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Automatic Autos
–by Andrew McCaskey
An interesting side article buried at CNN.com – entitled “Driving is Dead” – some notes on why riding in a car that is smart enough to drive itself down the highway is not too far off.
Or at least the technology component. The author is GM Exec Bob Lutz: The question they asked was, “Are we anywhere near the day you can climb into a car on Long Island, program it to take you to your niece’s house in Chicago, hit enter and execute, and after the first 100 yards, once you hit a thoroughfare, the car takes over automatically and you just sit back and enjoy the ride?” The answer was a surprising “sooner rather than later – we’ll be able to take the driver right out of the driving equation, because we can do it already – in systems like the Global Hawk for airplanes”.
Here are some of the forces at work. First, there is more raw computing power and memory avaiilable than we could have ever imagined, even ten years ago. Computing power and especially the dramatic decline in the cost of data storage are crucial because cost is a critical issue for vehicles. We’ve got to be able to develop systems that are “fail safe” at an affordable price. We have radar technology that can be tied to cruise control and brakes, which automatically adjusts your speed based on following distance and pre-programmed settings, permitting close follow caravans of vehicles.Second, the next-generation global positioning satellite (GPS) system is going to get you down from accuracy in yards to accuracy in inches. That’s the final piece of the puzzle because you no longer have to tear up every highway in order to bury wires under the pavement. With the next-generation GPS system, we won’t have to change the road infrastructure a bit.
Location awareness and local wireless info exchange with other vehicles of geo-location data complete the picture. Pass from a state with a 65mph limit to a 55 and the entire pack slows down. The technology – Lutz predicts – will be practical in ten years and commonplace in twenty.
I’ll add one thought - If you believe the legal system has problems coming to grips with technology of file sharing, this is going to be better than asbestos for trial lawyers.
I also had to agree with his final remarks: “By then, I guess I could just be content to ride my motorcycle if I feel the need for speed that I am allowed to control myself.”
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