Keep dreaming, can't even build a fucking high speed rail system or overthrow a bunch of old decrepit geezers who subsist off your brains and fondle your nuts. LOL! LOSERS!!! (Me included)  FOR ALL SELF-DRIVING CAR NEWS CLICK HERE Cars as traffic sensors A new algorithm optimizes the dissemination of information about traffic and road conditions through networks of wirelessly connected cars. Data about road and traffic conditions can come from radio stations’ helicopters, the Department of Transportation’s roadside sensors, or even, these days, updates from ordinary people with cell phones. But all of these approaches have limitations: Helicopters are costly to deploy and can observe only so many roads at once, and it could take a while for the effects of congestion to spread far enough that a road sensor will detect them. MIT’s CarTel project is investigating how cars themselves could be used as ubiquitous, highly reliable mobile sensors. At the Association for Computing Machinery’s sixth annual Workshop on Foundations of Mobile Computing on Sept. 16, members of the CarTel team presented a new algorithm that would optimize the dissemination of data through a network of cars with wireless connections. Researchers at Ford are already testing the new algorithm for possible inclusion in future versions of Sync, the in-car communications and entertainment system developed by Ford and Microsoft. For the last four years, CarTel, which is led by computer-science professor Hari Balakrishnan and associate professor Sam Madden, has been collecting data about the driving patterns of Boston-area taxicabs equipped with GPS receivers. On the basis of those data, the CarTel researchers have been developing algorithms for the collection and dissemination of information about the roadways. Once the algorithms have been evaluated and refined, the CarTel researchers plan to test them in an additional, real-world experiment involving networked vehicles. The new algorithm is among those that the group expects to test. Ends at odds Calvin Newport, a postdoc in Balakrishnan’s group, who developed the new algorithm together with Alejandro Cornejo, a grad student in Nancy Lynch’s Theory of Distributed Systems Group, says that previous work on diffusing information through networks of cars tended to assume that, over time, the network would always provide a sequence of connections that could relay data from any one car to any other. The problem is that the CarTel experiment suggests that that isn’t the case. On the other hand, it also demonstrates that two cars that do come within wireless-transmission range of each other will frequently remain near each other for long stretches of time — repeatedly hitting the same lights on the same stretch of road, for instance. A good information-dissemination algorithm should thus ensure that two cars passing each other in opposite directions, with only a fleeting wireless connection, will exchange high-priority data — say, that a tractor trailer has jackknifed across three lanes of traffic on the nearby interstate. On the other hand, it should also ensure that two cars stuck at a light together, with plenty of time on their hands, exchange lower-priority data as well — like the location of a particularly nasty pothole. Newport and Cornejo determined that the best way to meet both requirements was to take advantage of a sequence of numbers known as the binary carry sequence. Technically, each number in the binary carry sequence is the exponent of the highest power of two that will evenly divide the corresponding integer (where “evenly divide” means without a remainder). The integer 1, for instance, can be evenly divided by two to the zero power, or 1, while 2 can be evenly divided by two to the first power, or 2. But three can’t be evenly divided by either 2 or 4, so it, like 1, is divisible only by two to the zero power. The first three digits of the sequence are thus 0, 1, 0. The next nine, as it happens, are 2, 0, 1, 0, 3, 0, 1, 0, 2. READ MORE  ZUP is a mobile application developed by Illume (?)Software that helps drivers avoid distractions caused by their mobile phones. This innovative product holds text messages, e-mails and calls while you’re driving, yet always allows unlimited access to 911 and a list of authorized phone numbers. Illume donates five percent of net proceeds to organizations that educate people on the dangers of cell phone use while driving. How do you get iZUP? Purchase through our website or the app stores. LEARN MORE  Motorists encouraged to spy on rogue drivers (telegraph) Motorists are being encouraged to spy on each other and report incidents of antisocial driving to the police under a new scheme. By Heidi BlakeMotorists are being encouraged to report antisocial driving Photo: PAThousands of drivers have been reported by fellow motorists after being spotted speeding, drink driving or talking on mobile phones. Anyone reported twice in a year could face police action under the scheme, named Operation Crackdown. The culprits could receive a home visit or a warning letter. Sussex Police is trialling the campaign and has already received 20,488 reports from the public. Warning letters have been sent to 2,695, while a further 1,047 have been sanctioned for offences such as having an out-of-date tax disc. The scheme, under which reports are submitted anonymously online, could be rolled out nationally if it is deemed a success. But privacy campaigners have likened it to the tactics of the Stasi in East Germany, which encouraged residents to inform on one another. Dylan Sharpe, of the campaign group Big Brother Watch, warned that Operation Crackdown is "based on unfounded accusations by untrained and possibly prejudiced members of the public". He added: "This scheme is wide open to abuse, ranging from people with minor grudges against neighbours to busybody drivers who think they know what constitutes bad driving." A newsletter promoting the scheme reads: "Are you fed up with anti-social drivers? People who still use their mobile phones while driving, not wearing seat belts or those who insist on getting right up your bumper and are really annoying and dangerous to others." Sussex Police said in a statement: "1,047 drivers have had sanctions imposed on them including 28 for driving while under the influence, 175 vehicles have been seized for being driven without insurance, 376 have been reported to the DVLA for document offences and local councils have seized 64 vehicles for not having current road fund licence". READ MORE  FROM NEWS. AU: IBM applies for right to stop your car at intersections, week after researchers hack car THE days of running red lights may be numbered. Which is obviously a good thing in the obvious sense that things could get a little safer, but the method by which it may come about is causing some concern. If you're at all in fear of a Skynet future controlled entirely by computers such as that featured in the Terminator franchise, look away now. IBM has applied for a patent that covers "a method for managing engines in response to a traffic signal". If you're crawling through traffic in 2025 and approach a traffic light, IBM hopes it will be able to take control of your car. And according to the patent, you won't be able to go again until it lets you. Which sounds relatively harmless - it's something we do, or should do, anyway - but the issue of computer-controlled cars had some uneasy light thrown on it last week, when researchers at the universities of Washington and California enjoyed themselves at the expense of current models. READ MORE ON THIS STORY Also check out the UK's SARTE initiative involving the same concept  Pentagon’s Flying Car Program Takes Of The Pentagon’s far-out research agency has unveiled more details of their plan to create a shape-shifting, multipurpose car. Flying cars have been tried before, dozens of times. And a few of the efforts have even succeeded. But the Pentagon concept is several steps ahead of existing vehicles, like the Terrafugia Transition, which is more like a lightweight plane that can, by folding up its wings, operate on land. The Transition also needs runways for takeoff and landing, and can’t fly in harsh weather. And, in what could either mean revolutionary progress or massive failure, this initiative has out-there military agency Darpa behind it. In January, the agency, who has been toying with the flying car idea since at least 2008, hosted a proposer’s day workshop for their new Transformer (TX) project. At the time, details were sketchy: Darpa wanted a “morphing vehicle body” that could operate largely autonomously, reducing the chance of human piloting error in high-risk war zones. Plus, the agency’s initial documents noted, a hovering car would be able to cruise over obstacles and avoid areas rife with IEDs. Read More http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/04/pentagons-flying-car-program-takes-off/#ixzz0l7OGh4iU |    See all tech news here
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