Robotics engineers say cars that drive themselves will be in use by the military by about 2015. These will be used primarily for convoys through war zones where it’s not necessary to put a human’s life in danger. Civilian use will probably come about as early as 2030.
Last Saturday was the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Many of the nations leading robotics experts were on hand to discuss the future of robotics in automobiles.
“When cars finally drive themselves, it will be a fundamental change for all of us.” Said Sebastian Thrun, electrical engineer and computer scientist at Stanford University. AI drivers will surely solve much of the overcrowded cities problems with gridlock. Imagine cars being able to drive at precise speeds (much higher than human drivers) in close quarters.
Sebastian Thrun was part of the team that developed “Stanley” a modified VW SUV that navigated 175 miles through Nevada in under 10 hours winning the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge, autonomous vehicle race.
A few manufacturers are already installing robotic options in their vehicles.
Citronen has a safety option that includes a warning to the drivers when they run over the boundaries of their lane. This can help curtail sleepy or reckless driving.
Benz has a “reflex” feature that prevents sudden pulls to the steering wheel to translate in a car veering off the road.
It’s like a page out of the Philip K. ***’s Minority Report, in the movie version of Minority Report Tom Cruise had to traverse an autonomous vehicle race of his own through a robotic highway system. Organized urban highway systems could be a reality as early as 2030 according to the experts.
