Cayenne. Once airborne, the two RC planes take over everything from navigation and target location.

So what can all this tech do? GTRI says that in one instance, one of the UAVs can locate a target and radio the location back to the UGV, or unmanned ground vehicle, which then navigates around buildings and obstacles to the location. Meanwhile, the second UAV can continue to use its sensors to evaluate the surroundings. Welcome to the new world.

Head over to the GTRI site to learn more about the program.

Gallery: GTRI CUSTD project

[Source: GTRI]

Georgia Tech pairs autonomous Porsche Cayenne with two R/C airplanes originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 19 Nov 2010 17:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Google quietly logs over 140k on autonomous cars in U.S. city traffic

Filed under: Technology

Sebastian Thrun, the man behind Google Streetview and work on Stanley, the autonomous vehicle from Stanford that’s won DARPA competitions, has teamed up with Google to create a fleet of self-piloting vehicles that have racked up over 140,000 unmanned miles. A handful of the vehicles have traveled 1,000 miles without any human intervention at all, and there’s been only one crash – when one of the autonomous vehicles was rear-ended by another car.

Of course, it will still be a long time before you’re popping down to the corner Ford dealer to pick up a Fiesta AI Edition. Still, to have seven cars plying California streets and highways making their own decisions puts us that much closer to concluding the first generation of data acquisition. One day the threat of car crashes could be virtually eliminated, if only we could get computers that didn’t crash.

[Source: Google, New York Times]

Report: Google quietly logs over 140k on autonomous cars in U.S. city traffic originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 10 Oct 2010 19:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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