Autonomous solar powered vans leaving tommorow on 13k kilometer journey

G

Giz

Veteran XX
After about two decades of continuous research on Intelligent Vehicles, VisLab is preparing to set a new worldwide milestone in the field of Vehicular Robotics. Autonomous vehicles are being prepared and tested to drive with no human intervention from Parma, Italy, to Shanghai, China, along a 13,000 km and 3 months unique journey.

Not only the vehicles are unmanned, but they run on electrical power and the whole electronic pilot is powered by solar energy, making this trip unique in history: goods packed in Italy will be brought to Shanghai on an intercontinental route with no human intervention and without using traditional fuel for the first time in history.
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Intercontinental Challenge

*edit*

Everything will start from Wednesday, July 28, from Belgrade.
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So streaming of data and the video feeds apparently should be up tommorrow.
 
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If I wanted to take the same trip would it take me 3 months? That seems like a really long time. Thats 8077 miles. I know a guy who drove accross the US nonstop in about 4 days. Thats 3k miles. If you were driving straight with absolutely no stops it would take only 2.08 days at 60mph. The van should really only take 5.6 days to get there @ 60. But taking 3 months, it will only be driving 16 mph (assuming it doesn't stop at all).
 
I can't wait for driverless cars. Its going to be a bitch getting them approved/accepted by the government and general public due to the focused liability issues -- if a software glitch kills 50 people, people would go insane and try to tear the company making them apart, even if using the cars saves hundreds or thousands of lives a year from idiots killing themselves/others when driving.

Being able to plug in a destination and go read or watch a movie on the way there would be awesome.
 
m00g00 said:
If I wanted to take the same trip would it take me 3 months? That seems like a really long time. Thats 8077 miles. I know a guy who drove accross the US nonstop in about 4 days. Thats 3k miles. If you were driving straight with absolutely no stops it would take only 2.08 days at 60mph. The van should really only take 5.6 days to get there @ 60. But taking 3 months, it will only be driving 16 mph (assuming it doesn't stop at all).
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Driving straight on highways isn't a big challenge, test, or good advertising. Driving down mainstreet in half the towns on the way, on the other hand, is. Stopping for news crews, diagnostics, all sorts of stuff on the way would add the extra time I expect.
 
m00g00 said:
If I wanted to take the same trip would it take me 3 months? That seems like a really long time. Thats 8077 miles. I know a guy who drove accross the US nonstop in about 4 days. Thats 3k miles. If you were driving straight with absolutely no stops it would take only 2.08 days at 60mph. The van should really only take 5.6 days to get there @ 60. But taking 3 months, it will only be driving 16 mph (assuming it doesn't stop at all).
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No, they're solar powered cars, so they are not going to be fast.
 
Darklord said:
I can't wait for driverless cars. Its going to be a bitch getting them approved/accepted by the government and general public due to the focused liability issues -- if a software glitch kills 50 people, people would go insane and try to tear the company making them apart, even if using the cars saves hundreds or thousands of lives a year from idiots killing themselves/others when driving.

Being able to plug in a destination and go read or watch a movie on the way there would be awesome.
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Yeah the general consensus is that this is going to be an incremental process, because the autonomous vehicle tech, like this is already highly advanced, but as you point out, the political will, auto manufacturer concerns over liability issues, and general human fear about new technology make people antsy. Ironically, we all fly on planes that routinely takeoff, fly and land with no human intervention, but the idea of a car driving itself still scares people, even though a lot of cars now come with automated parallel parking.
 
Giz said:
Yeah the general consensus is that this is going to be an incremental process, because the autonomous vehicle tech, like this is already highly advanced, but as you point out, the political will, auto manufacturer concerns over liability issues, and general human fear about new technology make people antsy. Ironically, we all fly on planes that routinely takeoff, fly and land with no human intervention, but the idea of a car driving itself still scares people, even though a lot of cars now come with automated parallel parking.
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There is a world of difference between the autonomy necessary for airplanes and vehicles.

It's more difficult by an order of magnitude. It may seem backwards but the decision loop necessary for airplanes is much more simple than vehicles on a road.

After all, while flying IFR, the pilot is basically just a meat relay between ATC and the aircraft's controls.
 
Tanked said:
There is a world of difference between the autonomy necessary for airplanes and vehicles.

It's more difficult by an order of magnitude. It may seem backwards but the decision loop necessary for airplanes is much more simple than vehicles on a road.

After all, while flying IFR, the pilot is basically just a meat relay between ATC and the aircraft's controls.
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I'm not saying it's the same, I'm just saying that people are comfortable with the technology. All the big auto manufacturers, no to mention defense contractors for the DOD have advanced autonomy tech in house. They just haven't deployed it yet. This type of project can go a long way in showing people what's already possible.
 
Giz said:
Yeah the general consensus is that this is going to be an incremental process, because the autonomous vehicle tech, like this is already highly advanced, but as you point out, the political will, auto manufacturer concerns over liability issues, and general human fear about new technology make people antsy. Ironically, we all fly on planes that routinely takeoff, fly and land with no human intervention, but the idea of a car driving itself still scares people, even though a lot of cars now come with automated parallel parking.
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just a random note: planes dont have automated takeoffs at the moment :eek:

and to reiterate what tanked said - autopilot in airplanes is several magnitudes easier than in a car, but i'd think we'll have semi-autonomous vehicles in the next 10-20 yrs (luxury cars already have dumb forms like smart cruise control, etc).
 
It's going to be a multi-stage process rolled out over years. We're already seeing cars that can self-park. Cars that can self-brake to avoid collisions. Cars that can sense lane departures and auto-correct. Cars that can sense another car in your blind spot and warn you not to change lanes. You can buy them today.

There has been research for a long time now on cars that will follow sensors embedded in the roadway and form long "trains" of cars following close behind each other.

Personally, I think the technology will actually leap-frog the sensor-in-roadway tech. Cars will be smart enough to follow specially coded paint on the roadway itself, cutting costs tremendously.
 
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nSpectre said:
It's going to be a multi-stage process rolled out over years. We're already seeing cars that can self-park. Cars that can self-brake to avoid collisions. Cars that can sense lane departures and auto-correct. Cars that can sense another car in your blind spot and warn you not to change lanes. You can buy them today.

There has been research for a long time now on cars that will follow sensors embedded in the roadway and form long "trains" of cars following close behind each other.

Personally, I think the technology will actually leap-frog the sensor-in-roadway tech. Cars will be smart enough to follow specially coded paint on the roadway itself, cutting costs tremendously.
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... almost ready :lol:
 
Didn't the Dod originally sponsor this?
I know they have a huge interest in driverless vehicles and they push technology that eventually trickles down to us.

Why this won't become a reality in any of your lifetimes?
"Personal liberty" advocates will find many ways to block this for decades.
 
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