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It really is hands free! Self-driving Mercedes-Benz is unveiled - and it should be available within
The Mail ^ | 07:02 EST, 12 September 2013 | Ellie Zolfagharifard

Posted on 09/13/2013 9:54:52 AM PDT by null and void

The driverless S-Class was able to deal with some difficult situations involving traffic lights, roundabouts, pedestrians, cyclists and trams

A particular challenge for autonomous vehicles is the way in which they communicate and interact with other cars.

'This sometimes results in comical situations, such as when, having stopped at a zebra crossing, the vehicle gets waved through by the pedestrian – yet our car stoically continues to wait, because we failed to anticipate such politeness when we programmed the system.'

Scientists at Oxford University are working with Nissan in Sunderland to create ‘robotcars’ that can drive themselves independently using details of the road they are driving on stored in on-board software.

The Nissan self-drive Leaf electric car is controlled by an iPad, and the Oxford team behind it claim the technology could be installed in mainstream cars as a £60 option.

Cameras and lasers built into its chassis map a 3D model of its surroundings when it is driven manually, which is fed into a computer stored in the boot.

A laser at the front scans 164ft ahead 13 times per second for obstacles, such as pedestrians, cyclists, or other cars in an 85-degree field of view.

If it senses an obstacle, it slows and comes to a controlled stop. The driver can tap the brake pedal to regain control of the vehicle from the computer.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
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To: AtlasStalled
But then again I don’t understand why some people want an automatic rather than standard transmission.

Life's too short for stick shifts.And besides...how could I text and drive with a stick?

21 posted on 09/13/2013 10:28:42 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (If Obama Had A City It Would Look Like Detroit)
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To: null and void
If my math is right, 164ft at 60 MPH offers 2 seconds to stop, sensing an obstruction.

Have to be pretty quick and woe be unto the occupants... or drive at 25 MPH.

22 posted on 09/13/2013 10:32:00 AM PDT by grobdriver
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To: null and void

They have zebras in the UK?


23 posted on 09/13/2013 10:35:15 AM PDT by WayneS (Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos...)
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To: AtlasStalled

I’m with you, my friend.


24 posted on 09/13/2013 10:36:08 AM PDT by WayneS (Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos...)
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To: Doogle

Speaking of the Stooges. In “Oily to Rise” they are in the back seat of a car with no one driving and as they are about to go over a cliff Curly says:”Don’t look now but I think we’re about to be killed.”


25 posted on 09/13/2013 10:36:31 AM PDT by massgopguy (I owe everything to George Bailey)
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To: Dr. Sivana

The vehicle I’m using today has two brake actuators.


26 posted on 09/13/2013 10:38:33 AM PDT by WayneS (Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos...)
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To: Rennes Templar
I think it's great:
27 posted on 09/13/2013 10:38:41 AM PDT by DannyTN
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To: dalereed
You’ve never had to drive 40,000 miles a year in Los Angeles!!

I drove 52,000 miles a year back in the 60s, mostly nighttime, on rural roads in Wisconsin. I tried to avoid expressways and major highways as that's where the speed cops hung out. My Opel was equipped w/ Quartz Iodide headlamps and driving lights as wandering deer were the greatest hazard. Winter wasn't too bad as "studded tires" were still legal. When the DOT banned studs I moved closer to work.

Regards,
GtG

28 posted on 09/13/2013 10:41:27 AM PDT by Gandalf_The_Gray (I live in my own little world, I like it 'cuz they know me here.)
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To: AtlasStalled

Driving is fun most of the time. Sometimes it stinks. Last year due to family illness I did 3 cross country trips in 6 weeks, I wouldn’t have minded letting the car do its own driving for most of that, especially the late night second drive home. Speaking of late night drives home, I go up to Phoenix for concerts a lot, but driving back right after the concert is starting to wear on the aging brain and body, soon those concerts will have to include a hotel room, which means fewer concerts; a self driving car would fix that. I’d drive my own car probably 99% of the time, but that 1% of the time I’d let the car do the work would be wonderful.


29 posted on 09/13/2013 10:42:12 AM PDT by discostu (This is why we have ants!)
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To: WayneS; moose07
They have zebras in the UK?

Yes. They are cross...

And a foreign student said to me --
Was it really true
there are elephants and lions too
In Piccadilly Circus?

30 posted on 09/13/2013 10:42:38 AM PDT by null and void (I'm betting on an Obama Trifecta: A Nobel Peace Prize, an Impeachment, AND a War Crimes Trial...)
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To: null and void

Now the blind person with their gun can go to the shooting range!

Not that there’s anything wrong with that!


31 posted on 09/13/2013 10:43:24 AM PDT by TribalPrincess2U (0bama's agenda—Divide and conquer seems to be working.)
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To: Kozak

No problem...you weren’t driving!


32 posted on 09/13/2013 10:44:23 AM PDT by TribalPrincess2U (0bama's agenda—Divide and conquer seems to be working.)
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To: DannyTN

• Government can hack in to your car’s computer and send it hurling off a bridge, just because the emperor doesn’t like you.


33 posted on 09/13/2013 10:45:22 AM PDT by WayneS (Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos...)
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To: WayneS
"• Government can hack in to your car’s computer and send it hurling off a bridge, just because the emperor doesn’t like you."

They apparently can already do that on some cars now that are not self-driving. And they can also tamper with your car for any model without it being self-driving.

We need checks and balances on government, not limitation on technology.

34 posted on 09/13/2013 10:51:28 AM PDT by DannyTN
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To: WayneS
"• Government can hack in to your car’s computer and send it hurling off a bridge, just because the emperor doesn’t like you."

They apparently can already do that on some cars now that are not self-driving. And they can also tamper with your car for any model without it being self-driving.

We need checks and balances on government, not limitation on technology.

35 posted on 09/13/2013 10:51:28 AM PDT by DannyTN
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To: Dr. Sivana

http://www.nhtsa.gov/Research/Light+Vehicle+Antilock+Brake+Systems+(ABS)+Research+Program


36 posted on 09/13/2013 10:58:28 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: WayneS
The vehicle I’m using today has two brake actuators.

I've never heard of that. how do you activate the second actuator, and when would you use it?
37 posted on 09/13/2013 11:03:44 AM PDT by Dr. Sivana (There's no salvation in politics.)
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To: Sacajaweau
http://www.nhtsa.gov/Research/Light+Vehicle+Antilock+Brake+Systems+(ABS)+Research+Program

Those docs are over ten years old. Since then, ABS has gotten better, and the drivers use it better.

By the way, I am NOT one of those put every new gizmo into every car. I spent much of my driving mileage in 1966 Dodge Darts (not known for its hefty brake system), and loving it. Every so often, a technology gets widely deployed that works. Fuel Injection and ABS seem to be two of them. Now if GM can only make an electric window that lasts more than ten years ...

And bring back brench seats!
38 posted on 09/13/2013 11:09:56 AM PDT by Dr. Sivana (There's no salvation in politics.)
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To: massgopguy

remember it well...


39 posted on 09/13/2013 11:14:39 AM PDT by Doogle (USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated))
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To: DannyTN

All good until the cars computer gets a virus!


40 posted on 09/13/2013 11:15:32 AM PDT by Rennes Templar (Seen any scandal headlines lately?)
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