The Ford Mustang with a difference
07/18/2018
The spectators in front of Goodwood House were amazed. A Ford Mustang from the first year of production, which was actually not very conspicuous, drove up the hill through the castle park in serpentine lines and at very low speed, as if the driver was drunk.
But the driver was not only sober, he wasn't even steering, because the 50-year-old Mustang had sophisticated electronics on board that controlled all of the vehicle's functions. An autonomously driving classic car!
However, the university project, which was realized with the help of Siemens, was not yet entirely convincing. For safety reasons, the Mustang was not allowed to exceed 20 miles per hour, and the computer technology was obviously challenged by the pony car's not always spontaneous throttle response and notoriously poor steering precision.
The driver, who was actually forced to remain inactive, had to reach into the steering wheel several times to prevent the Mustang from clearing straw bales or leaving the road. After all, the swerves in front of Goodwood House were intentional (and programmed), as the aim was to demonstrate that the car was driving autonomously and as long as it was driving straight ahead, there was little to see.
Nevertheless, the "competitor" "Roborace" was much more successful and, above all, faster. After all, nobody was really sitting in the modern "Roborace" and the computer seemed to be absolutely in control. However, we dare to doubt whether the public will really enjoy cars in the future that, like the robotic lawnmowers and vacuum cleaners we have known for a while, perform their task and compete in a hill climb without a human on board.
You can read more and, above all, less "autonomous" about the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2018 in our article .
