My Other Car Reads Minds /
Seth Trey
4/6/2011
Driving in Los Angeles is a nightmare. Cars and trucks swerve and stop , dancing a deadly dance that ends in frustration and fender-benders. At times, it’s all a driver can do to maintain situational awareness without swerving onto the shoulder and bursting into tears, not to mention avoiding collisions. Many times, there are simply too many cars in the vicinity of a driver for any one person to keep track of.
GAPS, or GPS Awareness and Prediction System uses DSRC system to very intelligently solve this problem by addressing the many factors related to the situational awareness, mainly by statistically predicting the actions of other drivers, and operating almost as a highway-wide nervous system, from which intelligence emerges spontaneously from many simpler units.
First, GAPS links to GPS systems, which are commonplace in today’s new cars, and widely available as handheld, separate units. From the route information from the GPS, the next turn to be taken by the car can be transmitted. For example, if the route includes a nearby exit from the freeway, a message is sent saying, “this car is about to exit.” This would help in areas where exits are dense, which are the most confounding areas to navigate, as well as anywhere with multiple lanes of traffic. The system could also operate predictively, by communicating to drivers which cars in their vicinity need to exit before them, and suggesting lane changes to move those exiting sooner towards the exits, avoiding frantic lane changes and uncertainty, and organizing the cars in the process. The system also monitors those cars whose drivers are not navigating by the GPS, but who have a routine commute, which the system can learn in a few days. These drivers make up the majority of drivers on the road during peak traffic times.
Second, GAPS can statistically track accelerations, lane changes, and other factors, to assign each driver a “danger factor” which would be broadcast. The system could also track the driver’s compliance with its suggestions, which could either add to the danger factor or be displayed as a sort of certainty in the predicted directions.
Third, GAPS can serve as a local traffic monitoring system. If a large amount of cars are moving very slowly, the individual vehicles could send out warnings to the cars behind them in the freeway, which would relay the message back like a note in a third-grade classroom. If enough of these devices are distributed on the highways, the vehicles themselves would operate as neurons in the brain, and would in fact themselves form a high-bandwidth communication channel everywhere there was a road, a literal “information superhighway,” since each car is essentially a low-powered router. The vehicles receiving the message could warn the drivers, and optionally calculate alternative routes, deciding amongst themselves how to utilize routes to alleviate traffic constrictions. For example, those closer to the exits could get off and take alternate routes, while some stay on the freeway. Even though the signals would only be transmitted a short distance, traffic data could propagate through the entire network, triggering phone and web apps, updating traffic data in real time, and helping plan the commute, for example, sensing traffic patterns and suggesting an earlier or later departure from home or work. This system-wide network would also serve to lower city emissions by reducing the time spent on the roads by all vehicles.
Fourth, GAPS could serve as a widespread disaster warning and information system. If a large disaster or attack cripples the information infrastructure, the cellular redundant nature of the GAPS system could still communicate information relatively quickly through densely populated urban areas. It could also warn of emergency vehicles, allowing more warning than given by sirens and lights, and organizing the sometimes hectic process of giving way before those vehicles.
One of the largest challenges in designing GAPSis one of data visualization, or rather, data interface, since it would most certainly interface with more than one sense. The system will have to display the data in such a way as to inform and not distract the driver, and be formulated in such a way as to encourage the driver to trust the system. Some type of heads-up display (HUD) would doubtlessly be incorporated, projecting a simple graphic representation of the data on the windscreen of the vehicle. Something reminiscent of the current GPS voice interface would be involved, guiding routes and suggesting alternate routings. The amount of information available to the driver is limited only by the quality of the visual design. A very simple HUD concept is pictured below.
Since much of the system’s intelligence would come from the interaction of many semi-independent
The entire personal unit could be built into something a little larger than a GPS, which is a fairly common fixture in cars today, whether included by the manufacturer or added by the driver. It could also be made into a smartphone app, since smartphones are becoming very widespread, and most have GPS, accelerometers, wireless transmitters (which may require slight modification) and powerful processors already installed. The HUD could be projected onto the windscreen, or could even consist of an inexpensive stick-on coating for the inside of the windscreen that would reflect the screen of a smartphone or other device placed on the dashboard, but a HUD is not required for this concept. Even an accessory to mount a smartphone on the dash with a sunshield and maybe a magnifier could be used. In a motorcycle, the system could perform as an augmented reality system, projecting data onto the visor.
Since at no time is control of the vehicle removed from the driver, the GAPS system is perfectly safe. A filtering system must be applied to prevent sensory overload, only providing the driver with the most pertinent information in case lots of displayable information is received at once (this problem also falls into the category of data visualization.) The driver will be able to select the information to be displayed, and the visualization priorities will be altered accordingly.
The potential popularity of GAPS is very evident. It provides comfort from knowing the exact minute-to-minute traffic conditions along your route, knowing which drivers to watch out for, and knowing where they want to go. It would remove a great deal of stress from the drivers, knowing that not only is their route planned, but even their lane choice is optimized for efficiency. Also, if designed properly, it could serve as a router system all along the interstate, used for data or media purposes. GAPS could change how we drive forever, and could serve as a testbed to usher in an era of completely unmanned cars, trucks, revolutionizing how our road system is used.
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