July 14, 2012

MIT news: Mechanical engineers develop an ‘intelligent co-pilot’ for cars



Semiautonomous system takes the wheel to keep drivers safe.

(July 13, 2012)  Barrels and cones dot an open field in Saline, Mich., forming an obstacle course for a modified vehicle. A driver remotely steers the vehicle through the course from a nearby location as a researcher looks on. Occasionally, the researcher instructs the driver to keep the wheel straight — a trajectory that appears to put the vehicle on a collision course with a barrel. Despite the driver’s actions, the vehicle steers itself around the obstacle, transitioning control back to the driver once the danger has passed.