Driverless car

1993/03/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Garraioak

Japanese motorists Mazda and Nissan want to take out before anyone the car equipped with automatic drivers, but they have imposed fifteen years for it.

The first step for the driverless car is to place video cameras connected to an image processing system. First of all, you have to replace the eyes and brain of the driver. The system currently being tested treats four or five images per second.

Calculators installed in the car must decide in real time whether to continue behind the previous vehicle, whether to pass or whether to go aside to avoid any obstacles. For the moment, Japanese manufacturers are performing their own tests at a speed of 60 km/h and from now on are thinking of experimenting with other speeds.

One difficulty to overcome by researchers is to equip this pilot with sufficient “artificial intelligence” so that he can behave like a person in any situation. For example, when the vehicle passes from a shady area to a sun on the road, the driver usually does not panic. It keeps the car as before until the eyes get used to the light. When viewed remotely something potentially dangerous behaves the same way. It approaches until risk or danger is identified and action is taken.

The autopilot must also act in this way and needs at least five mini-computers. Therefore, the price of the car is too high at the moment, but within a few years we may be available to anyone.