[Nfbk] Let the Robot Drive: The Autonomous Car of the Future IsHere | Magazine

[Cathy]

Good Morning Cindy,

Actually, NFB is trying to bring together technology developed by others.
That's why we have issued a challenge to engineers, colleges and others to
work with us on developing a car that can be used by blind people and other
drivers. A great deal of the technology in our car is already on cars being
driven by the public; over-rides etc. Some manufacturers have looked at our
technology and no doubt one day it will be standard on all cars. We are
already developing our second prototype. Obviously there is much more to
learn and develop.

Cathy
-----Original Message-----
From: nfbk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbk-bounces at nfbnet.org]On Behalf Of
cindy smith
Sent: Saturday, February 04, 2012 9:06 AM
To: NFB of Kentucky Internet Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Nfbk] Let the Robot Drive: The Autonomous Car of the Future
IsHere | Magazine


This was Very interesting, Kevin.  The first thing I thought of while
reading this was, "What about the blind driver challenge, all the research
and technology going into that project?"  Sure seems like things would go
faster at less cost if All the R&D came together for the common goal.
Hmmmmmm.
Thanks, Kev.


Cindy




On Feb 3, 2012, at 4:09 PM, Kevin Pearl wrote:


  The object, vaguely pink, sits on the shoulder of the freeway, slowly
shimmering into view. Is it roadkill? A weird kind of sagebrush? No, wait,
it’s … a puffy chunk of foam insulation! “The laser almost certainly got
returns off of it,” says Chris Urmson, sitting behind the wheel of the Prius
he is not driving. A note is made (FOD: foreign object or debris, lane 1) as
we drive past, to help our computerized car understand the curious flotsam
it has just seen.

  It’s a Monday, midday, and we are heading north on California Highway 85
in a Google autonomous vehicle. In October 2010, when The New York
Timesreported that Google had built a fleet of self-driving cars that had
already collectively traversed some 140,000 miles of California asphalt, it
came as a shock, a terrestrial Sputnik. Now the cars, with their whirling
rooftop laser arrays, are as familiar in the Bay Area as the company’s
camera-crowned Street View vehicles. Indeed, the two are often confused,
which is presumably why the words “self-driving car” have recently been
plastered on this one’s driver-side door.

  read the entire article at:


  http://m.wired.com/magazine/2012/01/ff_autonomouscars/




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