GPS is nice and all, but there is no way in hell I'm going to let my car be navigated by itself based solely upon a GPS unit. Now if you pair it up with other sensors, such as sonar, IR, visual, etc., I could better trust that system. The problem with GPS by itself if the lag of the signal, quality of the signal, and quality/implementation of the software. Case in point is a simple GPS unit I had the displeasure of using this past week on a short vacation. The friggin unit was very laggy on fixing the signal, many times placed my car well of the beaten path, had considerable routing problems, and never alerted with enough time to execute the requested turn. All-in-all, it sucked quite bad.
One other things the DMV might do to help move things along a bit quicker would be to implement markers on the road that an automated car could use to resolve a higher level of location awareness; who knows, maybe better reflectors as a marked of interval, or RF markers the unit can use to better determine it's location, especially when moving at speed. Just a few suggestions that I'm sure have already been thought of but not implemented yet.
My Infiniti FX already has a radar sensor up front so when cruise control is on it will slow the car as it approaches a car in front of me and will hit the breaks if a car cuts me off. Also have a lane departure warning system that follows the lines on the road and alerts me if I start moving out of the lane. Both systems work great.
The pieces are there they just need to add GPS and pull it all together.
That sounds pretty cool, guess I hadn't heard of this one yet (I drive a BMW). Now if only the other auto companies would get with the program and start making these things standard in all vehicles... Thanks for the info!
'Sonar' is only good for parking and "Backup warning" systems... its resolution and range are far to low for driving conditions. I believe Mercedes (and maybe Nissan) are using gallium arsenide sensors.
Well that was an exceptionally bad GPS. Which model was it, by the way? The GPS built into my Honda has a little trouble once you get to your destination, but by that time you can usually see where you are going (the destination is in sight). I have never had a problem with it not telling me turns in time or anything.
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GPS is nice and all, but there is no way in hell I'm going to let my car be navigated by itself based solely upon a GPS unit. Now if you pair it up with other sensors, such as sonar, IR, visual, etc., I could better trust that system. The problem with GPS by itself if the lag of the signal, quality of the signal, and quality/implementation of the software. Case in point is a simple GPS unit I had the displeasure of using this past week on a short vacation. The friggin unit was very laggy on fixing the signal, many times placed my car well of the beaten path, had considerable routing problems, and never alerted with enough time to execute the requested turn. All-in-all, it sucked quite bad.
One other things the DMV might do to help move things along a bit quicker would be to implement markers on the road that an automated car could use to resolve a higher level of location awareness; who knows, maybe better reflectors as a marked of interval, or RF markers the unit can use to better determine it's location, especially when moving at speed. Just a few suggestions that I'm sure have already been thought of but not implemented yet.
My Infiniti FX already has a radar sensor up front so when cruise control is on it will slow the car as it approaches a car in front of me and will hit the breaks if a car cuts me off. Also have a lane departure warning system that follows the lines on the road and alerts me if I start moving out of the lane. Both systems work great.
The pieces are there they just need to add GPS and pull it all together.
That sounds pretty cool, guess I hadn't heard of this one yet (I drive a BMW). Now if only the other auto companies would get with the program and start making these things standard in all vehicles... Thanks for the info!
'Sonar' is only good for parking and "Backup warning" systems... its resolution and range are far to low for driving conditions. I believe Mercedes (and maybe Nissan) are using gallium arsenide sensors.
Well that was an exceptionally bad GPS. Which model was it, by the way? The GPS built into my Honda has a little trouble once you get to your destination, but by that time you can usually see where you are going (the destination is in sight). I have never had a problem with it not telling me turns in time or anything.