Automated automobile

Citation

Rudall, B.H. (1999), "Automated automobile", Kybernetes, Vol. 28 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.1999.06728eaa.002

Automated automobile

Keywords Automation, Cybernetics, Research, Technological developments

Abstract Reports and surveys are given of selected current research and development in systems and cybernetics. They include: Language interface, Automated automobile, Innovative space technology, Software reliability and safety, Automatic analysis of handwritten documents, High-tech musical instruments, Biological motors, Interplay between smell and the mind, Cybernetics and automation.

Automated automobile

Various self-drive or guided vehicles have been described in these reports, all at different stages of development and potential. There is always an element of doubt about the real future of many projects that have been publicised. Certainly there are few, if any, that are now offered as working every-day systems that can be used by vehicle drivers to supplement or replace their labours.

Now, however, a report in the New Scientist (February, 1999) describes a system that can, it is claimed, take control of a car and manoeuvre it out of danger, or relieve tired drivers in rush-hour traffic.

This it would appear is a real, viable system that is currently being tested by researchers in Germany. An intelligent co-pilot has been fitted to a Volkswagen Passat estate car at the Fraunhofer Institute, Karlsruhe, Germany. In its tests it is reported that the system took charge of the car's accelerator, brakes, steering and automatic gearbox to drive it through busy traffic.

What makes the system so unusual is that when the computer took over it allowed the driver to take his hands off the wheel, his feet off the pedals and his eyes off the road. We are told that the driver could then, if he wished, regain control of the vehicle simply by speaking orders or putting his hands back onto the steering wheel.

The new development is called the Driver Assisted Scheme and its developers are careful not to raise hopes too high about its incorporation into a production car. They believe that it will be some time before the system is working and installed in vehicles produced for sale by the company.

Design of the systems

Similar systems called "co-pilot" systems have been designed to simply regulate the distance between cars on motorways and have no control over steering. This new endeavour is designed, its inventor Frank Heimes says, to take on all driving functions. He believes that:

We are heading towards total driver replacement. It will be able to take over the vehicle and avoid a collision where the driver has not noticed a dangerous situation.

The system works by fitting to the vehicle:

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  small rear view mirror mounted video cameras with an 84° field of view to sense the road and compare the images with the car's on-board computer;

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  movement actuators on the steering wheel, gear shift, accelerator and brake pedals to monitor what the car is doing; and

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  directional sensors on the front wheels and distance sensors on the back wheels.

These devices combine to "drive" the vehicle with the "eyes" of the system hidden behind the rear-view mirror inside the vehicle. The pair of cameras positioned a similar distance apart to human eyes are there to provide a three-dimensional view of the road ahead, and have a range of 150ft. It is the sensors on the front and rear wheels that determine how far the vehicle has moved and in which direction.

Frank Heimes, the designer, states quite clearly that currently the system works on a vehicle travelling at fairly slow speeds and on ideal roads. The report in the New Scientist also raises questions about the legality of using such a system on the roads. It says that the law would have to be changed before automated driving would be allowed. In the United Kingdom, for example, automatic control of steering and brakes of a vehicle is illegal and drivers would be liable for any accidents caused by an autonomous system.

Questions concerning the law and automation are being asked, however, in many instances where robotic devices are allowed to function without human supervision. So many applications of automation and robotics are in areas that involve "safety critical" scenarios. The public transport systems offer the most revealing examples of automated systems where the liability of the system which may be completely autonomous, is questioned. In the case of autonomous road vehicles the law, as seen in many countries worldwide, will undoubtedly need to be strengthened and clarified if automated driving systems prove to be viable.