Visit the Cellar!

The Cellar Image of the Day is just a section of a larger web community: bright folks talking about everything. The Cellar is the original coffeeshop with no coffee and no shop. Founded in 1990, The Cellar is one of the oldest communities on the net. Join us at the table if you like!

 
What's IotD?

The interesting, amazing, or mind-boggling images of our days.

IotD Stuff

ARCHIVES - over 13 years of IotD!
About IotD
RSS2
XML

Permalink Latest Image

October 22, 2020: A knot of knots is up at our new address

Recent Images

September 28th, 2020: Flyboarding
August 31st, 2020: Arriving Home / Happy Monkey Bait
August 27th, 2020: Dragon Eye Pond
August 25th, 2020: Sharkbait
July 29th, 2020: Gateway to The Underworld
July 27th, 2020: Perseverance
July 23rd, 2020: Closer to the Sun

The CELLAR Tip Mug
Some folks who have noticed IotD

Neatorama
Worth1000
Mental Floss
Boing Boing
Switched
W3streams
GruntDoc's Blog
No Quarters
Making Light
darrenbarefoot.com
GromBlog
b3ta
Church of the Whale Penis
UniqueDaily.com
Sailor Coruscant
Projectionist

Link to us and we will try to find you after many months!

Common image haunts

Astro Pic of the Day
Earth Sci Pic of the Day
We Make Money Not Art
Spluch
ochevidec.net
Strange New Products
Geisha Asobi Blog
Cute animals blog (in Russian)
20minutos.es
Yahoo Most Emailed

Please avoid copyrighted images (or get permission) when posting!

Advertising

The best real estate agents in Montgomery County

   xoxoxoBruce  Monday Jul 27 12:08 AM

July 27th, 2015: Mcity, Michigan

There's a new town in town... Mcity, Michigan.
Hey, those buildings look like they belong in Rock Ridge. I wonder if they have a black sheriff?


Looks pretty new and shiny, sort of anti-Detroit. No litter or bird poop... or people.

Quote:
Early this week, the University of Michigan together with Michigan Department of Transportation opened a new test environment that would enable car manufacturers and technology suppliers to test driverless cars in a controlled environment.

Called Mcity, this 32-acre simulation of urban and suburban environment is the first of its kind and includes a network of roads with intersections, traffic signs and signals, streetlights, fake building facades, sidewalks and obstacles such as construction barrier. Unlike public streets, many of Mcity's elements are movable that will allow engineers to rearrange the city’s layout to create complex intersections, blind corners and all kinds of conditions imaginable.

In addition, Mcity will also include robotic pedestrians that would pop out in front of traffic unexpectedly to see how well autonomous vehicles react.
Oh boy, suicidal robots. That's more gooder than those sissy humans who aren't willing to jump in front of vehicles for science.

At first glance it would appear the taxpayers of Michigan, via U of M, and MDOT, are financing the manufacturers testing and certification of their products. I guess it's a way for Michigan to keep an eye on these companies so they can't say, Oh yes, we tested everything and it's okey dokey, market ready. No, bitch, bring it here an show us.

They could also use this city to train SWAT teams. You know, in case those vicious Canadians invade.
Link


Gravdigr  Monday Jul 27 12:21 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce View Post
Hey, those buildings look like they belong in Rock Ridge. I wonder if they have a black sherrrif.
[Taggart]Don't you worry. We'll make Rock Ridge think it's a chicken that got caught in tractor's nuts.[/Taggart]


monster  Monday Jul 27 09:09 AM

The potholes are missing



monster  Monday Jul 27 09:10 AM

Also, it needs robot stoned skateboarders in the middle of the street in the middle of night dressed in black



smillie  Monday Jul 27 09:54 AM

detroit

Since this is near Detroit I think they should have a few drug dealers standing in the middle of the street selling their wares and maybe a car jacker somewhere too.



Undertoad  Monday Jul 27 10:17 AM

I get it, but... they painted it to look like a city block to humans. That's so fuckin' funny.

University researcher: "And today we shall see how an automated car deals with our precise simulation that looks and feels exactly like a real city block. I'm switching on the car now..."

Google Car: "That's strange, someone has put up something that looks like buildings but, according to my laser radar, is entirely flat... let's see what else we got. GPS says we're in the middle of an abandoned warehouse... Galileo confirms. Three mobile towers and two known Wifi signals confirm our general location as well. There's a signal light where there isn't supposed to be one... it's not to any code for this area, so we absolutely must assume it's a fake. At the end of this block is an uncontrolled intersection where there can't be one. Mark that as an issue and let's have a human come out and detail it. But worst of all, government records show no private roads and the nearest actual road is 200 yards north. Let's just park and throw an error until we at least get a new map."



glatt  Monday Jul 27 10:24 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Undertoad View Post
I get it, but... they painted it to look like a city block to humans. That's so fuckin' funny.
It is funny, now that you point it out.

What the car sees:
Attachment 52747

It can't see paint colors.


BigV  Monday Jul 27 11:27 AM

so, there's no reason to paint it any particular way for the cars, since the cars will have to navigate the environment without the color cues anyhow. it's the people who will be building/training/testing the cars, and the people use color a lot. it makes sense to me to paint it this way.



xoxoxoBruce  Monday Jul 27 11:30 AM

And make it more realistic for the SWAT teams.



BigV  Monday Jul 27 11:31 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Undertoad View Post
I get it, but... they painted it to look like a city block to humans. That's so fuckin' funny.

University researcher: "And today we shall see how an automated car deals with our precise simulation that looks and feels exactly like a real city block. I'm switching on the car now..."

