In order to make self-driving cars viable, the automotive industry has recruited some of the best software developers, hardware engineers, and mobility analysts humanity has to offer. There’s a new community working to push autonomous technology forward, but these researchers aren’t human at all.
Buried deep within the halls of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) lies a small suburb called Duckietown, a mock-up municipality used to test and develop driverless technology. Populated entirely by rubber ducks riding on autonomous robo-taxis, Duckietown is the culmination of a graduate-level class that could prove invaluable to automakers in the future.
“We believe a tool like this will help create a common platform and language for researchers to build on,” said CSAIL postdoctoral associate Liam Paull, who co-leads the Duckietown course. “We hope this will make it easier for computer scientists to continue to work together to bring autonomous vehicles into the real world.”
To bring us closer to the driverless future, 50 “Duckiebots” wander the colorful foam streets of Duckietown, using a single onboard camera to track road markings, monitor their fellow Duckiebots, and even read street signs. It’s not quite the real thing — there are no worn lane markings or inclement weather to deal with — but according to Andrea Censi, an MIT researcher who also leads the class, that isn’t really the goal.
“We thought about key problems like integration and co-design,” said Censi. “How do we make sure that systems developed separately will work together? How do we design systems that maximize performance while sharing resources? It’s a delicate balancing act in weighing the relative importance of different infrastructure elements.”
If you’re looking to build a Duckiebot, Doggiebot, or G.I. Joe action-figurebot for yourself, there is good news — the robo-taxi platform and the attached teaching materials are free and open-source. That means someday soon, you could have your very own autonomous community in your basement, albeit a small one. To stay up to date on all the happenings in Duckietown, check out the team’s Facebook page.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.