The beauty of autonomous vehicles is just that – that they are autonomous. They don’t need any alien motherships or telecommunication towers to guide them in the right direction. They are happy enough by themselves, just like any other car on the road.

This is why I have consistently argued against V2V as the be-all end-all as it seems to me to be a distraction, not a solution to problems. Needless to say, I am almost alone in that viewpoint.

Susan Kuchinskas from Telematics Update today brings us a thorough update on the market of V2V, asking exactly the same question: in the future world, isn’t V2V redundant?

The NHTSA:

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it will decide whether to engage in rule making for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications in 2013, following its year-long model deployment, which kicks off in Ann Arbor, Michigan in August.

On Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC):

nstead of installing the cameras, radars and sensors needed to ‘see’ around the car, as well as the software and processors to make sense of that data, V2V would let automakers install the cheaper DSRC modems that provide a steady stream of standardized data, with maybe a couple of short-range radars to supplement.

The problem with relying on DSRC, of course, is penetration. Says Steven H. Bayless, seniordirector, telecommunications and telematics at the Intelligent Transportation Society of America, “If it is true that V2V is a cheaper alternative to ADAS systems that depend on sensors like radar, that’s great. But you still have to wait until there’s significant penetration on the roads.”

…

Most agree with Vann Wilber, senior partner of Global Technical Policy Associates and policy program manager for the Vehicle Infrastructure Integration Consortium, who says, “I think the two will coexist; there will be a convergence of some kind. I see them being complementary and maybe one becoming more sophisticated, and the other not having to be so sophisticated.”

He points out that, for example, a car’s forward collision-warning system can’t see two or three cars ahead of the car in front; V2V could expand that visibility. Or, a car might have a forward-facing camera but not one to see what’s coming from the side.

I’d argue with that – Google’s system is able to see several cars in front by bouncing LADAR off the road.

Continental’s Christian Schumacher:

 ”I see vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure as a key enabler for automated driving. The communication gives us more data points for automated driving, and the communications part might be one of the key enablers to approach the next level of automated technology.”

Thanks to reader Thom for the link.

I just came across a short article by Michael Wayland mlive.com that summarises the efforts of Google, Continental, Ford and GM in the field of producing a driverless car.

In short the article doesn’t offer much new, mostly each company emphasising the need for more testing of the technology. Ford do seem to be indicating they are aiming for 2017 for some degree of “autopilot” technology in their vehicles. Continental on the other hand seem to be hinting at a 2020 goal for having their sensor technology available.

On one hand I’m a little sceptical of dates and deadlines, on the other with so many competitors trying to commercialise driverless car technology the pressure really is on to be the first on the market.

In what is probably the biggest piece of driverless car news since the Google Driverless Car was announced and displayed, a VW Passat has been converted into an automated car that has logged close to 7000 miles.

Looks like it’s not just auto makers working on driver assist technology.

Watch the video here.

Contintental, the famous tyre maker, has just demonstrated driverless assist advances using much cheaper technology than that in Google’s lauded program, albeit in much more limited circumstances. Reports Motortrend:

Continental, the Hanover, Germany-based supplier of electrical technology and tires, says its system is different than the kind of autonomous cars that online search-engine company Google has been testing. Google recently pushed a law through the Nevada legislature to allow legal testing of autonomous cars on public roads.

Conti’s Volkswagen test car has one long-range radar and it has four short-range radar sensors, two in front and two in the rear. Its stereo camera shoots details of the car’s immediate surroundings, telling the sensors to brake for traffic flow or to steer around a potential hazard, using the electronically controllable electric power steering and the brakes.

The company says its technology differs from the kind of technology used in autonomous car testing like Google’s, in that Conti built its car mostly with standard equipment.

They insist that the car is not autonomous, merely automated. Splitting hairs much? With Google having shocked the industry with its progress, “Continental is adamant that its use of the Volkswagen Passat has nothing to do with which automakers might be the first to offer the automated driving technology. Continental says it’s in talks with various unnamed automakers who might buy the technology.”

The Motortrend article also claims that the system is set for commercialisation within 2-3 years. The system is nowhere near as sophisticated as Google’s yet is definitely a step-up on BMW’s lane-keeping technology with better collision avoidance and navigation.

Detroit Free Press, who broke the news, had this:

The sensors detect if the car in front stops, if there is a construction barrier on the right and a delivery truck cutting in from the left. The car stops and does not resume driving until the road clears; the engineers nod their approval and continue to check e-mail and send texts.

Plans for a long highway drive should be equally free of stress and fatigue because once again, the car will do the driving. The driver takes over control only to pass or change lanes.

Technology such as Driverless Cars is really going to test the ability of lawmakers to respond quickly. They’ll have to get used to it as technological change is accelerating. The main barrier stopping the courier industry being wiped out by drones at the moment is legal issues.