Aushang: Verfasst von wtanaka (648) am Sa, 2006-09-23 01:35. | Betreff: Chinese-Made Self-Driving Car

Look Out: Chinese Send Unmanned Vehicle Onto Streets

Date posted: 09-09-2006

CHANGCHUN, China — At its hometown show last week, China's First Auto Works wowed the locals with a demonstration of what was described as the country's first unmanned vehicle — not counting spacecraft, of course.

The vehicle in question was a specially modified version of FAW's Hongqi (Red Flag) HQ3 sedan, which was unveiled last year as a concept and bears a startling resemblance to the Toyota Crown Majesta, not to mention an older Hyundai XG350.

FAW tested the driverless sedan at speeds of up to 37 mph but said the car can actually reach a top speed of 93 mph. The demonstration took place at the Northeast Asia Investment and Trade Expo here, according to the Shanghai Daily.

According to the newspaper, the specially equipped HQ3, which monitors the road via two onboard cameras and receives its instructions from a computer, "has a strong ability to recognize the environment around it and tackle turnoffs [and] street crossings, as well as broken lines instantly. It's also able to adapt to changes of driving attitude and natural lighting, as well as shadows of trees and bridges."

Most of the comments have been about not wanting to be around the car when it drives at 93 miles per hour.  I'm surprised that the "This has gotta be an improvement over the cars with drivers in them" joke wasn't made. Cars have already successfully driven around by themselves in a military contex -- I don't think it will be too many more years before this technology isn't actually too frightening, 93 mph or not.

link