Automotive

Brooklyn Bridge becomes proving ground for Cadillac's new safety technology

Brooklyn Bridge becomes proving ground for Cadillac's new safety technology
GM used the Brooklyn Bridge as a proving ground for its Sensor Fusion system
GM used the Brooklyn Bridge as a proving ground for its Sensor Fusion system
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A camera, sensors and radar help identify targets on the road to avoid collision
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A camera, sensors and radar help identify targets on the road to avoid collision
The 2013 Cadillac XTS on the streets of Manhattan
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The 2013 Cadillac XTS on the streets of Manhattan
The 2013 Cadillac XTS on the highway
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The 2013 Cadillac XTS on the highway
GM used the Brooklyn Bridge as a proving ground for its Sensor Fusion system
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GM used the Brooklyn Bridge as a proving ground for its Sensor Fusion system
A camera, sensors and radar help identify targets on the road to avoid collision
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A camera, sensors and radar help identify targets on the road to avoid collision
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GM has shone the spotlight on the new Driver Assist technology developed for the 2013 XTS by using the landmark Brooklyn Bridge as a proving ground.

The Driver Assist Package features Automatic Collision Preparation, Lane Departure Warning, Front and Rear Automatic Braking and a Safety Alert Seat. The ultrasonic sensors, radar and camera that comprise the backbone of this system are confused by complex metal structures such as bridges, making them an ideal place for running tests.

A camera, sensors and radar help identify targets on the road to avoid collision
A camera, sensors and radar help identify targets on the road to avoid collision

The system sees moving and stationary objects on the radar, then processes what to do with that information.

"The camera, sensors and radar technology act as the 'brain' behind all the safety features, feeding data 25 times per second into the car's computer network."We try to take into account how they're moving and how we combine them to reduce the number of false positives in our system," says Jim Nickolaou, lead engineer for GM.

"We found that the best way to test the system's accuracy was to gauge its performance in stressful driving conditions that could confuse it, like those conditions found on the Brooklyn Bridge."

New Cadillac models with extra equipment strapped to the top and sides drove across the Brooklyn Bridge repeatedly, testing around 2,000 different scenarios including weather, traffic volume, lightning, and radar reflections.

The research will also be used for future software development.

Source: GM

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5 comments
5 comments
Fahrenheit 451
All fine and dandy until these systems fail and driving ability falls to the lowest denominator—the driver. Better drivers make for safer roads, not technology that masks and even promotes poorer driving abilities. A driver license is a privilege, not an entitlement. There are many drivers who do not quality to be on our roadways.
Nissan is already having issues with some of these similar safety systems actually bringing the vehicle to a complete stop when there is nothing that warrants said stop. Overly complicated systems have overcomplicated failure consequences.
nutcase
Sorry Farenheit 451 but Google have already built a Toyota Prius that requires no driver.
Not only that but they have sat in the back seat with various traffic authorities while the car has driven them all over San Fransisco and Nevada.
Furthermore, the State of Nevada was sufficiently impressed that they have enacted legislation to license autonomous vehicles and the Google Prius has such a license.
I'm ASTONISHED that Gizmag has not yet covered this important technological milestone.
(Ed. http://www.gizmag.com/nevada-autonomous-car-regulations/21507/)
Autonomous car technology has been around for a long time but there is a conspiracy to hide it. It can be hidden no longer!
here are some links for the skeptics (Where are you Slowburn?):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_driverless_car http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/may/07/nevada-issues-google-first-license-self-driving-ca/ http://www.ted.com/talks/sebastian_thrun_google_s_driverless_car.html
Slowburn
re; nutcase
I am not apposed to fully autonomous cars just the cars that encourage the drivers to turn his mind off while driving. An Iranian fighter Pilot training to fly F-14s for the Royal Persian Air Force set the car's cruse control and dug into a cooler to get a beverage and the car went off the road. Have the driver drive or have the car drive.
Flipider Comm
Will it stop me from driving the wrong way down a one way street?
Gadgeteer
Funny that the article says they're using the Brooklyn Bridge when the picture used to illustrate it shows the Manhattan Bridge.