HERE Locate is a reference application to demonstrate the features and capabilities of the HERE Tracking cloud. You can use this in combination with the HERE Tracker app to test how connected devices can be tracked, geofenced and monitored. See real-time position and sensor data and review the device's history on a map that includes the context of your current location.
HERE Tracker is a reference application that allows a smartphone to connect to the HERE Tracking cloud, emulating a IoT device.
Feature highlights:
- Provision your HERE Tracker app with unique access credentials using the HERE - Tracking cloud - Securely connect the app to the HERE Tracking cloud to send the current location data and telemetry - Sends updates at user-defined intervals while running in the background - Offline tracking, with different update and data-transmission intervals to limit battery usage - Override the update sending interval if the device is moved beyond a predefined distance - HERE Positioning and crowdsourcing support
HERE Indoor Radio Mapper is a tool to enable your venue for HERE Indoor Positioning. HERE Indoor Positioning is similar to GPS but for inside your building, providing accurate location and position data within a few meters.
To deploy HERE Indoor Positioning to your venue, there are three basic steps.
1. First, you need to have either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth beacon (Eddystone or iBeacon standard) infrastructure in place according to the HERE guidelines that can be found here under Related Resources.
2. Secondly, you need to have an indoor map of your building. There are three different ways this is possible:
a. Image-based indoor map: can be uploaded in the tool in any of the following formats: .jpg, .bmp, .gif, .png
b. Public venue map: you can check if it is already available within our database through the search feature in the application
c. Private venue map: please contact HERE to make it available as a HERE Private Venue Map for your application
3. Lastly, the Indoor Radio Mapper can be used to enable the HERE Indoor Positioning applications at your venue.
Οδηγίες για τον Μαραθώνιο Χαρτογράφησης στο Map Creator και πληροφορίες εγγραφής.
Η HERE Technologies για να τιμήσει την μακροχρόνια και εποικοδομητική συνεργασία της με το NaviPhone-Hellas διοργανώνει Μαραθώνιο Χαρτογράφησης στο Map Creator για τα μέλη του φόρουμ, για την χρονική περίοδο 22/1/2018 με 4/3/2018.
Αν επιθυμείτε να λάβετε μέρος στον Μαραθώνιο Χαρτογράφησης θα πρέπει να ανοίξετε λογαριασμό στο Map Creator και στην συνέχεια να αποστείλετε email (με το email που χρησιμοποιήσατε στην εγγραφή σας) στο mapsgreece@here.com με θέμα "Μαραθώνιος Χαρτογράφησης".
Αν έχετε ήδη λογαριασμό στο Map Creator τότε πρέπει απλά να αποστείλετε email (με το email που χρησιμοποιήσατε στην εγγραφή σας) στο mapsgreece@here.com με θέμα "Μαραθώνιος Χαρτογράφησης".
Οι 10 καλύτερες συμμετοχές θα επιβραβευτούν για την συνεισφορά τους. Η αξιολόγηση θα βασιστεί στον όγκο/πλήθος των επεξεργασιών αλλά και στην ορθότητά τους. Oι θέσεις 1 με 3 θα επιβραβευτούν με επώνυμα tablet, και οι θέσεις 4 με 10 θα επιβραβευτούν με gadgets και αναμνηστικά της HERE.
Οι επεξεργασίες στο Map Creator που θα αξιολογηθούν, θα πρέπει να πραγματοποιηθούν κατά την περίοδο 22/1/2018 - 4/3/2018 στις ακόλουθες χώρες: Ελλάδα, Κύπρο, Αλβανία. Είτε σε μία είτε σε δύο είτε και στις τρείς χώρες, δεν υπάρχει περιορισμός.
Οι επεξεργασίες μπορεί να είναι σε οδούς-δρόμους ή/και σε τοποθεσίες-σημεία ενδιαφέροντος.
Παραδείγματα επεξεργασιών:
· Προσθήκη και επεξεργασία νέας οδού/νέου δρόμου σύμφωνα με την πραγματικότητα - Προσθέτουμε τον δρόμο που λείπει (με την βοήθεια των δορυφορικών εικόνων), δηλαδή την γεωμετρία, και στην συνέχεια τον επεξεργαζόμαστε (επεξεργασία οδού). Η επεξεργασία μπορεί να είναι η προσθήκη ονόματος, αλλαγή της επιφάνειας του δρόμου σε χωματόδρομο, τύπος κατασκευής, μέση ταχύτητα, τύπος οδού κ.α.
