[nfb-talk] [Nfbf-l] gm researching driverless cars

[dmgina]

My favorite part,
is to get the car,
then drive to a store, and get out with my guide dog.
Now that should shake the world smile.
Don't think this will happen in my time though.
I am fifty five.
Or if I am still here, would I still be able to take care of myself?
Interesting.


--Dar
www.mypowermall.com/biz/home/5779
Every Saint has a past
Every Sinner has a future

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Evans" <drevans at bellsouth.net>
To: "NFB of Florida Listserv" <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>; <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>; 
"acb list" <acb-l at acb.org>; "Ripley, Samme" <Samme.Ripley at ocfl.net>
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 7:13 AM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] [Nfbf-l] gm researching driverless cars


>
> Dear Sherri and All,
>
> I told everyone that this was coming.
> The U.S. military has a mandate to have 33% of all of it's vehicles
> "driverless" by the year 2015.
> At some point , this technology will trickle down to the Public and the
> Blind, who will for the first time, have the ability to "drive" 
> themselves.
> This will open such a door for all of the disabled and elderly.
> It will of course, still be out of the financial reach of most for some
> time, but it will be something that the Blind will have in the not so far
> off future.
> Heck, someone is even working on a robotic guide dog or personal assistant
> robot that will be able to lead a Blind person and perform simple tasks 
> for
> them like a robotic butler.
> Wall-mart, in Utah, has been testing a robotic shopping cart for disable
> customers.
> The cart is motorize and all the personhas to do is twist the hand grip on
> the push bar of the cart.
> The cart will then guide the person up and down the aisles of the super
> market or store and "reads" off the items and brand names of the items on
> the shelves or can be programmed to just look for certain items if you are
> in a hurry.
> It has a bar code scanner to give you details about any item and the 
> price.
> It will then lead you to the check out counter and transmit a list of all
> the items in the cart by reading the R.F. tags on all of the items.  You
> don't even have to take them out of the cart and run them over the scanner
> unless you want to before they are bagged.
> The "smart store" is coming and likely Wall-Mart will be leading the way.
>
> One thing is for sure.  Things are going to change.
>
> David Evans, NFBF
> Your "what's coming in the future guru."
> Nuclear/Aerospace Materials Engineer
> Builder of the Lunar Rovers and the F-117-A Stealth Fighter
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Sherri" <sbrun at cfl.rr.com>
> To: <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>; <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>; "acb list" 
> <acb-l at acb.org>;
> "Ripley, Samme" <Samme.Ripley at ocfl.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 7:49 AM
> Subject: [Nfbf-l] gm researching driverless cars
>
>
> Really great! I watched a demonstration of this on the Today Show. From 
> what
> I heard, it stopped pretty abruptly and took the turns quickly, but it got
> Al Roker around the block safely. *lol. He sat in the passenger's seat and
> let the car do the rest.
>
> Sherri
>
> GM Researching Driverless Cars
> By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
>
> Filed at 6:37 p.m. ET
>
> DETROIT (AP) -- Cars that drive themselves -- even parking at their
> destination -- could be ready for sale within a decade,
> General Motors
> Corp. executives say.
>
> GM, parts suppliers, university engineers and other automakers all are
> working on vehicles that could revolutionize short- and long-distance
> travel. And
> Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas GM Chief Executive
> Rick Wagoner
> will devote part of his speech to the driverless vehicles.
>
> ''This is not science fiction,'' Larry Burns, GM's vice president for
> research and development, said in a recent interview.
>
> The most significant obstacles facing the vehicles could be human rather
> than technical: government regulation, liability laws, privacy concerns 
> and
> people's
> passion for the automobile and the control it gives them.
>
> Much of the technology already exists for vehicles to take the wheel:
> radar-based cruise control, motion sensors, lane-change warning devices,
> electronic
> stability control and satellite-based digital mapping. And automated
> vehicles could dramatically improve life on the road, reducing crashes and
> congestion.
>
> If people are interested.
>
> ''Now the question is what does society want to do with it?'' Burns said.
> ''You're looking at these issues of congestion, safety, energy and
> emissions.
> Technically there should be no reason why we can't transfer to a totally
> different world.''
>
> GM plans to use an inexpensive computer chip and an antenna to link 
> vehicles
> equipped with driverless technologies. The first use likely would be on
> highways;
> people would have the option to choose a driverless mode while they still
> would control the vehicle on local streets, Burns said.
>
> He said the company plans to test driverless car technology by 2015 and 
> have
> cars on the road around 2018.
>
> Sebastian Thrun, co-leader of the
> Stanford University
> team that finished second among six teams completing a 60-mile
> Pentagon-sponsored race of driverless cars in November, said GM's goal is
> technically attainable.
> But he said he wasn't confident cars would appear in showrooms within a
> decade.
>
> ''There's some very fundamental, basic regulations in the way of that 
> vision
> in many countries,'' said Thrun, a professor of computer science and
> electrical
> engineering.
>
> The Defense Department contest, which initially involved 35 teams, showed
> the technology isn't ready for prime time. One team was eliminated after 
> its
> vehicle
> nearly charged into a building, while another vehicle mysteriously pulled
> into a house's carport and parked itself.
>
> Thrun said a key benefit of the technology eventually will be safer roads
> and reducing the roughly 42,000 U.S. traffic deaths that occur annually --
> 95
> percent of which he said are caused by human mistakes.
>
> ''We might be able to cut those numbers down by a factor of 50 percent,''
> Thrun said. ''Just imagine all the funerals that won't take place.''
>
> Other challenges include updating vehicle codes and figuring out who would
> be liable in a crash and how to cope with blown tires or obstacles in the
> road.
> But the systems could be developed to tell motorists about road 
> conditions,
> warn of crashes or stopped vehicles ahead and prevent collisions in
> intersections.
>
> Later versions of driverless technology could reduce jams by directing
> vehicles to space themselves close together, almost as if they were cars 
> in
> a train,
> and maximize the use of space on a freeway, he said.
>
> ''It will really change society, very much like the transition from a 
> horse
> to a car,'' Thrun said.
>
> The U.S. government has pushed technology to help drivers avoid crashes,
> most notably electronic stability controls that help prevent rollovers. 
> The
> systems
> are required on new passenger vehicles starting with the 2012 model year.
>
> Vehicle-to-vehicle communication and technology allowing cars to talk with
> highway systems could come next.
>
> Still in debate are how to address drivers' privacy, whether current
> vehicles can be retrofitted and how many vehicles would be need the 
> systems
> to develop
> an effective network.
>
> ''Where it shakes out remains to be seen but there is no question we see a
> lot of potential there,'' said Rae Tyson, a spokesman for the
> National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
>
> ------
>
> Associated Press Writer Ken Thomas in Washington contributed to this 
> report.
> Copyright 2008 The Associated Press
>
> Sherri
>
> sbrun at cfl.rr.com
>
> TO DONATE YOUR USED CELL PHONE AND CHANGE WHAT IT MEANS TO BE BLIND IN
> CENTRAL FLORIDA go to:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Whether we succeed or fail in what we do is not the essential thing.
>
> What is important is the heart with which we live our lives.
>
>
>
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