Stuttgart, March 1996
The road becomes a world apart. Valleys appear, winding through mountain ridges, only to vanish again as quickly as they have come. Now vast ridges appear somewhere else, and the driver has to negotiate his way around them.This world is real only on the monitor screen. It is generated by a high-speed computer working from a mathematical model developed by Daimler-Benz researchers. But though only "virtual", the mountains and valleys do symbolise hurdles of another kind: the higher the mountains, the greater the danger for the driver at this point on the road. The car is travelling in greatest safety when it is at the lowest point in the valleys. There the danger of a collision with other cars or trucks is lowest. This mathematical model forms the basic foundation for tests at Daimler-Benz into computer-controlled automated driving systems.
Wherever possible, the computer tries to move the vehicle along the bottom of the virtual valley. It is able to do this, despite the fact that the "landscape" about it is constantly changing, because it can understand and react to the changes taking place around the car faster than a human being. If for example the vehicle is on the point of leaving the road, an insurmountable "ridge" suddenly rears up alongside the vehicle. The same thing happens if another car approaches from behind or if the car approaches a slow-moving vehicle in front: the closer the vehicles come together, the greater the barrier that, at least in the model, builds up between them.
But the programme operates not only on the basis of measurable risks, for example when changing or leaving a driving lane, encountering obstacles or failing to observe traffic signs. Dirk Reichardt, who developed the system, has also ensured that it is aware of human characteristics. For this purpose he fed psychological data into the model about human driving behaviour in different traffic situations. The automatic "pilot" thus behaves and operates the vehicle in much the same way as a human driver.
For more than a year, the mathematical algorithm has been undergoing testing not only on the screen but also on the road. It forms the nerve centre of an on-board computer fitted in the Daimler-Benz VITA II research vehicle. The information about road conditions supplied by a high-performance image-processing system is digested by two processors. From its home in the boot, the computer controls the accelerator, brakes and steering wheel, manoeuvring the vehicle safely through the valleys and between the hazardous ridges.
Daimler-Benz researchers are working on a genuine "automatic pilot" device for cars, modelled on the systems used in aircraft. In the VITA II research vehicle, they have already partially realised their vision. With the aid of 18 small video cameras, a high-performance image processing system and an electronic "brain" as its control centre, VITA II already permits fully automatic operation on motorways and major roads without oncoming traffic.
The control centre of the "automatic pilot" system is formed by two processors in the boot of the car which register and process, in the space of 40 milliseconds, what is happening around the vehicle. At the same speed and at the same intervals, these two PC's also create virtual "mountain ridges" around VITA II warning of hazards and forcing it to drive always in the valleys.
When making its calculations, the in-vehicle computer takes into account the road markings, traffic signs and the other cars and trucks on the road, noting their positions and speeds.
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