I spoke with a company representative last year before the product went public. She said that the C2C wouldn't be part of the initial product, but would be built-in and once there was a critical mass a software update could be delivered to allow C2C and/or C2I functionality to be rolled out.
Though the Dash has some high hurdles to overcome in that there needs to be a critical mass of C2C-enabled cars for a lot of it to work to its potential. Less so for C2I--much like a "Flash Pass" it could be sold by municipalities as a premium commuter service and increase ROI for C2I's infrastructure-side improvements, to build a cycle of improvements.
How you get to that critical mass is beyond my ken, but Dash told me that their exit strategy was to sell this to a car manufacturer, or, if they had interest from more than one, to license it to many, and become like EDS. Do that and hey'll have a big enough network. Of course, On-Star and the european consortium "EURCAR" is working on a similar agenda, and they've chosen to call their initiatve C2C. They're cleary the cool kids on the block (which includes Audi, BMW, Damlier, VW, Fiat, and Renault--notice the absence of The Big 3 and Nippon Co's?)
One of the first things to work out is the spectrum on which all this will happen, right now they're talking about the 802.xx technology in the 5.8Ghz, at the high end of that. But of course it has to be unfettered, not-noisy, and relatively secure (more potential for mischief than hacking an ATC center).
The thing about this initiative and the potential hinted at by The Dash is that I believe the future of accident avoidance and really the next phase in automotive control (now that we have ABS, ESP,PASV, TCS, lane-change notice and auto-parking) in C2C is direct communication to alert surrounding cars to lane changes, braking, erratic steering as well as general traffic speed for congestion alert. Enabled with nearest-neighbor information, the car can know in advance of its position when another car is planning to change lanes or is slowing--without the driver having to notice lights, guage deceleration rates, move their foot, etc.
If MB has a brake system that will buy you a 1/4 sec. by "pre-positioning" its brake pads when you lift off the throttle immediately, imagine what gains you could get by electronic inter-car communcation. Take the slow wetware out of the loop. Um, that's you and me, pal. First enabled for freeway/highway travel and filtering down to urban traffic, there are difficult but not insurmountable problems to solve, but it is clearly imaginable at this point. For rural and suburban roads the challenges are harder. We'll leave that for now in the hands of the DARPA Challenge folks. Handling anything, anywhere, anytime from behind the wheel is currently a job for the slower but much more adaptable wetware between our ears.
If we invest in some relatively small additions to C2I infrastructure in urban settings, the car could know well in advance when lights will change, speed limits, etc. Add that up and you really have the makings of great efficiencies in auto traffic and not just safety.
If MB has a brake system that will buy you a 1/4 sec. by "pre-positioning" its brake pads when you lift off the throttle immediately, imagine what gains you could get by electronic inter-car communcation. Take the slow wetware out of the loop. Um, that's you and me, pal. First enabled for freeway/highway travel and filtering down to urban traffic, there are difficult but not insurmountable problems to solve, but it is clearly imaginable at this point. For rural and suburban roads the challenges are harder. We'll leave that for now in the hands of the DARPA Challenge folks. Handling anything, anywhere, anytime from behind the wheel is currently a job for the slower but much more adaptable wetware between our ears.
If we invest in some relatively small additions to C2I infrastructure in urban settings, the car could know well in advance when lights will change, speed limits, etc. Add that up and you really have the makings of great efficiencies in auto traffic and not just safety.
[above image from the Renault presentation "Avoidance and Action in a C2C Network". ]
Coming Into an Intersection Near You
Imagine for a second that all cars were equipped with C2C. Or, in the closer future, imagine that a majority do. You're overlooking a major traffic intersection (don't know why, but I'm thinking of DeAnza Blvd. and Stevens Creek Blvd. Let the Apple employees be the lab rats). It's about 9am on a weekday and traffic is pretty heavy. At some moment, without drama, the C2I detects that all cars within 500yds of the intersection are C2C equipped [unequipped cars can be "ratted out" to the intersection by their equipped neighboring vehicles. "I can see you, but I can't hear you!"]. At a synergistic moment, the traffic lights begin to blink all their colors in all directions, alerting drivers to the upcoming thrill ride. At the edges, all pedestrians and cyclists are signalled to stop. Inside the cars, the C2C system alerts each driver, "Automatic intersection ahead, yield control to me in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1....I have control of your car. Control will be returned to you shortly. Listen for the countdown."
The car can take on the very simple task of steering a little on approach to keep in-lane stability. This is much simpler than the auto-parking mechanism of Lexus and others. Carnegie Mellon and Stanford have been running cars around their campus on autonomous control for years now--well-defined lanes, low speeds, no traffic. Lane change attempts are suppressed. Remember, that all the cars have "immediate radius destination" signals being sent out, so early moves into turn lanes and lane adjustments for speed (slow to the right, enforced by the cars themselves! Heaven!) have already been made. Then every car gets locked into a steady state on approach to keep the real time planning as simple as possible, Drivers basically don't have control over their pedals.
In all directions at the same time and all the cars just go through the intersection without any drama.
The cars interleave themselves with as little slowing as possible; the system creating the following distances necessary to get all the cars through the intersection in a basket weave. Little wasted gas, low chances of accident. It is Atari Frogger on a grand scale and everyone makes it across.
As non-equipped cars approach the intersection, it goes back into human-interface mode, the signals go back to normal, the audience of appreciative pedestrians whistle their awe...and maybe the whole thing happens again in a few minutes.
In all directions at the same time and all the cars just go through the intersection without any drama.
The cars interleave themselves with as little slowing as possible; the system creating the following distances necessary to get all the cars through the intersection in a basket weave. Little wasted gas, low chances of accident. It is Atari Frogger on a grand scale and everyone makes it across.
As non-equipped cars approach the intersection, it goes back into human-interface mode, the signals go back to normal, the audience of appreciative pedestrians whistle their awe...and maybe the whole thing happens again in a few minutes.
It occurs to me that perhaps motorcycles will be the most difficult to bring into this fold. But that's an off-the-cuff observation and would need more thought. This would be fun software to work on, bordering on "AI". Certainly some "hive think" and "emergent behavior" aspects of it.
When could this happen? Within 20 years, easily. Within my lifetime, certainly.
Other resources.
When could this happen? Within 20 years, easily. Within my lifetime, certainly.
Other resources.
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