Drones, trams and automobiles converged on JAXPORT in Jacksonville this week, but their driver’s seats were empty.
That’s because it was the third annual Florida Autonomous Vehicle Summit.
Although Florida is just one of a few states testing driverless vehicles, the Sunshine State is looking to put its own spin on the emerging technology.
Eric Thorn of the Southwest Research Institute is sitting in the driver’s seat of a military-grade Humvee. He’s using his hands to gesture as he speaks. All the while the steering wheel directs the more than three ton vehicle over rough terrain around a telephone pole between a fence and a canal. The turn is tight, but the Humvee makes it through with ease.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPXKnqkssmM
“We have a set of eight cameras mounted on the roof here to provide perception and sensing data for the system to navigate,” Thorn says. “Two of those cameras are set up as a stereo pair. It functions a lot like your eyes do.”
Unlike the much publicized Google cars, the Humvee assesses its movements using regular cameras with high-tech perception software. Southwest Research Institute’s Josh Johnson says there’s a very good reason for that.
“It’s designed to operate in an off-road, military environment,” Johnson says. “So, that can be an environment where GPS is denied or jammed and where traditional autonomy sensors that are active like laser scanners can’t operate in a military environment because they become easy targets.”
But not all of the technology at the Florida Autonomous Vehicle Summit had military applications.
Inside the JAXPORT Cruise Terminal, Maynard Factor stands at the Micro Systems booth.
He’s demonstrating how one can turn their regular car into a self-driving one with a series of simple snap-on attachments. But he won't say exactly how much it’ll cost, and buyer’s need to purchase sensors and cameras separately.
Still, not everything on display has to do with actual driving. Metrotech’s Robert Bruckner is displaying a live feed of a new kind of traffic camera software.
“In real time, less than 60 seconds, we can provide a city or department of transportation with speeds and counts at lane level at 95 percent accuracy,” Bruckner says. “This allows for congestion management.”
In other words, instead of being purely reactive, Bruckner’s technology automatically assesses camera footage to determine obstructions and other problems that slow down traffic. Bruckner is currently testing the product in Tampa, but hopes to expand the software’s use to the rest of the Florida.
Three years since the state Legislature first authorized the testing of autonomous technology, Florida’s Autonomous Vehicle Initiative is worlds apart from similar programs around the country.
What makes the Sunshine State unique? The initiative’s Ed Hutchinson says it comes down to diversification.
“Different than Michigan and California, we looked at all the different aspects of automated technology, including maritime, aviation, transit, freight and also the passenger car,” Hutchinson says. “From there we’ve really just been gaining momentum every single year.”
But Hutchinson also says he does expect more states to embrace the new technology in the near future.
