Technology has automated hundreds of formerly manual operations, from product assembly to crop irrigation. Until recently, however, an automated highway that could safely shepherd automobiles from point A to point B has existed only in ancient copies of Popular Mechanics.
The dream of being able to take a nap in the driver's seat has been given new hope, thanks to a driving simulator in Iowa City. As part of a feasibility study, the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) hired the Center for Computer-Aided Design at the University of Iowa to design and build the simulator so robocars can operate in a virtual world, where the only thing that can crash is the program.
The two-story tall "flight simulator for cars" is the most advanced of its kind, matched in size only by Daimler-Benz's in Germany, and unmatched in computer power. Drivers sit in a 1990 Ford Taurus at the center of the simulation dome. High-resolution video encapsulates the Taurus in a simulated city with other vehicles and pedestrians that respond to the driver's actions. A motion platform under the dome simulates actual driving by exerting up to 1.5 Gs of force.
The simulator projects up to sixteen vehicles in motion around the Taurus, interacting with other virtual cars, which occasionally crash, cut the Taurus off, or run down pedestrians. It all seems real enough to have made a few drivers (picked from a long list of volunteers) panic and ditch their vehicles, only to be run over by virtual trucks.
When can the rest of us expect to enjoy the same experience in the real world that the volunteers get in the simulator? Don't expect to plug the portable TV into your cigarette lighter anytime soon - the FHA won't give any projections about when or whether such a highway might be built.
Iowa Driving Simulator, Center for Computer-Aided Design, University of Iowa: +1 (319) 335 5726.
- Steve Davis
ELECTRIC WORD
Spinning Wheels in Iowa
