“German car giant Volkswagen has turned fiction into reality by unveiling a fully automatic car which really can drive itself - and at speeds of up to 150mph. It can weave with tyres screeching around tricky bends and chicanes, and through tightly coned off tracks - without any help or intervention from a human. “
It’s not a huge surprise to have a car that can navigate gradual turns at set speeds, but a car that can race at full speed around a handling course, constantly on the edge of losing control? That’s amazing! This car beat VW’s own engineers’ driving abilities.
Throughout history, most automotive technology is developed on the race track. How long will it be before we see manufacturers truely battling it out with engineering, racing autonomous cars in conditions that no human could ever withstand? Formula racers are already subjected to up to 8G’s while cornering. What happens when we can engineer racing vehicles that have no human to keep alive?
Of course, that’s the entertainment end of things. Now it doesn’t look very long at all until we get into a car and tell it where we want to go. That is, if we feel like we can trust corporations and the government to leave ultimate control in our hands at the end of the day.
read more | digg story
Yeah, but it’s a VOlkswagen. That means you’re going to have to take it to the shop this month or next, and at Southern States in raleigh, that means a two-day visit. I will never again own a VW, as long as they are the dealer I might have to deal with. I had too many two-day oil changes in my vans. But I’m not bitter. I’ve moved on to Toyotas, and am much happier. My lovely Bride, a lifelong VW owner, will never go back either. She’s angrier at VW than I am. But she looks cuter when she’s angry.
Can’t wait until good car companies get this stuff working.