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.
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
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.
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
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.