· Επεξεργασία/διόρθωση υφιστάμενης οδού σύμφωνα με την πραγματικότητα - Επεξεργαζόμαστε έναν δρόμο που υπάρχει ήδη, π.χ. διορθώνουμε την γεωμετρία ή την κλίση του δρόμου, αλλάζουμε την επιφάνεια του δρόμου (π.χ. από άσφαλτο σε χωματόδρομο), αλλάζουμε τον τύπο κατασκευής, αλλάζουμε τον τύπο οδού, την μέση ταχύτητα κ.α.
· Προσθήκη επεξεργασία νέας τοποθεσίας (σημείου ενδιαφέροντος) σύμφωνα με την πραγματικότητα - Προσθέτουμε την τοποθεσία που δεν υπάρχει στον χάρτη, επιλέγουμε κατηγορία και υπό-κατηγορία, (όπως π.χ. Αγορές>Βιβλιοπωλείο ή Διαμονή>Ξενοδοχείο ή Φαγητό-Ποτό>Εστιατόριο ή Αξιοθέατα>Μουσείο) στην συνέχεια προσθέτουμε το Όνομα της Τοποθεσίας και τέλος λεπτομέρειες που μπορεί να γνωρίζουμε όπως τηλέφωνο, ώρες λειτουργίας, website, κλπ.
· Επεξεργασία/διόρθωση υφιστάμενης τοποθεσίας (σημείου ενδιαφέροντος) σύμφωνα με την πραγματικότητα - Επεξεργαζόμαστε μία τοποθεσία που υπάρχει, όπως π.χ. διορθώνουμε το όνομα, διορθώνουμε/αλλάζουμε το σημείο στο χάρτη, αφαιρούμε την τοποθεσία αν δεν υπάρχει στην πραγματικότητα ή έχει κλείσει, διορθώνουμε την κατηγορία/υπό-κατηγορία κλπ.
Λεπτομέρειες και εκπαιδευτικό υλικό σχετικά με πως μπορείτε να επεξεργαστείτε τον χάρτη θα βρείτε μετά την είσοδό σας στο Map Creator (Νέα) και εδώ. Περισσότερα>>>
Το HERE Map Creator (http://mapcreator.here.com) είναι μια υπηρεσία που ξεκίνησε τον Νοέμβριο του 2012 για να επιτρέπει στους χρήστες να χαρτογραφούν τη γειτονιά τους και τους χώρους τους οποίους γνωρίζουν και είναι εξοικειωμένοι. Ο αρχικός κατάλογος των επεξεργάσιμων χωρών ήταν μόνο το Ουζμπεκιστάν, το Κιργιζιστάν, η Τανζανία, η Αγκόλα, το Μπουρούντι, η Σρι Λάνκα, το Ελ Σαλβαδόρ, η Δομινικανή Δημοκρατία, η Τζαμάικα, η Αντίγκουα και η Μπαρμπούντα και η Γρενάδα. Αυξήθηκε τώρα και η υπηρεσία είναι πλέον διαθέσιμη σε περισσότερες από 100 χώρες και σε 38 γλώσσες. Μπορεί να έχει πρόσβαση από τον ιστότοπo του mapcreator.here.com. Πρόσφατα έχουν αναπτύξει μια εφαρμογή για κινητά που ονομάζεται POICT (εργαλείο συλλογής σημείων ενδιαφέροντος), με την οποία μπορούμε να επεξεργαστούμε τα μέρη στους χάρτες εν κινήσει χρησιμοποιώντας smartphones. Οι χρήστες μπορούν να προσθέσουν νέους δρόμους (συμπεριλαμβάνονται τα μονοπάτια), να επεξεργαστούν έναν δρόμο, να προσθέσουν ένα νέο μέρος και να επεξεργαστούν ένα μέρος. Επιπλέον, οι χρήστες μπορούν να επεξεργαστούν λεπτομέρειες οδού, όπως ορίων ταχύτητας, αριθμός λωρίδων, 1 ή 2 δρόμων, τύπου "ανοιχτού δρόμου", "σήραγγας" ή "γέφυρας", τύπου πεζοδρομίου κλπ. κατηγορίες όπως ένα μπακάλικο, κατάστημα ειδών ένδυσης, είδη εστιατορίων (συμπεριλαμβανομένης της κουζίνας και της ονομασίας της κοινής τροφής), κατάστημα αθλητικού εξοπλισμού μεταξύ πολλών άλλων κατηγοριών και υπο-κατηγοριών, και να δώσετε διάφορες λεπτομέρειες σχετικά με αυτές, συμπεριλαμβανομένων των φωτογραφιών, των αριθμών επικοινωνίας, των διευθύνσεων, των ωρών και των ημερών λειτουργίας μιας εβδομάδας, πληροφορίες πληρωμής στα καταστήματα (είτε δέχονται μετρητά, κάρτες, κουπόνια έκπτωσης ή όχι). Οι χρήστες μπορούν επίσης να αναφέρουν αλλαγές χαρτών. Υπάρχει μια επιλογή αλλαγής νοικοκυριού. σε ορισμένες χώρες. Τα εκπαιδευτικά βίντεο και οι οδηγίες για την εκτέλεση των εργασιών επεξεργασίας διατίθενται στην ιστοσελίδα τους.
