A Startup Wants To Turn Your Regular Car Into A Self-Driving One | TechTree.com

A Startup Wants To Turn Your Regular Car Into A Self-Driving One

The technology is still many years away from being truly autonomous, but the idea in itself is alluring.

 

The future of the car is one that drives itself, but leave out the hoards of people who'll remain cynical of the technology and its hard to believe the rest of us will throw away our regular cars for a self-driving one. Well, a startup called Cruise is trying to fix just that, developing an aftermarket kit that converts your regular car into the self-driving one you want.

Cruise uses a roof-mounted sensor array in unison with a series of actuators that control the pedals and steering wheel. A computer sitting in the trunk of the car makes sense of all the data logged by the sensors and converts it into movements of the controls.

The kit has the potential to convert any car into a self-driving one, requiring just the push of a button installed on the dashboard to turn the system on. There are however a few drawbacks, some which are unique to Cruise's system and some which plague all self-driving vehicle efforts.

Firstly, just as every manufacturer (and Google) will tell you that autonomous driving just isn't there yet, Cruise's system is currently nothing more than a smart cruise control. Right now all the system does is maintains a constant speed, or distance from the vehicle ahead of it, and steer to avoid obstacles.

Moreover, the technology will currently work only on the freeways of San Francisco's Bay Area and your choice of car is restricted to Audi's A4 and S4. While it may not be hard to adapt the tech to other cars in the future, since Cruise does all the road-mapping itself, it's hard to imagine the system will work everywhere.

To put things into perspective, Google's recent acquisition of satellite company SkyBox Imaging will supposedly help its self-driving car program. Such is the scale of mapping changes on city streets that even the biggest manufacturers are finding it hard.

[See also: Move Over Self-Driving Car; The Dutch Want Driverless Trucks]

Then there are the more unique issues of Cruise. Self-driving cars from manufacturers will face numerous regulatory issues and not to mention road blocks from insurance agencies. So it's sort of a long-shot to think that an aftermarket accessory that turns any car into a self-driving one will go down well with the authorities.

Currently the technology is far too expensive. To have your Audi outfitted with the Cruise system you'll have to shell out $10,000. While current self-driven test mules from other companies are carrying sensors worth a lot more, Cruise still isn't a very viable option.

Still, the prospect of converting any car into one that drives itself is alluring enough for us to root for systems like Cruise. With the right resources and commitment the technology can work, the only thing standing in the way is the competition.


TAGS: self-driving vehicles, Cruise, Audi, Cruise Control, Google

 
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