It seems to come in batches. First, the latest and greatest piece of high-tech gadgetry comes out on one vehicle, then if it's the slightest bit successful, other auto makers are knocking down a suppliers' door to offer the same thing (if not something very similar) for their own next model. As you might imagine, we see our fare share of silliness at the auto shows where manufacturers seem to think they have an obligation to put heat-seeking traffic scopes or air-density finders, for example, on their futuristic concepts. Interesting as all this is, there aren't too many applications in the real world.
Two months ago, in Victorville, California, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) held a huge competition in an abandoned urban setting to test out, literally, a truck-load of unmanned automobile technology. Basically, 35 teams built a completely computer-controlled automobile to compete on three separate courses against time and other competitors. Judges and directors developed numerous tasks and challenges to simulate driving conditions in urban and suburban areas. Every one of these competitors (some fullsize SUVs and others little sports cars--one, from Oshkosh, used a gigantic heavy-duty work truck) had a ton of computer power inside, as well as exterior mounted cameras. The results were impressive, with the winner taking home the $2,000,000 first prize. Not bad for a few days of playing in the desert. It's worth noting that this is the third challenge they've done in the last few years--at the first one, not a single competitor was able to navigate more than several hundred yards of the relatively straight-line, wide-open desert course. They've come a long way.
As wild as the place might be where these technologies are headed (i.e., a world without drivers), I just got out of the new Infiniti EX35 that has several cameras mounted in the rear view mirrors and in the front and rear of the vehicle. What this allows, along with a pretty cool software program, is a top-down look at your vehicle, without distortion, where you can view everything that surrounds your car. The amazing here is the actual point of view of the "picture" (it gives you the impression the camera is hovering about 20 feet over the roof of the little SUV); it's without distortion. You'll notice none of the lines are bent because of the needed wide-angle lenses, typically necessary on small, car-mounted cameras. They all look straight and true, as if filmed from a movie camera. How this is done is way beyond me but I love watching it (a simple scroll on the screen controller) when parking at the store or at work. We've already got the Lexus LS460 that can park itself by using parking sensors and electronic steering to parallel-park your vehicle (to the shouts and applauds of your observing buddies). How long before this little SUV will allow you to record your slosh through the snow, or maybe like an airplane's little black box several seconds before an accident, or before it tells you, "Having some trouble with this parking spot?--Let me take care of it." And what about a few microphones so we can listen to the conversations going on around us, or in other cars? And away it goes. This could be pretty cool, if they let us have some of the control.
Another technology that is also going to get more attention as it gets out into more hands, although it does much of the controlling for you, is GM's new 2-mode hybrid system making its way into the big SUVs now but will get into the Silverado next year. Early reports are that it'll get 25-percent better fuel economy overall and up to 40-percent better in city driving. The technology here is really pretty good. The system was co-developed between Daimler, General Motors, and BMW but the GM camp is the first out of the gate. Basically, the system uses two electric motors (one for higher speeds; one for lower) in conjunction with an electronic variable transmission to move the vehicle from a stop, and provide some power assist when the 6.0-liter V-8 is running at higher speeds. Additionally, GM uses their Active Fuel Management (cylinder deactivation, auto stop, and other technologies), a ton of weight-saving strategies, electric 42-volt steering, no spare, and more to make it all happen. Of special note, there's no appreciable loss in payload or towing capability. The transmission housing, which holds the two electric motors, even has a standard set of four gears to be used when the system detects it needs to lock up during heavy hauling or towing. High technology without some kind of utility sacrifice is a nice change, unless you count the extra cost and complexity of the system a tradeoff. And maybe you should. Like all new high-tech solutions, there are usually some bugs to work out. It'll be interesting to see where this un-manned automobile technology takes us, as well as whether or not SUV people are really all that interested in high-tech hybrid solutions.