Comments on: Self-Driving Nissan Leaf Controlled From iPad (4 VIDEOS)

By: Conrad Clement

Conrad Clement — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 15:44:00 +0000

“The next stage of research involves teaching the robot to understand complex traffic flows”.

Jumping from primitive to extraordinarily complex in just two stages? It’s a hoax.

The aim of these videos (and those of the DARPA and Google) is to make you believe that automatic driving announces a brilliant future to the motorcar — and to divert you from the reality of automated flying which is long-standing state-of-the-art, because the anglo-saxon would-be rulers of the world are afraid of the perspective of the civil society taking possession of the global airspace with myriads of personal ultra-light electric rotary-wing (tilt-rotor) aircraft, thus threatening to challenge their power enforcement joker, i.e., the supersonic fighter-bombers and, increasingly, their drones.

Are you sure the driver doesn’t steer the car with his feet?

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 17:36:00 +0000

Thanks. Appreciate it. Just wanted to have it handy for any future articles about self-driving vehicles.

By: Otis11

Otis11 — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 15:12:00 +0000

Ah, that’s what I get for not having the source ready…I can’t find the article that showed they beat their predicted fuel economy slightly (which was predicted at 20%, so I think I was a bit off) but here’s one article covering it: http://www.kurzweilai.net/volvos-autonomous-cars-travel-120-miles-in-spain-in-road-train

Also, this initial phase was done with all ICE vehicles, it would have more of an effect with HEVs/EVs.

Self Driving cars definitely do have a huge clean tech advantage though… plus make it more convenient for the user.

By: tibi stibi

tibi stibi — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 08:21:00 +0000

oTis11 is right, there are many benefits which will increase when not only the cars get smart but the traffic light too. so a car will know when it will turn green. and when other cars get smart so the can signal, it will need to stop.

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 00:23:00 +0000

Wow, that’s huge. It looks like self-driving cars should definitely be categorized as cleantech & covered here. You have a link to that study? (Imagine a quick google search could pull it up anyway.)

By: Otis11

Otis11 — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 00:07:00 +0000

“intentional failure to pay attention” => ah, my mistake, I read that to quickly! (See, even I’m not perfect. =-P )

And yeah – one study done in Spain DEMONSTRATED at 30% rise in fuel economy by changing to a computer controlled car…

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 23:48:00 +0000

Cool stuff.

“intentional failure to pay attention” — that one threw me off for a second, but then realized how he was distinguishing between chosen lack of attention and unchosen lack of attention.

“to to” was my fault. corrected.

By: Otis11

Otis11 — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 23:30:00 +0000

There have also been studies that show significant efficiency increases due to the car’s ability to decide what gear is best based on current conditions and even leaning out the fuel mixture to get better mileage for the times when you won’t have to accelerate rapidly. They can also draft much more efficiently, accelerate at the exact optimal rate, brake at the optimal rate (especially useful for hybrids/EVs) and aid in traffic flow to reduce congestion!

And both efficiency and congention benefits improve as more self driving cars get on the road! There are many, many benefits to this… not even to mention the number of lives saved! Hope it comes sooner than later!

“intentional failure to pay attention” => Let me guess, you’re from the Department of Redundancy Department? I prefer the Ministry of Silly Walks myself, but to each their own…

“attention to to” => “attention due to”