The future of transport may revolve around autonomous technology, but cars that no longer need drivers are still a few years away. In the meantime, there are plenty of amazing ADAS systems out there, letting you hand over control to your car when necessary. We take a look at some of the best.
BMW Remote Control Parking
Yet to be convinced about sitting in a car that drives itself? You don’t even need to be inside the latest BMW 5 and 7 Series models to watch them park themselves, thanks to BMW’s Remote Control Parking feature. The feature is controlled by the key, and uses Park Distance Control and a host of sensors to monitor what’s going on around the car. Once it’s parked itself, you can even switch the engine off from outside, meaning you’ll be able to watch your BMW park in an almost impossibly tight space without worrying about how you’re actually going to get out of the door.
Tesla Autopilot
While most automakers have been quietly developing autonomous technology behind closed doors and away from the public, Tesla has taken a completely different approach, handing over testing of its advanced ADAS systems to Tesla owners. That means owners have been able to let their cars steer themselves in certain situations using Tesla’s Autopilot system, and it’s just got a whole lot smarter. Older systems, stretching back to 2014, used a single camera and array of sensors for visibility, but the latest version of Autopilot packs in eight cameras, 360-degree visibility and a radar system with enhanced processing to help the car ‘see’ in rain, fog and other more limited conditions. New Model S, Model X and the upcoming Model 3 cars will get Nvidia’s latest Drive PX2 CPU, which offers processing power that’s a claimed 40 times faster than previous technology.
Ford Evasive Steering Assist
You don’t need to opt for a premium car manufacturer to get your hands on high-tech ADAS features, either, with Ford offering a huge array of tech with more family-focussed and affordable vehicles. There’s Evasive Steering Assist, for starters, and as the name hints it’s capable of helping you to steer and avoid crashes, thanks to the inclusion of radar and a camera that can detect slower moving vehicles or objects and determine whether a collision is imminent. You’ll still need to start the avoidance process, so your car won’t simply start heading off in a different direction, but it will help to give you a helping hand in keeping the car stable and helping you to steer when you need it most.
Audi Side Assist
Audi also has some exciting ADAS offerings for 2017, with the latest A4 using both lane keep assist technology and adaptive cruise control to help take the stress out of driving on motorways and dual carriageways. When you do take control of the car, there’s blind spot monitoring in the form of Side Assist to ensure you don’t make an unsafe manoeuvre, and it’s smarter than most systems. Along with sensors to monitor the vehicles in the immediate vicinity, Audi has also included a camera capable of checking up to 70 metres behind you, and as a result you’ll be able to get warnings of upcoming vehicles you may have missed along with those already in your blind spots.
Range Rover
The latest Range Rover is absolutely packed to the hilt with ADAS features, ranging from Lane Keep Assist and adaptive cruise control, capable of braking and speeding up again in traffic, to autonomous emergency braking and Park Assist. JLR’s parking system is capable of carrying out both parallel and perpendicular parking and while a lot of parking systems still leave you to worry about getting out of the space, the latest Range Rover can also carry out this manoeuvre by itself, too. There’s even a surround camera system that offers a 360-degree view to help you negotiate tight spaces.
In today’s highly connected world, the expectation that your devices will instantly locate your exact position, no matter where you are, is higher than ever before.
HERE positioning technology can determine the position of any device anywhere in the world, quickly and accurately, indoors as well as outdoors and even offline, which is opening doors for businesses worldwide.
