Autonomous Vehicles and Urban Mobility

If you had half a million dollars, would you opt for a passenger car that could drive itself (called an autonomous vehicle) or would you choose a new Ferrari? Emilio Frazzoli provides a number of reasons why autonomous vehicles might be the preferred choice, if not the typical one. Autonomous vehicles, that use electronics in place of human drivers, will offer many improvements for urban mobility. Frazzoli says they will advance the safety and comfort of automotives- and open the doors of mobility for people who cannot or should not drive; as he puts it, “if you had too much to drink, maybe you should let the computer take you home.” Future autonomous vehicles can also increase the efficiency and throughput of our existing road system and help reduce congestion by coordinating with others cars. The autonomous vehicle will also be a “green vehicle” that can make more fuel-efficient decisions than human drivers. Future autonomous vehicles might save up to 20 to 50% of emissions and fuel consumption by optimizing speed and stopping. In some ways, the autonomous vehicle is already with us. There are robotic components in the cars we drive today, like ABS (advanced breaking systems) which takes over control from human drivers to stop cars and avoid collisions. Frazzoli says that when ABS first reached the market it was a novelty and good drivers felt they could stop faster than the system. Today, it is widely accepted that it performs better than almost everyone except a Formula 401 racer. More recently, autonomous components enable cars to park themselves, and in the arena of mass transportation, there are autonomous bus demonstrations, and driver-less shuttles. Frazzoli sees the demand for autonomous vehicles as only growing. The autonomous vehicle can address the problem that both drivers and passengers are becoming increasingly distracted on the road with cell phones and electronics. And, with a growing network of V- 2- V (vehicle to vehicle) communicati...

Channel: MIT World Video Length: 0s Date Found: Tue, Sep 14 2010 3:48 PM Category: Science Date Produced: Tue, Sep 14 2010 12:00 AM View Count: 0