Not Your Normal Smart Car

They may look like your ordinary vehicles, but these rides give new meaning to the name smart cars.

Demonstrations and exhibits were displayed on June 24 at University of California, San Diego as part of the 2010 Intelligent Vehicles Symposium.

Think of the symposium as a peek into the future. Researchers, academicians, practitioners and students from universities, industry, and government agencies were invited to discuss research and uses for intelligent vehicles and Infrastructures. There were about eight car demonstrations in all, with various exhibitions showing of the latest in intelligent vehicle technology.

One idea in the works is Eco-Friendly driving from the University of California, Riverside. According to Kanok Boroboonsomsin, Assistant Researcher two systems in the works are Eco-Routing and Dynamic Eco-Driving.

Eco-Routing, Boroboonsomsin said is a system that maps the least amount of distance a car can drive to its destination, therefore using the least amount of gas. Dynamic Eco-Driving, Boroboonsomsin said was technology that allowed a car to stay at a constant speed instead of doing stop and go, avoiding fuel waste.

Another featured work at the event was the LISA-Q test bed. This demo, from UCSD, is described by the event website as a unique on-road laboratory that monitors the vehicle, driver and environment using computer vision.

“Sometimes you may not be able to see that there is a car breaking two cars ahead of you but if you know it has made a hard break you should also start slowing down,” Mohan Trivedi, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director of Computer Vision and Robotics Research Laboratory at University of California, San Diego said. “…Vehicle to vehicle communication is a very big area.”

The LISA-Q wasn’t the only LISA on the scene, as the LISA-X was featured as well. This demo, also from the UCSD features the work of people in the field of Psychology and Neurosciences.

“We have some other vehicles in driver assistance category that they truly can predict what is in the mind of the driver,” Trivedi said.

The LISA-X incorporates measurements of the environment, vehicle and driver, the event website said. The technology then uses mathematical models to estimate and predict the intentions of a driver.

“We have drawn up some simulators that you will be able to see where some of the difficult situations where drivers… they meant on doing an acceleration but they end up pushing break,” Trivedi said. “…This particular simulator allows us to perform research and then provide insight so that safer vehicles can be designed.

Though the conference ended on June 24, information about the technology featured at the Intelligent Vehicle Symposium can still be accessed online.

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