HERE is already providing positioning services to several device manufacturers and solution providers, and now MediaTek, a Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company and one of the world’s largest providers of system-on-chip (SoC) solutions for wireless communications, is offering HERE Network Positioning on the MT2503 family to customers that ship products overseas from China. One of MediaTek’s major IoT customers, 3G Electronics (3GE), is already using chipsets that use HERE’s solution in its KidsWatch series of smartwatches sold outside China.
Fast and accurate global positioning technology
HERE Network Positioning uses proprietary technology to quickly and accurately determine a device’s location based on mobile network and Wi-Fi signals. It’s a crucial component of the connected experience and the HERE database improves positioning accuracy significantly.
Wherever you are, HERE can enable a device to locate your position to within a few meters, and even the floor you’re on within a multi-story building. Working with MediaTek, we can help to introduce millions of people to new technologies for products around the globe.
How HERE Network Positioning works
Most of today’s smart devices use what are known as Assisted GNSS services, which compile position information obtained over an Internet connection with satellite services to locate the device’s position. Network positioning technology goes one step further – it uses the device’s built-in appetite for signals and networks to locate its position.
HERE positioning services use the HERE global database of hundreds of millions of cellular towers and Wi-Fi hotspots to see which are available. By knowing which signals are in range, the device can figure out exactly where it is.
Never lose your bearings
HERE Network Positioning compiles this information and turns it into an ever-growing “radio map”, a subset of which can be preloaded in the device and provide the service offline.
Since the technology uses the existing measurement technology of connected devices, network positioning re-uses the signals already obtained, meaning additional battery power isn’t needed.
Αγαπητέ χρήστη των χαρτών της HERE και του Mapcreator,
Είμαστε στην ευχάριστη θέση να σας ανακοινώσουμε την συνεργασία της HERE με την εταιρία Mapillary στο πρόγραμμα καταγραφής εικόνων/φωτογραφιών από την κοινότητα της HERE.
Έχετε την δυνατότητα να:
Συλλέξετε φωτογραφίες (street level images) χρησιμοποιώντας το κινητό σας τηλέφωνο, φωτογραφική μηχανή ή action camera με το αυτοκίνητό σας, ποδήλατο, μηχανή ή πεζός
Ανεβάσετε τις φωτογραφίες σας στο Mapillary και να τις δείτε άμεσα στο Mapcreator
Με τον τρόπο αυτό μπορείτε να:
Ανεβάσετε τις φωτογραφίες σας με γεωαναφορά.
Να εντοπίσετε αλλαγές στους χάρτες τις HERE και να ενημερώσετε τον χάρτη στο Mapcreator (μονοδρομήσεις, όρια ταχύτητας, νέους δρόμους, είδος δρόμου, σημάνσεις κ.α.)
Δείτε/προσθέσετε/ανανεώσετε καταστήματα, εστιατόρια, αξιοθέατα και άλλα σημεία ενδιαφέροντος στο Mapcreator.
Χαρτογραφήσετε περιοχές που σας ενδιαφέρουν.
Δείτε τις φωτογραφίες άλλων μελών της κοινότητας
Παρακολουθήσετε πως αλλάζει η πραγματικότητα με την πάροδο του χρόνου. Αυτό είναι δυνατόν γιατί οι φωτογραφίες έχουν time-stamp
Να κατεβάσετε στο κινητό σας την εφαρμογή καταγραφής/uploading του mapillary από το application store του κινητού σας (Android, IOS, Windows)
Να ξεκινήσετε την καταγραφή!
Το application του Mapillary ρυθμίζεται να τραβάει καρέ ανά συγκεκριμένο χρόνο (π.χ. ανά δευτερόλεπτο) και το upload από το κινητό γίνεται με την χρήση wifi.
Οδηγίες χρήσης του Mapillary στο MapCreator
Ενεργοποιήστε το Mapillary coverage
Επιλέξτε την περιοχή που έχει κάλυψη με GPS με Δεξί click πάνω στα διαθέσιμα GPS tracks > Show in Mapillary
Αγαπητοί χρήστες των χαρτών και των εφαρμογών της HERE,
Θα θέλαμε να σας ενημερώσουμε ότι το πρόγραμμα διαδικτυακής χαρτογράφησης της HERE, MapCreator, έχει ανανεωθεί, και περιέχει νέες λειτουργίες και χαρακτηριστικά. Σας προσκαλούμε να εισέλθετε στο Mapcreator και να ενημερώσετε τον χάρτη με αλλαγές/προσθήκες στο οδικό δίκτυο, σημεία ενδιαφέροντος, κυκλοφοριακές ρυθμίσεις, μονοδρομήσεις, αρίθμηση/ονομασία οδών και άλλα χαρακτηριστικά. Υπάρχει εκπαιδευτικό υλικό στο site του MapCreator για το πώς μπορείτε να προχωρήσετε σε αυτές τις αλλαγές.
