Gig 601Xl Builder wrote:
Jim Logajan wrote:
Gig 601Xl Builder wrote:
Jim Logajan wrote:
http://www.darpa.mil/GRANDCHALLENGE/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darpa_grand_challenge
Those aren't for road use.

I'm at a loss as to how to respond to something so fundamentally at
odds with what has already been demonstrated (and prize money
awarded). Or perhaps you meant to suggest something else....

I didn't realize that the 2007 was done in a "Mock-Urbane
Environment." Did they have other cars on the road with real and
automated drivers?

Yes. That is pointed out in the first paragraph of the darpa.mil link I
provided. Looks like I'd better quote the sentence he

"This event was truly groundbreaking as the first time autonomous
vehicles have interacted with both manned and unmanned vehicle traffic in
an urban environment."

And just to be clear, farther down in that page it states:

"Thirty manned traffic vehicles were also released onto the course to
increase traffic density. This fleet of Ford Tauruses were retrofitted
with safety cages, race seats, fire systems, radios and tracking systems,
and were driven by professional drivers. In all, over 50 vehicles, both
manned and unmanned, were navigating the city streets simultaneously
during the final event."

Quoting further:

"...six robots eventually crossed the finish line, an astounding feat for
the teams and proving to the world that autonomous urban driving could
become a reality.

This event was not just a timed race however – robots were also being
judged on their ability to follow California driving rules."

(Not bad progress only 5 years after the challenge was first announced!)

If you get something that is usable in the non-military out of it
great but that isn't the aim of the program.

I don't think you fully understand - the entrants are all self-funded
civilian groups who own any technology they develop - and they only
needed a single American member to qualify, so some were developed in
other countries. Check out the info provided on the teams. The only thing
DARPA is putting up is the prize money. The military motivation is
essentially not relevant once the technology has been proven.

Give it another couple decades or so and I think the next barriers to
seeing AVs on public roads wont be technological, but cultural and legal
barriers.

It is hard to see how these advances would not eventually have some
impact on aviation.