E-Business
Issue No. 17 - June/July 2004
Home, James
by David Twiss
A couple of years back when struggling to find time for exercise I dreamed up the idea of being driven to work in a large pantechnicon truck, so I could exercise in the back while being driven to work. Although it seems rather likely that someone who could afford such an arrangement would probably not need to work anyway!
Who can deny the appeal of a chauffer driven limousine; forget the status; think of all the time freed up for other tasks such as reading the paper or just snoozing. A while back I heard about someone in America who had just purchased a giant Winnebago campervan, and after setting the cruise control he went down the back to make a cup of coffee; he thought cruise control meant autopilot!
A car that can drive itself around is still some way off, but we are getting closer all the time. The area of autonomous vehicles, not remotely controlled, but actually controlling themselves is being researched extensively. John Deere has demonstrated prototype autonomous tractors that can plough, sow or fertilise a field without human intervention, and they plan to have commercial versions on the market by the end of the decade.
Certainly there have been autonomous vehicles on public roads; a couple of years back some researchers from Carnegie Mellon University were driven across America from Pittsburgh to San Diego in a van fitted with auto-steering. (The researchers handled the throttle and brakes). In Las Vegas even now they have buses that steer themselves, following line markings on the road. (The ‘Civis’ made by Irisbus use visual technology from Siemens to follow lane markings on the road www.irisbus.com. These buses still have a driver, but the bus stays in its traffic lane all by itself).
There are lots of areas where autonomous vehicles would be a great choice once they become feasible, and once we can agree under what circumstances a car with no driver, or an aircraft with no pilot can be operated. We have seen during the...
