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Volvo’s first self-driving cars now being tested live on public roads in Sweden

kurzweilai.net

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Re: Volvo’s first self-driving cars now being tested live on public roads in Sweden

#121

Post by sjtrny »

thematt wrote: post #95
augustl wrote: post #35

I own a 2013 XC60 and as a programmer, I'm amazed at how well their current automation works in practice. The car reads road signs to show me the current speed limit in the dash (actual OCR, not a GPS database). It works amazingly well, except when it's very dark in the winter. Adaptive cruise control flawlessly follows cars based on radar, even in somewhat dramatic full stops, e.g. when there's suddenly heavy traffi…

Why would it bother OCR'ing road signs? That seems much more error prone and needlessly complex. That data is readily available from a data sources based on your GPS location, I know TomToms and other navigation devices have it.

It would use both it's own location based database and OCR for any local changes such as road works and variable speed limits.

Re: Volvo’s first self-driving cars now being tested live on public roads in Sweden

#122

Post by mkempe »

amckenna wrote: post #117

Watching the video it struck me that the lights embedded in the barriers between lanes are a really good idea. It provides illumination of the road and the barrier without large poles lining the road which block the view and are expensive.

In Sweden the national traffic authority is responsible for steadily improving the road conditions and environment in order to make road traffic safer (for everyone). What you noticed is one example of their many improvements.

Re: Volvo’s first self-driving cars now being tested live on public roads in Sweden

#123

Post by mkempe »

haberman wrote: post #47
roel_v wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But those 50 kms are, according to the article, 'main commuter arteries' which to me makes it seem that they selected a small set of roads not to make the driving circumstances easier but to be able to more easily monitor the cars that drive there and to be able to reproduce similar situations more easily, to test improvements to certain algorithms or hardware. So basically they're testing under the 'worst' circumsta…

It seems unlikely to me that the supported routes have train tracks, construction cones, bike lanes, etc. -- the kinds of difficult problems of urban driving that Google has put a lot of resources into solving.

Driving in Göteborg is by no means a piece of cake. Unlike most American cities, there are a lot of pedestrians and bicycles, plus trams, and by necessity they sometimes take priority over car traffic.

However, one major traffic simplification in Europe is that there is no such insanity as "go ahead and turn right even when the light is red -- and run over crossing pedestrians unless they back off."

Re: Volvo’s first self-driving cars now being tested live on public roads in Sweden

#124

Post by chipsy »

thematt wrote: post #95
augustl wrote: post #35

I own a 2013 XC60 and as a programmer, I'm amazed at how well their current automation works in practice. The car reads road signs to show me the current speed limit in the dash (actual OCR, not a GPS database). It works amazingly well, except when it's very dark in the winter. Adaptive cruise control flawlessly follows cars based on radar, even in somewhat dramatic full stops, e.g. when there's suddenly heavy traffi…

Why would it bother OCR'ing road signs? That seems much more error prone and needlessly complex. That data is readily available from a data sources based on your GPS location, I know TomToms and other navigation devices have it.

The car has to account for human beings holding up signs, e.g. accident sites, temporary construction, or school crossing guards.

This functionality is demonstrated in one of the more recent ridealongs of Google's car.

Re: Volvo’s first self-driving cars now being tested live on public roads in Sweden

#125

Post by mkempe »

bra-ket wrote: post #79

did they warn the pedestrians?

I know you meant this as a joke.. however, Volvo cars do watch for pedestrians and automatically stop for them if needs be. In the worst case, there is an external airbag that will deploy in front of the windshield to avoid the worst types of injuries based on decades of analysis of car accidents with pedestrians (in Sweden).

Re: Volvo’s first self-driving cars now being tested live on public roads in Sweden

#126

Post by mkempe »

mkempe wrote: post #122
amckenna wrote: post #117

Watching the video it struck me that the lights embedded in the barriers between lanes are a really good idea. It provides illumination of the road and the barrier without large poles lining the road which block the view and are expensive.

In Sweden the national traffic authority is responsible for steadily improving the road conditions and environment in order to make road traffic safer (for everyone). What you noticed is one example of their many improvements.

Here are a couple of interesting pieces on road safety in Sweden:

- Why Sweden has so few road deaths [1]

- Vision Zero (fatalities and serious injuries on highways by 2020) [2]

[1] http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/02/ec...

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vision_Zero

Re: Volvo’s first self-driving cars now being tested live on public roads in Sweden

#127

Post by [deleted] »

nabla9 wrote: post #7
chiph wrote: post #3

No rotating laser dome on the roof?

LIDAR does not work in rain, on wet roads or in the snow. Google car drives only in good weather in California for a reason. In Sweden they could drive maybe a week in a year. ... Sommaren är kort de mesta regnar bort ..

[deleted]

Re: Volvo’s first self-driving cars now being tested live on public roads in Sweden

#128

Post by squidsoup »

ommunist wrote: post #109

This will probably not work in Britain. Especially at one particular roundabout on the Isle of Dogs. http://goo.gl/8AqnLE <~ See for yourself.

Can't help but think some of the traffic engineers in the UK are a little bonkers, see Swindon's Magic Roundabout (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Swindon)).

Re: Volvo’s first self-driving cars now being tested live on public roads in Sweden

#129

Post by squidsoup »

StavrosK wrote: post #6
ape4 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you dislike automatic transition I guess you'll not like self driving cars.

I was quite a fan of the manual transmission, but I got an automatic car for the first time now (Mercedes A-class), and it's just so good at shifting that I never even consider it any more. I think of the transmission as another part of the driving experience to automate away now, like turning lights and parking brakes on and off.

Unfortunately you'll also be automating away an element of driving that many people consider fun.

Re: Volvo’s first self-driving cars now being tested live on public roads in Sweden

#130

Post by brownbat »

mkempe wrote: post #120
thematt wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would it bother OCR'ing road signs? That seems much more error prone and needlessly complex. That data is readily available from a data sources based on your GPS location, I know TomToms and other navigation devices have it.

Maybe because their goal is to steadily build a car system that can read the environment and adapt speed and direction based on the actual situation? a map is not the territory. The latest models also detect pedestrians, bikes, and even animals -- and the car sets off an alarm and brakes so that we don't run over them. High beams are politely turned off when meeting another car, as well as when passing near pedestria…

I wonder what happens to speed limits when self driving cars are ubiquitous... I mean, once there are no more revenue from violations, and cars know ideal speeds far better than legislatures, should we just let the computers figure out what speed they want to go?
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