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Autonomous DeLorean drives sideways to move forward

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Re: Autonomous DeLorean drives sideways to move forward

#21

Post by joshvm »

saagarjha wrote: post #7

I was half expecting a Toyota Sprinter Trueno and Eurobeat. Pop references aside, though, what is this useful for? I thought cars were designed to not skid normally due to ABS?

I believe the idea is partially to understand how to train models to recover from skids. ABS gives you an assist, but it may be that the car can drift itself out of danger?

> “We’re trying to develop automated vehicles that can handle emergency maneuvers or slippery surfaces like ice or snow,” Gerdes said. “We’d like to develop automated vehicles that can use all of the friction between the tire and the road to get the car out of harm’s way. We want the car to be able to avoid any accident that’s avoidable within the laws of physics.”

Re: Autonomous DeLorean drives sideways to move forward

#22

Post by jcims »

jamestimmins wrote: post #9

So is the general idea that by removing the automated controls, which normally limit drift so human drivers don't lose control, they're able to gather data at the extremes of car handling? I'm curious how this would be applied in the real world. It almost seemed to suggest that a self-driving car would operate with those stability controls turned off, allowing it operate evasive maneuvers that would be impossible in…

I think you have the right idea, this is just dipping the toes of autonomous vehicles into the pool of kinetic friction.

Re: Autonomous DeLorean drives sideways to move forward

#23

Post by zone411 »

jamestimmins wrote: post #9

So is the general idea that by removing the automated controls, which normally limit drift so human drivers don't lose control, they're able to gather data at the extremes of car handling? I'm curious how this would be applied in the real world. It almost seemed to suggest that a self-driving car would operate with those stability controls turned off, allowing it operate evasive maneuvers that would be impossible in…

Stability control is just another algorithm running in the car so it's logical that a more general system would supersede it. Keeping existing code in place would limit car's possibilities and increase complexity.

Re: Autonomous DeLorean drives sideways to move forward

#24

Post by joshu »

djmips wrote: post #14
m0zg wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Until someone spills a bit of oil on the pavement and it drifts straight into a nearby wall because oily pavement is "out of domain" for its deep learning systems.

If you notice in the video there are no nearby hard walls, it's a giant open parking lot and the course is set up by soft pieces like plastic traffic cones. I'm sure a course could be made with appropriate margins for safety. Even so, in the ride world there are accidents but that doesn't stop people from riding.

it’s the skid pd at thunderhill. there are definitely walls, they are just off camera.

Re: Autonomous DeLorean drives sideways to move forward

#27

Post by campfireveteran »

joshu wrote: post #24
djmips wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you notice in the video there are no nearby hard walls, it's a giant open parking lot and the course is set up by soft pieces like plastic traffic cones. I'm sure a course could be made with appropriate margins for safety. Even so, in the ride world there are accidents but that doesn't stop people from riding.

it’s the skid pd at thunderhill. there are definitely walls, they are just off camera.

Yeap. That's where I sent my roommate from college to learn performance driving; a Korean dude with a CS degree from an UC turned California highway patrol (CHP) officer. (How many cops has anyone ever run into understood Big-O notation?)

Disclaimer: I learned a thing or a thing and half sliding around the back roads of the Sacramento levee system with water hazards on both sides. }:]

Re: Autonomous DeLorean drives sideways to move forward

#29

Post by campfireveteran »

hirundo wrote: post #16

I guess if you can afford a DeLorean you can afford to keep replacing the tires you burn up by drifting on pavement. I'd rather have my car programmed for long tire life and high mpg please.

In the US, a new DeLorean isn't all that expensive compared to typical "jelly-bean" vehicles that are the most common. Back in 2005, I narrowed down a vehicle purchase decision to a new DeLorean, an used Lotus Elise or a new G coupe. I went with a bone-stock manual G that I kept for a few years before I got into Cold War-era West German and French vehicles. I'm not a rich person, far from it.

Re: Autonomous DeLorean drives sideways to move forward

#30

Post by joshu »

campfireveteran wrote: post #27
joshu wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it’s the skid pd at thunderhill. there are definitely walls, they are just off camera.

Yeap. That's where I sent my roommate from college to learn performance driving; a Korean dude with a CS degree from an UC turned California highway patrol (CHP) officer. (How many cops has anyone ever run into understood Big-O notation?) Disclaimer: I learned a thing or a thing and half sliding around the back roads of the Sacramento levee system with water hazards on both sides. }:]

i did a track day up there years ago who was chp and was trying to explain you had to take trigonometry to me for taking the radar speed of a vehicle at an angle...
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