At first , itseemedto be a quirky prank — a man was driving around town dressed up like a car tail end and convincing hoi polloi his machine had no one at the wheel . Then welearnedthat it was all a shadowy research project by Virginia Tech . Andnow we knowthat Ford was behind the whole matter and it ’s all for science .
https://gizmodo.com/the-future-of-driverless-cars-is-a-guy-in-a-car-seat-co-1797611200
If you do n’t recollect , on August 7th , a local reporter in Arlington , Virginiatweeteda TV of a man who appeared to have stuffed himself into his own car rear to give the feeling his car was tooling around by itself . It looked like this :
This is one of the strangest things I ’ve ever seen@nbcwashington@ARLnowDOTcompic.twitter.com/8ipKEnkeiq
— Adam Tuss ( @AdamTuss)August 7 , 2017
Adam Tuss , who works for NBC News , claimedthat when he tried to question the equipment driver , they ran the scarlet lightness and escaped into the alien . A spokesperson for the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute later toldThe Guardianthat the man was “ engage in inquiry about self-directed vehicles , ” and that “ the driver ’s seating area is configured to make the driver less visible within the fomite , while still reserve him or her the ability to safely monitor and react to environment . ” Today , Fordrevealedthat it ’s working with the university to study the ways in which masses interact with independent machine . They were n’t looking for dropped - jaws , rather they were collecting data on how smoothly the ride will go when there is n’t an telephone exchange of ocular pool cue between people on the road .
The part of the experiment that Tuss did n’t capture in his frantic picture was that the car had a light bar at middle grade on the front windscreen . Wiredexplains the visual lyric that was being used :
Slow wink meant , I ’m stopping . tight blinking meant , I ’m starting . And a solid white luminousness meant , I ’m driving around all on my own .
We ’re all pretty intimate with the driverless auto run that are being conducted by Google and Uber in cities around the country . There ’s a vast turnout of sensors on top of the car and a number one wood behind the bicycle who is quick to take over if necessary . These tests are focused on how the car will actually force itself in traffic . Ford is sample to figure out how to give the ego - driving car it ’s own adaptation of the “ go forwards ” nod and the “ fuck you buddy ” halfway fingerbreadth . First , it ’s just seeing if citizenry nibble up on a few uncomplicated signal .
The experiment in Virginia has forgather 150 hours and 1,800 miles of data so far . John Shutko , a Ford railroad engineer who specialize in human factors for self - drive vehicle , tells wire that mass in VR tryout have n’t understood the signals when they were first bring out but they begin to foot it up after get wind it a couple of time .
The musical theme is to take the data they have and coordinate with 11 other car companies to make a standardized signaling system . Shutko say that Ford is exposed to whatever work if others have better idea — the most important thing is that everyone habituate the same system .
This partially explains why that gadget driver allegedly blew a red twinkle to avoid question from a reporter . After the story get to scatter , Virginia Tech had to suspend tests for a few daylight because it was n’t getting the pure data it was seeking . People were n’t reacting to a driverless gondola , they were respond to what they thought was a prankster .
While it ’s a small sad to know that there was a legit purpose to the stunt and it was n’t just some bored guy cable doing something random , the researchers say the undertaking was partially inspired by YouTubers doingsomething similarin drive - thrus . Idiocy for idiocy’s - sake is still alive and well .
[ Wired , TechCrunch ]
FordSelf - drive car
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