I recently visited a city with completely autonomous vehicles and no drivers at all and it was a delight to see the way the automobiles (including trains and planes) moved about without an adverse incident. All vehicles moved around within the limits of the law and were aware of each other (as long as they were in close proximity). It was a wonderful sight to behold. Vehicles of all sizes varying from a small car all the way to a 18-wheeler moved around the city and in between cities, with ease. Trains were, of course, on a schedule and followed it like clockwork as they moved in and out of stations. The airport was the icing on the cake. All the vehicles, including planes and ground support vehicles, were autonomous and they all went about their job effortlessly.
Now, you are wondering where this futuristic city is.
It is the Miniature Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany. Everything I explained was in place but what was missing was the variability and chaos caused by humans. This was an autonomous world with no people. Hence the clockwork precision in its operation. The only humans in sight were the spectators visiting the Wunderland.
I do think there is a lesson to learn here. One of the biggest challenges facing the technologists is to blend self-driving vehicles with human drivers. This interaction is complex and can lead to confusion and unnecessary traffic congestion. As long as we have everything automated, there is a high probability that things will work well. The key information that is needed is about the surroundings (static as well as dynamic) and the road rules that govern the vehicles. The roads can be made smarter so they can transmit information about their conditions to a central location and it could be made available to anyone interested. The vehicles could also be made smarter and they can identify, collect and transmit information to a central location for consumption. We are partly there already with roads transmitting traffic as well as condition information and vehicles transmitting their location information to start with.
The autonomous technology has matured and costs have come down drastically, Even with a completely autonomous world there will still be challenges to overcome. From hacking of the system/vehicles, economic impact, regulatory hurdles and liability are a few issues that need to be still sorted out. The good news is that a lot of heavy weight companies are after these issues and we are sure to see them resolved in the very near future.
Anyone interested in model vehicles would love this museum. It uses state-of-art technology in each of its displays. It even simulates 24 hours of the day every 15 minutes.
For the road vehicles, they use the Faller Car System and have customized it to their needs. They have created their own custom software to operate the airport. For light control, they developed their own system called MiWuLight.
They have even partnered with Google to create street views of the Wunderland. Check it out on Google Maps here.
Now, you are wondering where this futuristic city is.
It is the Miniature Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany. Everything I explained was in place but what was missing was the variability and chaos caused by humans. This was an autonomous world with no people. Hence the clockwork precision in its operation. The only humans in sight were the spectators visiting the Wunderland.
I do think there is a lesson to learn here. One of the biggest challenges facing the technologists is to blend self-driving vehicles with human drivers. This interaction is complex and can lead to confusion and unnecessary traffic congestion. As long as we have everything automated, there is a high probability that things will work well. The key information that is needed is about the surroundings (static as well as dynamic) and the road rules that govern the vehicles. The roads can be made smarter so they can transmit information about their conditions to a central location and it could be made available to anyone interested. The vehicles could also be made smarter and they can identify, collect and transmit information to a central location for consumption. We are partly there already with roads transmitting traffic as well as condition information and vehicles transmitting their location information to start with.
The autonomous technology has matured and costs have come down drastically, Even with a completely autonomous world there will still be challenges to overcome. From hacking of the system/vehicles, economic impact, regulatory hurdles and liability are a few issues that need to be still sorted out. The good news is that a lot of heavy weight companies are after these issues and we are sure to see them resolved in the very near future.
Anyone interested in model vehicles would love this museum. It uses state-of-art technology in each of its displays. It even simulates 24 hours of the day every 15 minutes.
For the road vehicles, they use the Faller Car System and have customized it to their needs. They have created their own custom software to operate the airport. For light control, they developed their own system called MiWuLight.
They have even partnered with Google to create street views of the Wunderland. Check it out on Google Maps here.