[ExI] Robot cars rule!

[BillK]

Dec. 4, 2012 – How do driverless vehicles navigate through
intersections? Faster and safer than if humans were in charge,
according to researchers from the Virginia Tech Transportation
Research.
<http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2012/12/120412-vtti-zohdyrakhabestpaper.html>

Autonomous vehicles will turn themselves over to an automated
intersection controller, which will allow the vehicles to move at the
speed limit, with the controller tweaking their trajectory to prevent
crashes.
"The proposed intersection controller, which allows vehicles to keep
moving, reduces the delay for each vehicle compared to traditional
intersection control," said Rakha. "Keeping vehicles moving is also
more fuel efficient and reduces emissions."

They have a little demo on YouTube.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9XZ8Sk3DTs>

 “We were testing it if only 10 percent of the vehicles were automated
and the other 90 percent were regular vehicles with driver control. We
varied the level of automation from 10 to 100 percent at 10 percent
increments,” said Rakha. This effort has resulted in two papers that
will be presented that the Transportation Research Board Annual
Meeting in January 2013.
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I had to smile at the thought of a poor human gingerly approaching the
junction while robot cars are whizzing in every direction at the max
speed limit allowed.

But I suppose after a few times the human would join in, relying on
the robots to keep out of their way. Until they meet another human
assuming the same thing.............


BillK