In 1982, when David Hasselhoff jumped into KITT, a super-advanced Pontiac Trans Am that could drive itself, it was obvious Knight Rider was pure TV science fiction. But nowadays, with companies investing millions in autonomous vehicle research, could KITT be just around the corner?
The technology behind self-driving cars is advancing at an incredible pace, with companies like General Motors, Google, Tesla and Uber testing cars in San Francisco, Phoenix and Boston. And the idea of robo-cars is very appealing to younger consumers, with nearly two-thirds of Millenials willing to own a self-driving vehicle within the next decade.
In 1982, when David Hasselhoff jumped into KITT, a super-advanced Pontiac Trans Am that could drive itself, it was obvious Knight Rider was pure TV science fiction. But nowadays, with companies investing millions in autonomous vehicle research, could KITT be just around the corner?
The technology behind self-driving cars is advancing at an incredible pace, with companies like General Motors, Google, Tesla and Uber testing cars in San Francisco, Phoenix and Boston. And the idea of robo-cars is very appealing to younger consumers, with nearly two-thirds of Millenials willing to own a self-driving vehicle within the next decade.
But a University of British Columbia (UBC) study shows these cars may face a rather unexpected obstacle. No, it’s not KITT’s evil nemesis, KARR, but something decidedly more low-tech. Rain.
“We have computer vision algorithms which can be used by cars. But if you train a vehicle using the current algorithms, they don’t perform so well in adverse weather conditions,” says computer scientist Fred Tung, lead author of the ‘Raincouver’ study who conducted the research at UBC.
Continue reading at University of British Columbia (UBC).
Image via UBC.
