Wondering about that future with self-driving cars roaming around the streets? Looks like there might be alternatives to the systems that Google and similar firms have showed us. And yes, admittedly that is a toy car they’ve used. However, the system that this small team of students from Griffth University has designed is incredibly innovative. The autonomous car systems we’ve already seen usually incorporate a camera attached to the car somewhere and a giant satellite or GPS strapped to the roof, and while some do work very well, imagine strapping only your smartphone to your car and being able to let it drive itself? Well, this is the first step in that direction.
Tommi Sullivan, Michael Lennon and Yukito Tsunoda form the team from the university in Queensland, Australia and have managed to use only the sensors in a smartphone to create an autonomous car. That means using the signals from the GPS and camera just from a Samsung Galaxy S2; I don’t think I’ll ever complain about the power available in a S2 again. While the design might be a little while aways from being safe to use on real roads, the team’s design has netted them the Smart Award in Queensland, which gives them a shot at winning the Australian national Smart Award. Let’s hope the team gets their hands on a S4 before then.
What do you think about this team’s work on showing how much power we have in our phones? Think one day we’ll just be using our smartphones to drive our cars? Let us know what you think about this in the comments.
Source: CNET Australia
