Robotic Audi TTS To Speed On Its Own Without A Driver

Here's some more on that robotic car that will do the Pikes Peak drive. This looks like a real promising test. Differential GPS and all the other gadgets are the keys to success here, I think. Too bad we need to wait until September for the test. I'll be waiting for the results! I'm excited. I want to get into my car and say "Take me to work" and kick back and relax! That would make this stupid commute a lot easier!

Robotic Audi TTS To Speed On Its Own Without A Driver: "

Humanoid robots are definitely cool, but what about cars that drive themselves? The team at the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford (CARS) is looking to send a robotic Audi TTS racing off at high speed up the tight bends that lead to Pikes Peak without a driver. The car, nicknamed Shelley, will be attempting a timed race in September. Other autonomous cars have reached the summit before, but only at speeds of around 25mph, the team is looking to do it much faster, and when you take into account Shelley has hit speeds of 130mph without a driver on testing grounds, it’ll certainly be an interesting challenge. The car will stay on track thanks to its use of a differential GPS, which is much more accurate than a standard GPS, allowing you to pinpoint the car’s position to within an inch. Aside from the GPS unit, Shelley can measure her speed and acceleration thanks to the wheel-speed sensors and accelerometer, and getting her bearings from gyroscopes. This will all be controlled by the bunch of electronics and gadgets that are crammed into the vehicle’s trunk. Will we all have self-driving cars to chauffer us around town in the future? It certainly seems like an appealing idea.

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