[ExI] self-driving cars again

spike spike66 at att.net
Sun Jul 15 17:10:16 UTC 2012



>... Behalf Of BillK
Subject: Re: [ExI] self-driving cars again

On Sun, Jul 15, 2012 at 5:23 AM, spike wrote:
>>... I would argue that it might eventually be possible to go really fast
with auto^2, but the problem is vastly more difficult than it sounds.  
> There are a large number of effects that can be ignored completely at
small speeds, but which increase dramatically with speed.


>...They had a robot car racing up Pikes Peak. Time trial, though. And so
far still slower than the best humans. But still quite a respectable
performance. Robot cars can do drifting now...  BillK

Cool thanks BillK.  I missed this somehow.  I have set my Google alerts to
find robot car races.

Regarding drifting on a dirt track, this was mentioned in the TED talk.  I
don't know why it is, but steering into a drift really is completely
instinctive.  I don't know why that is, or what evolutionary process would
have developed that mental process, but at least in me, the first time I did
it, both in a pickup truck and on a motorcycle, my instincts kicked in
exactly right and kept my front wheels pointed in the right direction as the
back end came around.  It's really cool they figured out how to get the
software to respond correctly.

In the TED talk I mentioned earlier, he never did explain those brief slides
of what looks to me exactly like half scale sprint cars, but that looks to
me like an ideal platform for developing experimental robot racers.
Actually no it isn't.  We can buy used-up street cars for less money than
you can build even a half scale sprinter, and it would have plenty of speed
capability to match the best software and sensors.  At least for now, we
could get 1-2kUSD clunkers off the used car lot and retrofit them.  It might
be a magic couple of years where anyone with ideas on software can easily
and cheaply rig up a competitive robo-racer.  Later of course, the software
gets better, demanding better and far more expensive hardware.

The saying from my own misspent youth regarding racing is "Speed costs
money.  How fast would you like to spend?"

Right at first (now), a competitive robo-race car can be relatively cheap,
far less expensive than a competitive car in any meat-guided car race.

spike






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