A group of car enthusiasts has built what they called a completely autonomous car based on a 53-yar-old Ford Mustang. Either the hardware was too old or the software too new and unrefined, but either way the car hardly made it to the finish line.
When the demo ride began, the allegedly autonomous Ford Mustang repeatedly tried to collide with the barriers. When the drive, who sat inside the car for security reasons, straightened it up and forced it along, it still continued to zigzag like a skier performing a slalom. The audience lost no time in nicknaming it “Drunkard”.
The muscle car was built by Siemens and a team of Cranfield University researchers. It came equipped with the original engine from the 1960s, but had new brakes, steering and suspension optimized for autonomous driving.
The vehicle also used GPS and a detailed 3D topographical map of the circuit, but it doesn’t take long to see that those proved of little help.
But let’s not be all gloom-and-doom, shall we? Another pilotless car, built and designed by Robocar, has managed much better, completing the entire hill climb without incidents and at a fairly fast tempo. This one came equipped with an all-electric drivetrain with 500 hp (373 kW) and an NVIDIA DRIVE PX 2 module for precise road positioning.
Photo: motor1.com