Fun_People Archive
14 May
Autonomous automobile
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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Thu, 14 May 98 20:14:55 -0700
To: Fun_People
Precedence: bulk
Subject: Autonomous automobile
X-Lib-of-Cong-ISSN: 1098-7649
Forwarded-by: Nev Dull <nev@bostic.com>
Forwarded-by: Carl Staelin <staelin@hp.technion.ac.il>
Forwarded-by: Darryl Greig [SMTP:darryl@hpisc22.hp.technion.ac.il]
Forwarded-by: Schechner Yoav <yoavs@tiger.technion.ac.il>
You are cordially invited to take part in one of the most special rides on
public roads: from June 1st to June 6th, 1998 the autonomous vehicle ARGO
will drive through Italy automatically and during the tour it will broadcast
a live video stream to the Internet. You will be able to take a look at
ARGO's driving cabin, at the results of the processing, and... at the
outside landscapes, LIVE. The official presentation of the tour will take
place on Wednesday, May 27th, 1998, at the Faculty of Engineering of the
University of Parma, at 2:30 pm, room F.
Please check http://millemiglia.ce.unipr.it for more details, ... and stay
tuned.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
M I L L E M I G L I A I N A U T O M A T I C O
The Demo of the ARGO Vehicle
Dip. di Ingegneria dell'Informazione
Universita' di Parma
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche in cooperation with TIM
Progetto Finalizzato Trasporti II Telecom Italia Mobile
1. PRESENTATION
The prototype vehicle ARGO (a Lancia Thema 2000) has been developed at
the Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Informazione of the University of
Parma, under the framework of the Progetto Finalizzato Trasporti 2 of the
Italian National Research Council (CNR). ARGO is able to compute its
relative position with respect to the lane, to extract the geometry of
the road, and to localize eventual obstacles obstructing the driving path.
A computing engine processes the images acquired by a stereo vision system
whose cameras are localized behind the windscreen, inside the vehicle;
the results are used to drive an electric engine installed on the steering
column, which provides automatic steering. The whole system is based on
the processing of visual information in order to remove the possibility
of inter-vehicle interference and does not need specific road
infrastructures. The original target of the project was the development
of a system to improve road safety by controlling and supervising the
driver activity. Further developments, however, allowed to extend the
functionality to automatic driving: during the MILLEMIGLIA IN AUTOMATICO
Tour, ARGO will drive in automatic mode. In the world two other extensive
tests have been conducted on public roads in the last few years: 'No Hands
Across America' by the CMU group (Pittsburgh, USA) and a trip from Munchen
to Odense by the group of Universitat der Bundeswehr (Germany). The goal
of our trip is to demonstrate that using only visual information and
low-cost general purpose hardware it is possible to drive automatically
and safely a vehicle under different road and environmental conditions.
2. DATES AND ITINERARY
Monday, June 1 1998
8.00 11.00 Parma - Torino.........................245 km
12.00 18.00 Demo & Seminar: IEN Galileo Ferraris, Torino
18.00 20.00 Torino - Milano - Pavia................175 km
Tuesday, June 2 1998
8.00 13.00 Demo & Seminar: DIS, Universita' di Pavia
14.00 18.00 Pavia - Milano - Padova - Ferrara......340 km
Wednesday, June 3 1998
8.00 11.00 Demo & Seminar: Universita' di Ferrara
12.00 15.30 Ferrara - Bologna - Ancona.............260 km
16.00 19.00 Demo & Seminar: Universita' di Ancona
Thursday, June 4 1998
8.30 13.00 Ancona - Pescara - Roma................365 km
14.00 19.00 Demo & Seminar: CNR - PFT II, Roma
Friday, June 5 1998
9.00 12.30 Roma - Firenze.........................280 km
15.00 18.30 Demo & Seminar: Universita' di Firenze
Saturday, June 6 1998
8.30 12.00 Firenze - Bologna - Parma..............195 km
Minor program variations may be announced on the Web page.
3. THE TEAM
Alberto Broggi, Massimo Bertozzi, Alessandra Fascioli
Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Informazione, Universita' di Parma
4. REAL TIME INFORMATION AND IMAGES
During the 'MilleMiglia in Automatico' tour, thanks to the cooperation of
TIM, Telecom Italia Mobile, ARGO will broadcast a live video stream to
the Internet. A PC acquires images from a camera installed inside the
vehicle and, using 2 independent GSM channels, sends the data to a
Web Server (http://millemiglia.ce.unipr.it) accessible from any host on
the Internet. Up-to-date information as well as live images acquired from
the vehicle during the demo are available at: http://millemiglia.ce.unipr.it
5. TECHNICAL DATA OF THE ARGO VEHICLE
* Lancia Thema 2000 * Led-based control panel
* B/W cameras, f=0.6mm, 360 lines * On board 6" color monitor
* Trinocular acquisition system * Inverter generating 220V @ 50Hz
* Odometer, Hall effect * Electric engine on steering column
* PC Pentium MMX, 200MHz, Linux * Joystick for emergency situations
* Analog/Digital I/O board * Stereo speakers
6. FUNCTIONALITIES
The system installed on ARGO allows the following functions:
MANUAL DRIVING:
the system monitors the driver activity; in case of potential dangerous
situations the system warns the driver with acoustic and optic signals
SUPERVISED DRIVING:
the system warns the driver with acoustic and optic signals and, in case
of dangerous situations, takes the control of the vehicle
AUTOMATIC DRIVING:
the system drives automatically, following the lane and localizing obstacles
on the path; the system is able to perform lane changes
________________________________________________________________________________
For information:
Alberto Broggi, ARGO project coordinator
Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Informazione
Universita' di Parma, Viale delle Scienze, 43100 PARMA, ITALY
Fax: +39-521-905723
E-Mail: broggi@ce.unipr.it
WebSite: http://www.ce.unipr.it/people/broggi
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© 1998 Peter Langston
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