Driverless cars - Technology - MSN India

Driverless cars -


Driverless cars
Tired of the traffic congestion and road accidents? GM has a solution
“Roads? Where we're going we don't need roads.”

So said the immortal Dr. Emmet Brown in the film “Back to the Future”.

While cars that fly may be the stuff of science fiction dreams, cars that drive by themselves are not. Yes, you read that correctly - cars that drive by themselves.

Imagine a world where there are no road accidents. Where parking is not your problem. A world where you can just sit back and enjoy the daily commute to work, maybe enjoying a cup of tea in the process, or even reading a newspaper. If General Motors has its way, this can soon become a reality.

At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, GM unveiled the prototype of what could be the technology of the future. The modified 2007 Chevy Tahoe, nicknamed the “Boss”, was developed in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University.

The Boss uses the optical remote sensing technology, LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), radars, mapping and global position system to recognize what’s around. Using software it figures out where it is safe for the car to go. It avoids obstacles in this manner. The Boss recently won the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) 2007 Urban Challenge competition by successfully driving 60 miles through busy city traffic and navigating intersections and stop signs.

It has a maximum autonomous speed of 30 miles per hour, and is equipped with computer controls and software to make the vehicle drive by itself. According to the developers, this technology would help reduce traffic congestion on our streets and completely eradicate the possibility of traffic accidents. But don’t take out your chequebook just yet; the technology won’t hit the streets before 2018.