Autonomous cars will make travel a lot safer and easier than it is at present. There’s also a huge opportunity for carmakers, old and new, to create products and services that meet people’s end-to-end mobility needs.
One way to think about our self-driving future is to divide the likely new offerings into either autonomous Car-as-a-Service (CaaS) or autonomous Car-as-a-Product (CaaP). Both together are envisaged as parts of our future mobility mix.
Autonomous CaaP is an autonomous vehicle you would own. In recent HERE research with car users in the US and Germany (also explored here and here), people imagined they’d use these vehicles in much the same way as existing privately owned cars. The top expected uses (in order) were: commuting and the school-run, visiting friends and family, shopping, holidays and trips, and for evenings out.
Autonomous CaaS may sound like a strange new thing from the future, but we’ve had Cars-as-a-Service for a very long time, in the form of taxis, now joined by various other technologically enhanced car-sharing and ride-sharing models. When they become self-driving, the most-expected uses are very similar: commuting and school-runs, evenings out, holidays and trips, shopping and then travel to airports and train stations.
How we will change
The switch to autonomous vehicles will be gradual, of course, but 58 percent of respondents thought autonomous CaaP would potentially replace their privately owned ‘manual’ vehicle, and to a lesser extent, also existing taxi, company car, public transport and ride-sharing options. When it comes to autonomous CaaS, people again thought that privately owned vehicles would be the main transport mode to be replaced, followed by taxis, company cars, public transport and ride sharing.
Click on the image to download this infographic in PDF format
So, the profile of mobility and the nature of our roads is very likely to change significantly. Currently, most people in the US and Germany use personal or company vehicles, along with ride-sharing, to get around. In the future, 42 percent of Americans and 39 percent of Germans said they thought they’d be using either autonomous CaaP or CaaS instead.
Partly autonomous cars are expected to be available for purchase by as early as 2020, according to public statements from carmakers. These initial offerings are expected to be at SAE Level 3, where human drivers will mostly be hands-free, but able and expected to intervene at some points. (The scale goes up to Level 5, described as ‘full automation’). Initially, they may be ultra-premium vehicles, but as with every other technological improvement, they will eventually become standard fit solutions.
No need to wait
The level of autonomy achieved, and also the level of adoption, will significantly change our roads for the better. ADAS features already available today have been proven to reduce the number of accidents and increase traffic efficiency. Subaru, for example, recently released data showing that vehicles fitted with its EyeSight technology (a combination of different ADAS features) were 60 percent less likely to be involved in accidents than those without the technology.
The benefits of automation are already arriving, in other words: we won’t have to wait the 20-50 years until autonomous cars are expected to become universal, though the benefits will increase and accelerate over time.
Whether delivered as CaaS or CaaP, autonomous vehicles will yield these positive results. However, carmakers and others hoping to exploit this opportunity should remain aware that people like to be able to have choices and that new modes need to fit as seamlessly as possible with their requirements to attract adoption. Manufacturers who strategically aim to deliver both autonomous CaaS and CaaP offerings will be able to meet more people’s demands for future mobility.
Fresh from announcing Navinfo, Tencent and GIC as new shareholders last week, HERE today welcomes global technology leader Intel as a new investor in the company.
In conjunction with its purchase of a 15% stake in HERE from Audi, BMW and Daimler, Intel will also collaborate with us to further its efforts in autonomous driving and to build location services that can fuel the continued growth of cloud computing and the Internet of Things.
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017, after obtaining regulatory approvals.
As a premier silicon provider, Intel can help accelerate our ambitions in this area by supporting the creation of a universal, always up-to-date digital location platform that spans the vehicle, the cloud and everything else connected.
Always up-to-date HD maps for cars
In our automotive collaboration with Intel we plan to jointly research and develop a highly scalable proof-of-concept architecture that supports real-time updates of high definition (HD) maps for highly and fully automated driving.
The architecture will be designed to help make autonomous driving as safe and predictable as possible and it will enable services such as HERE HD Live Map. Intel will also work with Audi, BMW and Daimler to test the architecture.
By working with Intel, we aim to offer automakers a universal technology solution that reduces both complexity and long-term development costs. Intel also provides expertise in developing and optimizing hardware, which will be fundamental to moving cloud-based algorithms to in-vehicle architectures.
