Backseat Driver...

Image Source: Figure 4 System Overview in paper


Topics: Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Robotics


TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: Buy a new car these days and the chances are that it will be fitted with an array of driver-assistance technologies. These can match the speed of a car ahead, manage lane changing safely, and even apply the brakes to help prevent a collision. So an interesting question is how much better these safety systems can become before the inevitable occurs and the car takes over completely.

Today we get a partial answer thanks to the work of Ashesh Jain at Cornell University and a few pals, who have developed a system that can predict a human driver’s next maneuver some three seconds before he or she makes it. This information, they say, can then be used to identify and prevent potential accidents.

The approach is straightforward in theory. Jain and co point out that a comprehensive knowledge of the driving environment, both inside and outside the car, can be used to make a pretty good guess at the driver’s immediate intentions. For example, drivers usually check the lanes next to them before making lane changes. So monitoring driver head movements helps predict whether the driver intends to change lanes in the next few seconds.

Physics arXiv:
Brain4Cars: Car That Knows Before You Do via Sensory-Fusion Deep Learning Architecture
Ashesh Jain, Hema S Koppula, Shane Soh, Bharad Raghavan, Avi Singh, Ashutosh Saxena

E-mail me when people leave their comments –

You need to be a member of Blacksciencefictionsociety to add comments!

Join Blacksciencefictionsociety