Page 23 - atoday

TECHNOLOGY A23
Thursday 22 October 2015

Key test for self-driving cars: A northern Virginia highway

MATTHEW BARAKAT This file image, taken Oct. 1, 2015 from video, shows Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) Senior Research Engineer David
Associated Press Aylor in the driver’s seat with an electronic display on the dashboard for parallel parking assistance at the IIHS Vehicle Research
ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Center in Ruckersville, Va.
Self-driving cars faced
what might be their ulti- Associated Press
mate test Monday: I-95 in
northern Virginia. when the car slowed on its found what became Nex- also let them take their eyes David Taylor, an electron-
The Virginia Tech Trans- own as the lead vehicle in tel. Warner said the similari- off the road for extended ics technician with VTTI,
portation Institute demon- the caravan hit its brakes. ties between automated periods. said the test went largely as
strated its automated ve- They widened again when vehicle technology and Technology debuted last planned. At one point dur-
hicle technology Monday the car shifted lanes with the wireless industry three week by Tesla, for instance, ing a lane shift the car over-
on the I-95 Express Lanes, the driver’s hands off the decades ago are striking. allows for automated lane shifted slightly, veering to
a stretch of asphalt on wheel to make way for a The test conducted Mon- changes and braking, but the far right side of the right
the notorious I-95 corridor police vehicle with its sirens day by VTTI involved what comes with a warning for hand lane, prompting the
that connects the traffic- wailing as part of the simu- is known as Level 3 auto- the driver to continue pay- driver to grab the wheel
choked suburbs of north- lation. mated technology, sort ing close attention and and take control, but oth-
ern Virginia to the nation’s Afterward, Warner admit- of a midpoint between keep hands on the wheel. erwise it went smoothly,
capital. Officials at the in- ted to a brief “moment fully automated technol- The Virginia Tech technol- Taylor said.
stitute and an administra- of terror” at the abrupt ogy and no automation. ogy contains some unique The institute’s director,
tor at the U.S. Department changes, but predicted VTTI spokeswoman Mindy features, automatically Tom Dingus, said VTTI has
of Transportation said they that thetechnology is Buchanan-King said Mon- shifting lanes to the right no plans to market or sell
believe it’s the first time poised to take off. day’s test went beyond during the simulation when its technology. Instead, it
that driverless technolo- “This is the next big, great, some of the other technol- a state police trooper ap- serves as a research tool for
gy this advanced has been disruptive technology,” ogy entering the market- proached with sirens wail- automakers, the U.S. De-
tested on an actual high- said Warner, who made his place because it allowed ing. And the Cadillac au- partment of Transportation
way, though they acknowl- fortune decades ago as drivers to not only take their tomatically slowed as it and others to help them
edged that research in the a ground-floor investor in hands off the wheel and approached a simulated study and develop their
field is evolving quickly and mobile phones and helped their foot off the pedals but work zone and traffic stop. own products.q
not always easily tracked.
And the demonstration it-
self was highly controlled: It
occurred at midday, when
the Express Lanes were oth-
erwise empty, as they were
in the midst of the reversal
process from northbound
for the morning rush hour to
southbound for the after-
noon rush.
The specially modified Ca-
dillac SRX wasn’t driverless.
Virginia law requires a driv-
er behind the wheel, and
the technology still requires
a driver to be ready to take
over if necessary.
But the self-driving car han-
dled lane changes on its
own and adjusted speeds
to account for simulated
traffic and construction
zones.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virgin-
ia, participated as a pas-
senger. His eyes widened

Expedia’s travel sites to list more info on airline fees

BELLEVUE, Wash. (AP) — Ex- Those fees typically remain extensive index of flight in- fees generated $6.5 billion their baggage and can-
pedia’s online travel sites hidden until a traveler is formation in its dominant in revenue for airlines last cellation fees alongside
are introducing tools de- ready to buy a ticket. search engine. year, a 7 percent increase their ticket prices.
signed to show the true Expedia is hoping the ad- Added airline fees have from 2013, according to Expedia’s sites also are go-
cost of flying. ditional transparency will been a sore spot for travel- the U.S. Department of ing to analyze airline pricing
The features announced help its sites, which also in- ers since American Airlines Transportation. trends to advise travelers
Tuesday will list the fees for clude Travelocity, Orbitz began charging to check The airline industry is fight- when there are likely to get
checking bags and can- and Hotwire, to stand out bags seven years ago, but ing proposed government the best deal for a ticket to
celling a reservation in ad- from rivals like Priceline. they are here to stay. regulations that would re- a destination on their busi-
dition to the ticket fare. com’s Kayak and Google’s Baggage and cancellation quire carriers to spell out ness or vacation itinerary.q