Amazing, awesome, interesting, fantastic.

Those are all words to describe this interview published yesterday on Just-Auto.com with Dr Nady Boules, director of GM’s Electrical and Control Integration Research Lab.

It’s amazing to see the huge difference between GM and Ford on this. GM seems excited to play a lead role while Ford wants to wait (read my infamous 2am rant on this for more).

GM just gets it. They see the disruptive nature of the technology and want to take the lead. God BLESS you, GM! First the Volt, now this, and they are also cranking through enormous profits to boot. I love it, I love it. Enough rambling – here’s some key quotes:

V2V – why it is necessary:

“When vehicle to vehicle [V2V] communication is universal, autonomous driving becomes more affordable because you need fewer sensors.” V2V allows vehicles to inform each other of their position and trajectory, so it would not need to be sensed.

V2V via DSRC at 5.9GHz is now standardized and a number of automotive OEMs have proved inter-operability, to the extent that Boules claims there is no issue with its adoption as a global standard.

Privacy:

Despite cars broadcasting their positions and speeds, privacy issues don’t bother Boules. He points out that the DSRC data is anonymised. Besides. “We consider privacy as one of the most import areas we have to protect. People trust GM with their data. We have has OnStar since 1996 and we have kept the data safe.” He says no speeding ticket has ever used OnStar data.

Some manufacturers have expressed reservations about autonomous driving because it would take away their marketing advantage of producers of cars drivers actually want to drive. Says Boules, “We recognise some drivers say ‘You’ll take away the steering wheel over my dead body.’ I personally believe there will be a time when people will feel insecure actually driving on the road and will go to special ‘driving ranges’ to practice driving themselves for fun. But if you have your family with you, you’ll say ‘I’ll let the car take care of this.’”

The New Super Cruise Technology:

Despite the fact that many of these individual elements are on the market now, the effect of combining them is striking, Boules says, “It’s a very discernible step-change when you go semi-autonomous, hands-free and foot-free at the same time. The management, when they try it, always come away wowed. Letting go of the steering wheel really is a big deal.

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.

We loved the GM EN-V. It was small but oh so purty.

Now for something even better looking – the GM EN-V 2.0! It’s a concept car, sure, which is basically code for “don’t get your hopes up” BUT we like to think of it as having great potential. No longer balancing on two wheels, it feels a bit more like a normal car. While it’s not driverless – yet – we believe this is a model of the future.

GM is focusing this vehicle on China, especially some interesting concept cities which are on the horizon. With 2.5 million sales last year in China they are putting their first foot forward.

Is this what Driverless Cars will look like? We hope so.

(Oh and @GM – start sending us media releases like the other companies do. Tx)

GM has been working intensively on autonomous car technology as of late and has yesterday announced that they are testing “Super Cruise” mode, with the hopes of launching by early 2015.

The mode is set to be capable of auto-steering, braking and lane-keeping – most probably on highways.

The video above is worth watching as it shows the technology in action!

Thanks to Gabriel for sending this news through to us.

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Image : Wired.co.uk

It’s like something out of a movie. The EN-V, a Segway-GM collabaration, is given a top-bottom exposé by Wired.co.uk:

The EN-V is a zero-emission, autonomous car for our driverless urban future. First conceived as part of a collaboration between General Motors and the personal-transportation manufacturer Segway, the EN-V (short for Electric Networked Vehicle) is designed for environments dedicated to networked self-driving vehicles — the cities of 2030, according to GM. The EN-V is packed with sensors and, in theory, is crashproof. It “platoons” with other cars in formation, removing any need for traffic lights, and can be parked at your command via a smartphone app.

Here’s a couple of images of the vehicle being demonstrated:

AP

Can’t believe no one is reporting this. Am I missing something?

GM is drawing on their DARPA Urban Challenge 1st place and ridiculously sexy EN-V to add some pretty cool new tech to the Cadillac XTS.

Here’s the full release:

Coming this fall to XTS, the available Driver Assistance Package is the first General Motors system of its kind to use sensor fusion, which enables integration of a broad range of sensing and positioning technologies that can alert drivers of road hazards and help them avoid crashes.

“We believe sensor fusion will enable future active safety systems to handle a greater number of inputs to provide 360 degrees of crash risk detection and enhanced driver assist features,” said Bakhtiar Litkouhi, GM Research and Development lab group manager for perception and vehicle control systems.

“A system that combines the strengths of multiple sensing technologies and expertly manages those inputs can provide advisory, warning, and control interventions to help drivers avoid collisions and save lives,” Litkouhi said.

Sensor fusion also is a building block in the development of semi-autonomous and fully autonomous vehicles, which are designed to maintain lane position and adapt to traffic environments. It is envisioned that more sophisticated self-driving technology, that could enable semi and fully autonomous driving, will be available by the end of the decade.

Sensor fusion development also is bolstered by GM’s work on the EN-V, three semi-autonomous electric concept vehicles unveiled at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. By combining GPS with vehicle-to-vehicle communications, distance-sensing and object detection technologies, EN-V can be driven both manually and autonomously, the latter allowing it to automatically select the fastest route based on real-time traffic information.

The overall result puts them in the same league as their European competitors but what inspires us most about this is the obvious vision and drive behind this. GM is here to play.