How will robot cars communicate with humans?
A LOOK can say more than a thousand words, and before anyone crosses the road in front of a car, they will tend to seek eye contact with the driver.
Has the person behind the wheel seen me? Can I risk stepping off the pavement? Questions like these must be answered in a split second, and now people are asking themselves: What happens if a robot is in charge of the vehicle?
“This might get a little tricky in future,” says Marc Lichte, chief designer at German carmaker Audi. After all, with the autopilot in charge, the driver might be taking a nap, checking their emails or even lounging in the back seat. In some cases, there may be no human on board at all.
“It means we have to come up with a new way of communication between man and machine,” says Lichte.
Lichte is the man behind Audi’s Aicon autonomous driving concept, which never needs a hand on the wheel or a jab on the brakes, since it has no controls at all.
Hundreds of light diodes in the front grille of the Aicon not only provide the headlights, but also act as a message board to signal the car’s intentions using icons and graphics. The Aicon can even tell people whether they should move out of the way if another vehicle hidden in a blind spot is approaching.
The trend towards using light sources as signals could be seen at the recent Frankfurt Motor Show, the Aicon was on show alongside other futuristic concept cars.
The sci-fi Mercedes F 015 limousine, unveiled two years ago, uses a laser to project zebra crossings and stop signs onto the tarmac. Its kid brother, the Smart Vision EQ, shown at this year’s Frankfurt bash, winks its headlamps when passengers enter its field of action.
Panels mounted on the flanks or at the rear can also be used to project all manner of information.
Lichte, whose name very appropriately means “lights” in German, believes that ultra-bright LEDs are essential if robot cars are to get the message across. “After all, this information must also be recognisable when the sun is shining brightly,” he says.
The industry is working on powerful beams which could project messages onto the surface of the road, and even reach headsdown pedestrians immersed in reading their smartphones.
Headlamp producer Hella has come up with a powerful headlight using the liquid-crystal display (LCD) technology familiar from high-tech televisions.
The headlamp uses 30,000 pixels or light points in order to project images such as warnings and turn signs onto the road. It is much brighter than conventional lights.
“With LED technology, we can come up with functions which are relevant for autonomous driving,” says Christian Schmidt, in charge of product development at Hella. “We aim to put Liquid Crystal Technology into serial production from 2020.”
Light technology could also have other potential applications, such as advertising. “That’s when we can start giving something back to the city,” says Daimler boss Dieter Zetsche.
For example, the glass doors fitted to the Smart Concept EQ can double up as translucent displays, showing information inward to passengers on board and all manner of information to onlookers such as the weather, news or even football league tables. — dpa