BMW has shown off self-driving cars that can "drift" around bends and slalom between cones.
The modified 2-Series Coupe and 6-Series Gran Coupe are able to hurtle round a racetrack and control a power slide without any driver intervention.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25653253
But they still can't fit automatic indicators on their cars ;)
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I suspect that video is fake - or seriously mis-reported - since there's no way that car is driving independently. Where's the 360 degree LIDAR array? High resolution cameras? The absolute best that it's doing is following a GPS track and using a forward looking radar system to sense pre-programmed obstacles.
And my 1 series could do a controlled drift; you just switched the stability control to "Active" and floored the accelerator. Computer did the rest.
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They don't need that big spinning LIDAR anymore.
Look at Audi A8's Traffic Assist and Mercedes S class Intelligent Drive. Even Volvo have one on the way.
Of course the BMW in the video will be following a pre-defined slalom route rather than blending with traffic.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHqB47F12vI
www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_m8DqTlOLE
Last edited by: sooty tailpipes on Mon 13 Jan 14 at 19:44
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Self drive cars are certain to be with us one day. It won't be a sudden shift but will happen gradually as more and more functions are taken away from the driver and controlled electronically.
In many ways the process began nearly a century ago with the automatic gearbox. The ever increasing pace of technology will mean that sitting reading the paper while your Transport Module pilots itself to your destination can't be many years off.
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I'm sure you're right RR. The thing which occurs to me is that my father was born only a very few years after the Wright brothers managed to get their aircraft to limp across a field and yet he had only just turned 60 when Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon.
What will the children of today live to see indeed.
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Very true. My brother and I played a game in his Passat to see who could drive it furthest without touching a control, relying on the active cruise control and lane departure protection to keep it on the straight and narrow.
If it weren't for the computer throwing a hissy fit and insisting that someone held the wheel*, it could have driven itself all day.
* Yes, yes, irresponsible blah blah....
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Damn!
I refer everyone to my piece on self-driving cars mentioned in the Nissan Leaf thread. It says all this and less, in a haphazardly analytical spirit.
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BMW - show off self drive drifting car. - Fursty Ferret
