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Volvo looks to locusts to prevent accidents
If you think your morning commute looks (and feels) like a bunch of insects randomly swarming toward a multitude of random destinations, you'd be mostly right. But only mostly. Research by the Insect Vision Laboratory shows that like your fellow rush-hour drivers, swarming African locusts are busy calculating the position, direction and speed of the other travelers around them. Unlike all those other drivers, African locusts never run into each other. We'd be willing to argue that's definitive proof most drivers are dumber than common insects.
Volvo, however, sees more than just the obvious. Instead, they see a possible way to keep all those clueless drivers safe by studying just how those locusts are able to avoid collisions.
But there's a lot of work to do before the automaker can put nature to work on the streets. The researchers theorize that the bugs can easily miss hitting each other because they're somehow able to send information straight from their sensory organs to their wings, completely bypassing their simplistic brains. That ability to instantly translate data into action keeps the locusts crash free. The problem is that currently automotive technology can't match the locusts' data-processing talents. So for at least the immediate future, have a little sympathy for those other guys out there. They actually are less intelligent than the bugs stuck in your grille.
[Source: Wired]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
John R 10:22AM (9/23/2008)
"...We'd be willing to argue that's definitive proof most drivers are dumber than common insects."
LOL. Nice send up.
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Aki 12:01PM (9/23/2008)
Lol at the insect comment. Watching morons tailgating on the I80, pacing along with other cars in blindspots and then (surprise!) getting into fender benders clogging the bridge, I can back that notion.
But I think dumb drivers will always be dumb, and doesn't matter how many safety measures you can put on the car.
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s13hybrid 12:29PM (9/23/2008)
Funny picture, good point on the insects being smarter than drivers.
This has brightened my day. Thanks.
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Nightcrawler 3:10PM (9/23/2008)
How do they know locusts never run into each other? If they did on occasion, I doubt there would be obvious signs of damage live in auto accidents. And if you were be an observer standing by a highway for a few hours, and not seeing any accidents, you might come to the conclusion that people driving cars never run into each other either.
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AMcA 8:56PM (9/23/2008)
It's not that the locust are smarter.
It's just that they don't talk on cell phones, apply make-up, style hair, drink coffee or consume 3-course meals while they're swarming.
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Tito 3:54AM (9/24/2008)
Yeah funny post, and interesting too.
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fd 8:30AM (9/24/2008)
I've studied traffic, road design, preventive driving, accidents etc a bit in the US and Western Europe. A couple major differences stand out in terms of traffic education, laws and driving practice. Ignoring the big cities (they seem to come with their own rules & practices regardless of continent); I do observe these things in the US: far less safe distance to absolutely none is kept between vehicles, slow traffic does not keep right (any lane goes), no turn signal use, all lanes are passing lanes, yellow traffic light = go for it no matter how far you are from the intersection.
These things make situational awareness much harder (+ exhausting) and safe driving practices sometimes next to impossible because traffic comes from everywhere, drivers don't prompt others about their intentions and some behave absolutely erratic ( the fast & furious guys zipping through all lanes, no signaling, clearing other cars by less than a foot ... )
I am curious where Volvo is going with this and definitely look forward to reading more about it.
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