It’s important to remember that each of these vehicles has a driver to maneuver it around the treacherous switchbacks and keep it on the course at race speeds. That won’t be the case when the team of researchers at the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford (CARS) brings their sophisticated Audi TTS to the peak this September.
The car, named Shelley after Michele Mouton, the first woman to win the hill climb, is equipped with loads of electronic gear including computers and GPS receivers. Shelley will rely solely on GPS data to navigate the route from the start line to the summit. And it won’t be a leisurely drive as Shelley will be the first driverless vehicle to attempt a run up the peak at race speeds.
At the Bonneville Salt Flats, Shelley has attained speeds of 130 mph, but the hill climb up the peak with its numerous right- and left-turning curves will test the capability of the car to stay on the course while traveling at high speeds. As noted in the Feb. 3, 2010, edition of the Stanford Report, Shelley is equipped with a differential GPS that shows the position of the car on the earth to an accuracy of 2 cm. “Shelley measures her speed and acceleration with wheel-speed sensors and an accelerometer, and gets her bearings from gyroscopes which control equilibrium and direction,” the report explained.
The stock Audi’s electric steering system is under computer control as are the gear shifting and braking. Upon approaching a turn, the computer algorithms will calculate the necessary steering response and speed with finer adjustments made while the car is in the turn with a return to higher speeds as it exits the turn.
According to the report, “the team has developed almost all of the algorithms needed to climb the hill successfully and will test them before trials at Pikes Peak. They have gathered data from the course with a similar car and have tested Shelley on comparable terrain, but not yet on large hills. If anything goes wrong on the [way to the] summit, someone on the team can flip the ‘kill switch’, Shelley’s only remote-control feature.”
The CARS program is a joint venture between companies in the automotive industry and the university. Partners in the program number more than 60 companies and organizations and include Bosch Research and Technology Center, Honda R&D Americas, Nissan Motor Company, Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, and Volkswagen Group of America. These affiliates pay an annual fee to CARS and are expected to participate in faculty research projects, research gifts, or class sponsorships. The CARS labs provide the focal point at Stanford for automotive research with ties to the Graduate School of Business, School of Law, and other disciplines.
CARS is comprised of three labs: the Dynamic Design Lab under Professor Chris Gerdes, the Artificial Intelligence Lab directed by Professor Sebastian Thrun, and the Communications between Humans and Interactive Media (CHIMe) Lab headed up by Professor Clifford Nass. The collaboration of these labs and the automotive industry is intended to provide a strong platform for performing future automotive research.
The Dynamic Design Lab is responsible for creating and develop-
ing complex mechanical systems using models. Obviously, the application of artificial intelligence for automotive systems is the primary focus of the Artificial Intelligence Lab while the CHIMe Lab looks at the human/media relationships. Driver multitasking has been the subject
of work done by Prof. Nass.
The bottom line of this effort is occupant and pedestrian safety in tomorrow’s vehicles. With so many interactive devices incorporated into automobiles, not to mention the use of cell phones by so many drivers, autonomous or partially autonomous vehicles would minimize the need for constant driver attention and help to improve highway safety.
As for the September run up Pikes Peak, I wonder if Shelley will even complete the course, and if she does, will she beat the record set by her namesake Michele Mouton?
Paul Milo
Editorial Director
[email protected]