Google Car: "That's strange, someone has put up something that looks like buildings but, according to my laser radar, is entirely flat... let's see what else we got. GPS says we're in the middle of an abandoned warehouse... Galileo confirms. Three mobile towers and two known Wifi signals confirm our general location as well. There's a signal light where there isn't supposed to be one... it's not to any code for this area, so we absolutely must assume it's a fake. At the end of this block is an uncontrolled intersection where there can't be one. Mark that as an issue and let's have a human come out and detail it. But worst of all, government records show no private roads and the nearest actual road is 200 yards north. Let's just park and throw an error until we at least get a new map."
first of all, pretty funny.

next, I wonder how far an autonomous car's "vision" for lack of a better word needs to extend to get somewhere... does it need a map for the entire route? That kind of makes sense, but I don't always need a map, I mean, an understanding of exactly which uninterrupted stretch of pavement will take me from A to B. How will these cars handle unexpected obstacles. Duh, this is the kind of environment used to test the algorithms designed to let the car work out such problems.

this is really interesting stuff.


Diaphone Jim  Monday Jul 27 12:11 PM

"Self-driving" cars are a total boondoggle and a silly idea from start to finish.
Meeting no need, by the time an even partly functional car (one of millions on the road) the threat of climate change should make them obsolete or actual climate change useless.



xoxoxoBruce  Monday Jul 27 12:20 PM

Get the fuck outta here, How do I get to the grocery store? How do I get to the doctor? How do I get anywhere? If I lived in an urban environment public transportation would be an option around town, as long as I didn't leave town... as long as I stayed in the camp.



Happy Monkey  Monday Jul 27 12:41 PM

Partly functional autonomous cars are on the road now.



Gravdigr  Monday Jul 27 03:04 PM

I wonder how the self-drivers do in inclement weather? Like, say, snow and ice? Where actual judgement is required...



Also: When I first saw the picture in the op, I thought "Drivers' Testing Area". I was just thinking about the wrong kinda driver.



Lamplighter  Monday Jul 27 03:27 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gravdigr View Post
I wonder how the self-drivers do in inclement weather? Like, say, snow and ice?
Where actual judgement is required...
Exactly...

Doing a Google Map Search for directions in the mountains can be exceedingly unsafe.

Here is the only route Google Map recommends:

Attachment 52750


But here is the "safe" winter route

Attachment 52751


Happy Monkey  Monday Jul 27 03:38 PM

One hurdle that autonomous cars will have is that even if they have a track record much better than human drivers, they will make mistakes that are not normal human mistakes. One robot car that does something that seems extremely stupid to a human is much more newsworthy than a hundred humans texting while driving.



xoxoxoBruce  Monday Jul 27 07:56 PM

I like that I can cut them off with impunity.
Because they know where I am and what I'm doing they will avoid me, whereas human drivers might not even know what planet they are on.



Diaphone Jim  Monday Jul 27 08:08 PM

Sorry, Bruce, I am still the fuck inna here.
When your selfie auto can take you to the doctor while you comfortably recline in the back seat, it might be nice. If it took you to the right doctor, of course, and parked in a legal spot.
On to the store, reconizing your voice command and going to the right one.
I think your best bet will be the "anywhere" one, which is where you will likely end up.



xoxoxoBruce  Monday Jul 27 08:58 PM

Don't apologize ya pussy.
I was responding to...

Quote:
...threat of climate change should make them obsolete or actual climate change useless.
While I agree my buddy's niece living in Manhattan and owning two cars is excess, personal transportation is not a luxury in most of this country. Actually a Google car would get better mileage and have less environmental impact than I do.

Also as I enter my doddering years, It's comforting to see an alternative if Mothers Against Old Drivers makes them yank my license.
Now get off my lawn, ya whippersnapper.


Happy Monkey  Wednesday Jul 29 10:55 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Diaphone Jim View Post
If it took you to the right doctor, of course, ...
I ask computers where my doctor's office is already.


Undertoad  Sunday Aug 9 11:51 AM

NYTimes: Among the States, Self-Driving Cars Have Ignited a Gold Rush

Includes Mtown... and kinda says this is a cash run.

Quote:
Michigan, sensing a potential threat to its traditional leadership position in the auto industry, is taking no chances.

In July, officials unveiled a 32-acre testing ground in Ann Arbor specifically for researching self-driving cars — a mock suburb with asphalt and gravel roads lined by brick and glass building facades, where self-driving cars could be tested away from pedestrians. The state spent $6 million to build the site, with an additional $4 million coming from private companies.

“You can do the same type of test over and over again in identical circumstances,” said Jim Sayer, a researcher at the University of Michigan. “That is almost impossible on public roads.”

The project has already spurred investment. Fifteen companies, including Ford, General Motors, Honda and Toyota, have committed to spending $1 million each to conduct research there.



xoxoxoBruce  Sunday Aug 9 04:29 PM

Google has been using modified cars from manufacturers to work the bugs out of their system for several years. In May they revealed their own car, designed from the ground up with everything needed, integrated into the build. It looks like it was intended for an urban environment.
It's also what many shameless people would call "cute".




fargon  Sunday Aug 9 04:37 PM

It's adorable.



xoxoxoBruce  Sunday Aug 9 08:36 PM

Adorable? ADORABLE! Aaaaarrrrgggghhhh! ......... mutter mutter grumble spit mutter mutter mutter grumble spit mutter ..............SLAM



fargon  Sunday Aug 9 09:13 PM

Was it something I wrote?



monster  Sunday Aug 9 09:26 PM

they look like British police cars. Not what they actually look like but just like something that would belong with a bobby in a cartoon world.



Gravdigr  Sunday Aug 9 10:40 PM

[drift]

M-City......Am I the only one who is reminded of this when you read 'M-City'?

[/drift]



Your reply here?

The Cellar Image of the Day is just a section of a larger web community: a bunch of interesting folks talking about everything. Add your two cents to IotD by joining the Cellar.