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Apple's iPad integrated with self-driving car, handles navigation and UI duties

 

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Researchers at Oxford University have developed robotic technology allowing drivers to hand control of the wheel to an unlikely chauffeur, Apple's iPad.

"We are working on a low-cost 'auto drive' navigation system, that doesn't depend on GPS, done with discrete sensors that are getting cheaper all the time," Professor Paul Newman of Oxford University's Department of Engineering Science said (via Clean Technica), describing the project. "It's easy to imagine that this kind of technology could be in a car you could buy."

The Oxford project is aimed at achieving a middle ground between the human-piloted cars that exist today and the futuristic autonomous concepts being worked on by companies like Google. Instead of the cars driving themselves all the time, the driver handles some of the work, but the car occasionally prompts the driver when it knows a route, allowing the driver the option to let the car take over.

That prompt comes by way of Apple's iPad, which is positioned on the dashboard and flashes an "auto-drive" option when the system recognizes an area. Activating auto-drive switches control of the car over to an internal system that relies on cameras and lasers built into the body of the car, as well as an additional computer in the trunk. Newman says the system works due to technological leaps forward in laser mapping.

"Our approach is made possible because of advances in 3D laser mapping that enable an affordable car-based robotic system to rapidly build up a detailed picture of its surroundings," Newman said. "Because our cities don't change very quickly, robotic vehicles will know and look out for familiar structures as they pass by so that they can ask a human driver 'I know this route, do you want me to drive?'"

The iPad remains up front as the human's main means of interacting with the system, though a simple tap on the brakes is also capable of switching back to manual control.

The technology is nowhere near being ready for commercial production. Professor Newman says the group's long-term goal is to produce a system that will cost about £100. Currently, the prototype navigation system costs £5,000.

The team will continue testing its iPad-driven system at its base in Begbroke Science Park, near Oxford. The next step will see them teaching the system to understand complex traffic flows and make decisions on its own about routing.



14 Comments

philboogie 15 Years · 7669 comments

Could come in handy if the driver is wearing Glass.

theunfetteredmind 12 Years · 505 comments

It shouldn't do any worse than many of the people out there driving now :) These self-driving cars at least are much more realistic than flying cars that 50s-60s futurists seemed to think would be around by now. People can barely handle two dimensions in normal automobiles, I'd hate to see people trying to deal with three!

arlomedia 16 Years · 271 comments

I don't know any of the details, but it seems like frequent transitions between autopilot and manual control would be troublesome. Drivers have a hard enough time focusing as it is ... if they were able to take "breaks" while the car took over I think it would be hard for a lot of people to get back on task when they needed to. Also, the driver's seat isn't a very comfortable place to do much besides drive, so I'm not sure how valuable it would be for the car to take over from time to time. I suppose you could recline your seat and take a nap, but that brings us back to my first point. Develop a system that only requires your attention at the beginning and end of the trip, and a steering wheel that folds up out of the way when it's not needed ... now we're getting somewhere!

enjourni 14 Years · 254 comments

I like how the car straddles the divider line between lanes. "KITT, could you please not drive drunk?" "Sorry Michael... bURP..."

lilgto64 19 Years · 1146 comments

what happens after a fender bender and the laser isn't aimed correctly?