Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Saturday August 05 2017, @08:44PM   Printer-friendly
from the SAE-Level-3-Autonomy dept.

Motor Trend http://www.motortrend.com/news/gm-super-cruise-2018-cadillac-ct6-with-auto-pilot/ reports that Cadillac will offer self-driving as an option starting this fall. The first few paragraphs from the article include:

What is it? The rebirth of full-on Autopilot, which Tesla Model S and X owners enjoyed for a little while before a back-seat “driver” died in a crash despite receiving seven warnings from the car to resume control and the lawyers shut down that party. That system was never intended to, you know, actually be an “auto pilot,” and this one’s automatic piloting is considerably more restrictive than Tesla’s cowboy over-the-air upgraded system. It’s also fully vetted by what surely by now must be the jitteriest and most conservative lawyers in all of autodom.

  • Highways only. The system only becomes available once you’ve entered a meticulously lidar-mapped, divided, limited-access highway in the U.S. or Canada—or a limited-access stretch of a highway that switches between on-ramps and crossings (like California Highway 101). When the steering wheel icon appears at the upper right of the central speedometer gauge, press the Super Cruise button, and when the car has locked on to the center of the lane, the light bar on the top of the steering wheel turns green.
  • Pay attention. Infrared emitters on the top quadrant of the steering wheel illuminate the driver’s head and face, and a steering column–mounted camera with infrared capability (for night detection) constantly monitors head position and eye focal point. Look away for 15 seconds or less, and the system demands you return your gaze to the road by first flashing the green light, then flashing red, sounding a tone, vibrating the seat, and ultimately issuing a voice warning. If none of that succeeds in returning the driver to the task of controlling the vehicle, it will slow to a stop in the lane of travel, put the hazard flashers on, and summon help via OnStar. If you get to those last stages and resume control, Super Cruise locks you out until the next time you stop and restart the car. A nice touch: capacitive sensors detect the driver’s hand(s) on the wheel, eliminating the need to wiggle it to verify control as with some lane keep assist vehicles.

Many more details in TFA. But it's laden with trackers (according to Privacy Badger).


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by Spamalope on Sunday August 06 2017, @04:21PM

    by Spamalope (5233) on Sunday August 06 2017, @04:21PM (#549556) Homepage

    Next: Speed trap towns have speeding, changing lanes without a turn signal, brake light out, reckless driving combined tickets challenged by telemetry, 360 degree video and GPS records.

    I doubt they'll give up that windfall cash easily.

    Think they'll start impounding the vehicles and destroy the computer like the way witness camera/cell phone videos are handled? Will they need a stingray to prevent the Onstar system from uploading the data via 4G?

    I guess they could get creative and ban self driving cars with asset forfeiture the penalty so they just seize the car. They'd be stopped by state or federal authorities eventually, but that takes time and in the meantime they'll be wiping and auctioning cars.

    Use adversarial images for the speed limit signs per the other story today? Maybe put them in faux construction zones so they have an excuse for constantly moving speed limit signs thus preventing the car from having them programmed in.

    What do you think they'll do? Just giving up the cash seems unlikely.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2