Transportation news, curated through an EECS lense. Special interest and emphasis on autonomous vehicles, scalable solutions, cost-efficient transit (e.g. busses), innovations in infrastructure, security, IU/UX, and insights into the behavioral/legal/ethical aspects.

A step towards total autopilot 2012-09-25 Will planes someday fly without pilots? Three EPFL laboratories, commissioned by Honeywell and operating under the auspices of EPFL’s Transportation Center, are working on this possibility by developing collision-prediction, avoidance, and real-time vision algorithms. The project is a formidable technological challenge. via A step towards total autopilot. Interdisciplinary research The group has recently acquired a flight-testing area with ...

Can high speed rail compete with self-driven cars, improved airlines and all the technology of the future? – Forbes 2012-09-07 There’s been big debate about the projected cost ($68B to $99B) and the inability of projected revenues to cover interest on the capital let alone operating costs. The project is beginning with a 130 mile segment in the central valley to make use of federal funds. This could be a “rail to nowhere” connecting no ...

Study: Intelligent Cars Could Boost Highway Capacity by 273% – IEEE Spectrum 2012-09-07 On a highway filled to capacity by human drivers which is about 2,200 vehicles per hour per lane, about five percent of the available road space is taken up by cars. Five percent. This is because humans are so bad at driving that we need lanes that are twice the size of our cars, and ...

Chinese Remote Controlled Car – Driverless Car HQ 2012-09-03 Chinese car maker BYD has developed a remote controlled car called the Su Rui. The car apparently drives itself at a max speed of 1.2 miles per hour (1.9 km per hour). via Chinese Remote Controlled Car – Driverless Car HQ and For $10,000, You Can Own A Self-Driving Car Today. between 90-220,000 deaths per year ...

Racers’ Brains Provide Data for Autonomous Cars | Autopia | Wired.com 2012-08-22 Scientists from Stanford’s Revs Program will be looking at the biometrics of two drivers who will pilot a 1966 Ford GT40 during the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. Stanford scientists will be looking at body temperature, heart rate, and, best of all, brain activity. Under their helmets, both drivers will have their scalps covered with electrodes. via ...

US to drive 3,000 Wi-Fi linked vehicles in massive crash avoidance trial 2012-08-21 The test will feature nearly 3,000 cars, trucks and buses equipped Wi-Fi technology that will let the vehicles "talk" to each other in real time to help avoid crashes and improve traffic flow in the test area around Ann Arbor, Mich. via Layer 8: US to drive 3,000 Wi-Fi linked vehicles in massive crash avoidance trial. Potentially ...

Shelley, Stanford’s robotic racecar, hits the track 2012-08-15 Stanford’s self-driving Audi TTS, Shelley, hit 120 mph on a recent track test. Combined with new research on professional drivers’ brain activity, the car’s performance could get even better. via Shelley, Stanford's robotic racecar, hits the track.

Image credit: Neil Kremer

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