Internet of Things
This same expertise will support our strategy to connect multiple industries beyond automotive, such as in Internet of Things where location algorithms and location-based services are increasingly becoming embedded into connected devices. Together with Intel, we intend to explore other potential collaborative opportunities spanning next-generation cloud analytics, IoT applications, machine learning, augmented reality and more.
HERE MAPS - Ανοίγοντας τον
δρόμο στα αυτόνομα οχήματα!
What is the key to ensuring the worldwide acceptance of self-driving cars? Is it the data-driven services they use? Or the level of road information
they have access to? While both of these are vital, trust from both
drivers and pedestrians that autonomous vehicles are safe and can be
relied upon is equally important.
If you are crossing the road, what do you do? Eight out of ten people
seek eye contact with the driver to ensure that they’re safe to cross
the street. With an autonomous car this is impossible. Well, until now.
Semcon, a
Swedish company which works on both digital and physical product
development, has created a concept of a self-driving car which interacts
with pedestrians and drivers by smiling. We spoke with Karin Eklund,
Head of User Experience at Semcon to find out more:
“The Smiling Car is a concept that we’ve been working on for some
years now. When autonomous cars started becoming more sophisticated, we
noticed that for the most part people were focusing on the interaction
between the car and the driver.
“We then realised that this can’t be the only focus, and that the
people in the environment around the car had to be taken into
consideration.”
Road test
In order to create the concept of the Smiling Car, the Semcon team
had to investigate the way pedestrians reacted to autonomous vehicles in
traffic. Karin says, “We wanted to see how people would cross the road
if the car letting them through was autonomous. How will the person know
it’s safe? Do they know that the car has seen them?”
This test, which used a faux-autonomous car with rigged cameras to
see how pedestrians would react, resulted in an amusing but informative
video. People were completely unsure about the intentions of the
autonomous vehicle, and trepidation and fear was the order of the day
when crossing a road.
Indeed, non-autonomous vehicles have break lights, indicators, and
the reactions of the driver to give cues and comfort to people around
the car. Karin explains how they tried to mirror this with a driverless
vehicle:
“The basis for the concept was, how do we let people know that the
car has seen them, and that it’s safe? We needed a means of
communication that was universal, letting people know that the car has
registered their presence in a clear way, that’s obvious to everyone.
Everyone needs to feel safe, so we wanted to provide a human touch.”
Cheshire car
This lead to the development of the Smiling Car – a means of
expression universal enough to work, wherever it’s used. The Smiling Car
would let pedestrians know that it’s safe to cross by, you guessed it,
smiling. How, though, would this work?
Karin explains: “The Smiling Car would work using radar, and through
data collection points in the city. The latter is because the car not
only has to interact with pedestrians, but also understand the road
networks and other autonomous cars and drivers on the road.”
“With such a huge number of data points all around us, we’d have to
look at how the vehicle could combine these in clever ways in order to
make smart decisions. This is a challenge, but we’re working on it.”
Karin describes the other challenges that the team faced when
developing the Smiling Car: “People are unpredictable! When developing
technology, you know what you have to do, but making it safely interact
with people who are unpredictable is difficult.”
“Another challenge is that, in order for this to work, there has to
be a lot of interaction between different systems within the vehicle,
and this technology is growing increasingly complex and communicating in
new ways all the time. This can lead to complexities and poses a
challenge for developers.”
In transition
The transition to self-driving cars will, of course, see a degree of
debate. Karin stresses that when people aren’t used to a technology
there is a lack of trust to begin with and that the people behind the
technology have to work hard to gain the trust of the user. She adds:
“However, when this level of trust is achieved, and the technology is accepted, people can’t imagine their lives without it.”
Indeed, Karin goes on to explain that by using human expressions,
Semcon hopes to help drive this
widespread adoption. She uses the
example of self-propelled lawnmowers, which are often made to look less
machine-like in order to gain trust.
She adds, “A level of familiarity inspires trust, which means you’re
more likely to use it. You’re also less likely to leave it out in the
rain!”
When asked on the wider implications of the Smiling Car, Karin concludes:
“It’s very easy for developers to focus on the tech and the people
using it, while forgetting about bystanders who are also affected.
What’s most important is finding a universal way for automotive cars to
communicate, not only amongst themselves and the driver, but with
everyone else, too.”
“A balancing act is required. Humans are just as important as the technology, and we should never forget that.”
