Response is twofold:
I think the cars maneuvering is impressive.
How did they get enough power from a a DeLorean to drift?
Hail to MrFusion!
Autonomous DeLorean drives sideways to move forward
181–190 of 197 posts
Re: Autonomous DeLorean drives sideways to move forward
#182Don't get me wrong I think this is an impressive feat and I am always impressed to see universities pull off these kinds of complex system and control projects. Yet, there are a few things that I would like to mention. The article says that the car does "doughnuts with inhuman precision" and they want to develop vehicles that can handle "emergency maneuvers or slippery surfaces like ice or snow". In this context, I f…
Don’t forget a “normal” car is typically front wheel drive. I’m fairly certain drifting like this is nearly impossible with front wheel drive.
Re: Autonomous DeLorean drives sideways to move forward
#183Funny, I built a mechanical rig to do figure 8s years ago. It was some rope and a few pulleys, and caster adjustment on the car. This seems like using a laser to peel an apple for internet points.
Re: Autonomous DeLorean drives sideways to move forward
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, a very key factor of steering is that it connects your fingers to the interface between tyres and road surface and imparts critical information about what’s going on there. If you decouple the steering completely from the mechanical bits you have to recreate that channel of information. Which isn’t necessarily easy to get right. Even servo assisted steering systems can easily become a bit numb. If you have ever…
I’ve heard steer by wire can have faster feedback than pure mechanical systems. Even a mechanical steering has lag in cogs and there is never 100% stiffness in the steering column, etc.
This is untrue. I have also tested throttle by wire systems and found more lag. The auto industry needs it for emissions and markets it as better, it is not.
Re: Autonomous DeLorean drives sideways to move forward
#185Don't get me wrong I think this is an impressive feat and I am always impressed to see universities pull off these kinds of complex system and control projects. Yet, there are a few things that I would like to mention. The article says that the car does "doughnuts with inhuman precision" and they want to develop vehicles that can handle "emergency maneuvers or slippery surfaces like ice or snow". In this context, I f…
Don’t forget a “normal” car is typically front wheel drive. I’m fairly certain drifting like this is nearly impossible with front wheel drive.
Correct in this case. And to a pro driver, this is not drifting. This is donuts. Mashing the gass to lose grip is the lowest tier of 'drifting'. Real drifting as racers do it uses mostly the momentum and changing inerta from braking at corner entry to get sideways, using the gas only to modulye traction. That can be done in any car, fwd included.
Re: Autonomous DeLorean drives sideways to move forward
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just to clarify here, I'm talking about driving on the edge of available grip, NOT the wholesale sideways drifting tech - that is mostly for show. Of course, in road racing, these skills are critical multiple times per lap. On the street - there are still too many examples to list from direct personal experience. Long trips, find myself in a severe snowstorm, or an ice storm where it's too slippery to even stand, car…
great, knowing how to oversteer at low speeds in snow, of course we all need to know that and yes with my current Subaru it's hardly something that really happens anyway, the scariest thing that has happened with that car was a sudden whiteout where I had to cross down a hill that ended at a red light, for which cars weren't even able to stand still on said hill due to slipperyness. I basically plotted a course to wh…
>> Overall I was curious if you were suggesting I'd need to go to racing school and learn drifting in order to keep my family safe. thanks for clarifying.
Excellent question
Absolutely need it? probably not. Many situations are like the tricky one you described, where picking the least-worst snowbank was probably your best move. That said, only chance will tell if anything more hairy comes up (the thing that wigs me out most is dashcams of things coming in from the oncoming lane -- gotta be really alert, quick, and dynamic to survive).
Highly recommended? Absolutely!
I cannot recommend enough going to some classes that are typically called Car Control Clinics, and are often offered by the local SCCA (Sports Car Club of America), BMWCCA (BMW Car Club of America), and others.
IMO, these should be obligatory for all new drivers. They cover the general principles of the limits of grip, and how to manage the car at the limits, and how to drive more precisely both at ordinary speed and in quick situations (e.g., sudden-lane-change drill), how to keep the car balanced in maneuvers, how to get the most out of brakes, steering, etc. I took my mom to one once, and she had decades of experience in snowy climates, and she learned a huge amount and had a ton of fun - started out timid and was smokin' the brakes by the end of the drills! A great investment of a day and entry fee to cover the site, and a lot of fun.
If you want to move up into track day classes, autocross, and road racing - you'll learn all kinds of hings you never knew existed (true for me even w/top-level experience in other speed sports) and have the most fun you cna have with your trousers on
Please ping me if I can help you find options in your area.
Re: Autonomous DeLorean drives sideways to move forward
#187Response is twofold: I think the cars maneuvering is impressive. How did they get enough power from a a DeLorean to drift? Hail to MrFusion!
Exactly, that terrible french engine makes a delorean a terrible car to actually drive. It is likely one of the many with an engine swap. As cool as they look, buy are they crappy cars. The lotus designed suspension cant help being overweight, underpowered, and assembled in northern ireland during rough years. I wonder if the tesla truck will fare better.
Re: Autonomous DeLorean drives sideways to move forward
#188I wonder if it would be feasible to make a fleet of race cars that have self driving technology that has each car communicating with the others and monitoring the human drivers, with the car letting the human drive but able to step in if the human tries to do something that would cause a crash? I bet you could make some pretty good money with such a fleet running open races that members of the public can pay to drive…
I doubt race car drivers (who are better drivers than the average car driver) would want a computer to yank their steering or do something unexpected in a race. Autonomous cars aren't necessarily better than race car drivers.. would be interesting if human racers and autonomous compete
There has been progress since the millenium on race traction control. In the beginning, it was a crut h for bad drivers. Some systems today are banned in racing. Both for ocassional advantange, and for not-occasional mishaps that endanger other drivers. It always seemed odd to me that tech not safe enough for racing is now mandated on the road.
Re: Autonomous DeLorean drives sideways to move forward
#189I genuinely hope Tesla get a 2020 Roadster to lap the Nurburgring on autopiliot with nobody inside. If it lives up to promises, it will easily set the all time lap record as the fastest vehicle ever. It will be an interesting time when a $200k production car can whip the pants of a multi-million dollar F1 racecar.
Elon Musk claimed in a tweet that the roadster can beat a time of 6:44 min on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, which is (currently) 20.832 km long. The current lap record for street legal cars is 6:40 set by a Porsche GT2RS MR. The overall record is 5:19.55 set by a Porsche 919 Evo. F1 last raced the Nordschleife in the 70s. The lap record is 7:06.4, but the track was 22.835 km long back then. The Roadster might have a…
Based on what we know of physics, weight, and grip, elon is, as usual, full of it.
Re: Autonomous DeLorean drives sideways to move forward
#190Funny, I built a mechanical rig to do figure 8s years ago. It was some rope and a few pulleys, and caster adjustment on the car. This seems like using a laser to peel an apple for internet points.
> This seems like using a laser to peel an apple for internet points.
How so? From what I can tell they're working to improve autonomous vehicle handling in extreme situations. That seems very practical and useful. I'm curious how you arrived at that conclusion about "internet points." Because the question I really want to ask you is against the rules here.
Also the capabilities of your mechanical rig pale in comparison to what this can apparently do.