This won't work in our country. Drivers don't follow traffic regulation, the roads can't even be called roads. Everything is just wrong. Even a very advance AI can't handle our roads in Philippines.
Volvo’s first self-driving cars now being tested live on public roads in Sweden
61–70 of 183 posts
Re: Volvo’s first self-driving cars now being tested live on public roads in Sweden
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
4-way stop turn-taking is a problem that does not exist in europe btw
Oh? At least in Germany it's that you have to yield to a driver to the right (ignoring priority roads) but if you have an intersection of non-priority roads and a car from each direction someone has to make a decision to go first, otherwise it's a deadlock. Unless I misunderstood the problem.
Europe doesn't generally use 4-way stop signs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-way_stop) in the traffic regulations; intersections tend to be either regulated, or with one road designated as the priority, or as roundabouts, not like this.
I've driven a bit around Europe, but I have never seen a single such intersection in my life - if they exist, they must be rare.
Of course, "if you have an intersection of non-priority roads and a car from each direction" then it's the same, but in practice it seems that 'they' make sure that such intersections are only in extremely low-traffic places where you'll very rarely see another car at the same time.
Re: Volvo’s first self-driving cars now being tested live on public roads in Sweden
#63I can't wait for self driving tech to be put into use - transportation will get cheaper and faster (no more 8-10 hours driving limit bs), not to mention that one or two persons could drive a dozen trucks filled with cargo (though a lot of truckers will hate that)...
> transportation will get cheaper and faster (no more 8-10 hours driving limit bs) Why do you say that? Somebody is still going to need to be awake at the controls, at least for the first few decades of self driving tech. There's a reason pilots on planes don't go to sleep when the auto-pilot kicks on.
The driver won't have to be vigilant or even awake for the whole time, only in emergencies. I'm assuming the car would stop or slow down automatically in case of any problem and notify the driver.
Good point on the pilots, though I always felt that it's unnecessary for them to stay awake (especially on cargo planes). And it looks like many do fall asleep inflight: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/10/08/oukoe-uk-britain-pi...
Truckers, on the other hand, need to be alert all the time, falling asleep for even a few minutes can be catastrophic.
I'm mostly hoping for fewer human drivers - two drivers/technicians should be enough to drive a whole convoy of trucks between cities/countries.
Re: Volvo’s first self-driving cars now being tested live on public roads in Sweden
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
Google currently has a req out for a electromechanical engineer to work on a new sensor system. I'm betting they're building a new sensor for their vehicle - rotating, but perhaps not LIDAR. Cracking the heavy rain/snow problem would require more than just a new design though - you'd need a totally different sensor modality, a mix of sensors that can extract enough data, or a system that's far more robust to noise.
I realize the costs would be high, but would there be a way to embed some information in/near the roadway that would assist the onboard systems? I think there might be some advantages in making the road smarter in addition to the car.
I think this is ultimately the best way forward, but I am excited to see other tech alternatives develop, too.
I really don't think it would be that expensive, at least along Interstates and major highways, to embed a trace wire to help guide self driving cars. (At least, during regular maintenance and new construction- tearing up roads to add it would obviously be expensive).
Re: Volvo’s first self-driving cars now being tested live on public roads in Sweden
#65This won't work in our country. Drivers don't follow traffic regulation, the roads can't even be called roads. Everything is just wrong. Even a very advance AI can't handle our roads in Philippines.
Heh, that's true for most countries. But I'm pretty sure the tech can already handle motorways - the cars could self-drive there, then let the driver take over in cities...
Re: Volvo’s first self-driving cars now being tested live on public roads in Sweden
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is nothing else that gets the accuracy Google needs. Sensors are currently unsolved problem. Multi wavelength radars don't yet have the accuracy and they don't work well with nonmetallic objects (There is limit of how much radar can use power (safely) and how expensive it can be. What works for F-22 don't work for Google) Google is not planning to monetize this technology anytime soon, despite the hype. The dif…
> They needs millions of very accurate distance measurements per second to drive. I was with you up to there.
LIDAR Google uses takes more than a million measurements per second and has ~11 cm resolution.
Re: Volvo’s first self-driving cars now being tested live on public roads in Sweden
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
4-way stop turn-taking is a problem that does not exist in europe btw
4-way stops exist in Sweden. Quoting from Wikipedia at http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stopplikt : > Vissa korsningar har en stoppskylt vid varje väg, ett så kallat flervägsstopp. Det innebär att alla som kommer till korsningen måste stanna, oavsett vilken väg man kommer på. Tanken är att man vid flervägsstopp ska ta ögonkontakt med medtrafikanter för att på så sätt komma överens om vem som ska köra först. Or my transla…
Do you actually have them in Sweden? I was taught similar rules back when getting a driving licence, but it doesn't neccessarily mean that such intersections exist - I was told about intersections that were like that in 1960ies, but those spots have traffic lights now.
Re: Volvo’s first self-driving cars now being tested live on public roads in Sweden
#68Volvo have stopped selling manual transmission ("stick") cars in North America. They have lost me as a customer.
How is it possibly better than automatic? I've driven a manual Scania, it's a serious pain in the ass - automatic transmissions are a godsend for trucks...
Re: Volvo’s first self-driving cars now being tested live on public roads in Sweden
#69I wonder what the first country that will allow completely automated cars with no human driver is? As a blind person I wonder if that would be enough to have me consider migrating from the U.S. depending on the country.
I've been talking about this for years with friends. I bet on Singapore. (I lived there 2.5 years and know the place a bit).
Do you need a car in Singapore? I thought they had decent public transit?
Re: Volvo’s first self-driving cars now being tested live on public roads in Sweden
#70I wonder what the first country that will allow completely automated cars with no human driver is? As a blind person I wonder if that would be enough to have me consider migrating from the U.S. depending on the country.
I've been talking about this for years with friends. I bet on Singapore. (I lived there 2.5 years and know the place a bit).
That will be interesting since Singapore hates car use. That shows in their incredibly high tax on cars. A typical car costs more than $100k. Since automated cars can reduce city cruising for parking space and increase car utilization they may actually welcome the automated cars and perhaps ban manual cars altogether.