Driving From Italy To China ... With No Driver

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128639246&ft=1&f=1004

by wglb • 16 years ago

47 18 16 years ago

edfvbrfgb7• 16 years ago

I work on these systems in mining. With a human driver a mine car is limited to 12-20kmh with one vehicle in each 100m block for safety, on an automated level with no people present there are no limits. We can do 60km/h with vehicles only a couple of metres apart - shifting 10x as much material more cheaply and safely.

In australia there are mines with all the 300ton haul trucks completely automated - driving from the face to the crusher and back with no humans. Never speeding, never taking a corner too quickly, never over accelerating or over braking. The savings in tire wear alone are enormous.

trafficlight• 16 years ago

That's amazing. Where can I read more about this?

edfvbrfgb7• 16 years ago

http://www2.sandvik.com/sandvik/0120/Internet/Global/S003713...

http://www.mining-technology.com/features/feature41780/

nsrivast• 16 years ago

This is related and blew my mind.

http://www.chiefog.com/drilling_process.html

edfvbrfgb7• 16 years ago

One other small concern - are any of the programmers behind this from Rome?

Because if the AI on this system is designed by Roman drivers it might be safer for everyone to move out of Asia for the duration of the trip.

edfvbrfgb7• 16 years ago

It's not racist - even people from Milan are scared of Roman drivers !

chrischen• 16 years ago

Good luck when they get to the streets of china. If they can auto drive through that then it's ready for anything...

brianto2010• 16 years ago

Heh... reminds me of éX-Driver (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex-Driver#Overview). I think the idea has potential, but I don't think it will be safely feasible.

> "A test drive off campus on Thursday illustrates the many hazards. A tractor trailer blocked visibility entering a busy traffic circle, forcing the lead vehicle to inch tentatively into oncoming cars. When it did find a break, there wasn't enough time for the second vehicle to follow before another car inserted itself between them, cutting off communication"

thomasfl• 16 years ago

A stressed out driver stuck in a traffic jam on the highway would probably in many cases be many times safer with automatic car control than driving manually.

It can be extremely stressful when you're stuck in a traffic jam and have to pick a kid in kindergarten.

Driving From Italy To China ... With No Driver

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