"Hitachi’s Self-driving Robotic Car ROPITS"

[yanpa]

Disclaimer: report is from a use vehicle dealer's blog which may or may not be an authoritative source

Hitachi’s Self-driving Robotic Car ROPITS

Hitachi Ltd. has recently revealed a driver-less tiny electric car to assist elderly citizens & citizens with mobility disabilities. This one seater self-driving robotic car uses GPS system to carry its single passenger. Hitachi displayed a prototype of this car recently in the Tsukuba city to demonstrate how this car is designed to automatically pick up & drop passengers. Hitachi has named this self-driven car ROPITS or Robot for Personal Intelligent Transport System.

Many automakers and researchers are working on autonomous vehicles technology. Google car is a great example of this. This self driven car ROPITS by Hitachi resembles to Toyota i-Road which was revealed recently at Geneva Motor Show. Both these car prototypes from Toyota and Google promise fewer accidents, safe highway driving and less traffic jam. However, this tiny car by Hitachi doesn’t require direct control by the passenger.



This narrow car is designed to aid the needs of aging population as well as physically challenged individuals in Japan. The course & transport time of ROPITS can be programmed through map-loaded tablet computer. This is the unique factor of this self driven car. ROPITS can be used on sidewalks. Once the passenger uses the tablet PC to summon the car, it reaches to the location of the passenger. And passengers just need to indicate their destination using a touch screen. ROPITS is ideally suitable to move in & out of pedestrian spaces and even in crowded streets.

...more...

I'm sure nothing can go wrong with self-driven cars on what passes for sidewalks in Japan

[yanpa]

Links from slightly more authoritative sites:

* http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/13/hita ... ort-robot/
* http://www.gizmag.com/hitachi-ropits-se ... cle/26727/

Better video too:

[Russell]

Must be fun to drive from Tokyo to Hiroshima in that thing...

[Coligny]

Must be fun to drive from Tokyo to Hiroshima in that thing...

The typical answer to everything...

Criticism for cars who don't have V8 engines:
You can't tow a boat with a 4 cylinder -> posted by a guy who don't have a boat and live in Texas

Criticism for electric car range:
You can't drive from L.A. to New York with that. -> BECAUSE IT'S THE DAILY COMMUTE FOR EVERYONE... OF COURSE...

Tokyo-Hiroshima is a fucking 10 hours trip by car on the highway at best, unless you are on the backseat of a van with jac00zy and underage prostitute giving blowjobs, it's not gonna be a pleasant trip...
And since the top speed is 6km/h it's not allowed on the highway... Which with a normal car would take 17 hours... or at 6kpm/h around 141 hours

Just because you can think of an extreme situation where a vehicle might not be suited don't make it worthless or irrelevant...

[Russell]

Must be fun to drive from Tokyo to Hiroshima in that thing...

The typical answer to everything...

Criticism for cars who don't have V8 engines:
You can't tow a boat with a 4 cylinder -> posted by a guy who don't have a boat and live in Texas

Criticism for electric car range:
You can't drive from L.A. to New York with that. -> BECAUSE IT'S THE DAILY COMMUTE FOR EVERYONE... OF COURSE...

Tokyo-Hiroshima is a fucking 10 hours trip by car on the highway at best, unless you are on the backseat of a van with jac00zy and underage prostitute giving blowjobs, it's not gonna be a pleasant trip...
And since the top speed is 6km/h it's not allowed on the highway... Which with a normal car would take 17 hours... or at 6kpm/h around 141 hours

Just because you can think of an extreme situation where a vehicle might not be suited don't make it worthless or irrelevant...

Fornicate, I must have hit a sensitive spot...

I do not consider a trip by car from Tokyo to Hiroshima an extreme situation. Doing it on the back seat with all the perks you mention is more of an extreme in my world...

But really, what is the point of having yourself being driven around in this vehicle when it goes at most 6 km/h? Looks more like a freak show to me, especially when it is done in that area near Tsukuba station with lots of unexpected stairs and obstacles.

But then again, the pope may be an eager early customer.

[Russell]

Ah, that thing reminds me of the Sinclair C5, which holds the top position in the top 10 of worst gadgets in recent times.

[Coligny]

It's not to replace a car, it's to replace WALKING...

[matsuki]

But really, what is the point of having yourself being driven around in this vehicle when it goes at most 6 km/h? Looks more like a freak show to me, especially when it is done in that area near Tsukuba station with lots of unexpected stairs and obstacles.

But then again, the pope may be an eager early customer.

TIJ

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-0 ... llion.html

[yanpa]

But really, what is the point of having yourself being driven around in this vehicle when it goes at most 6 km/h? Looks more like a freak show to me, especially when it is done in that area near Tsukuba station with lots of unexpected stairs and obstacles.

But then again, the pope may be an eager early customer.

TIJ

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-0 ... llion.html

Japan’s fertility rate is 1.39 for women

So what's the fertility rate for men? Now that it is Spring I have once again fallen into the trap of espying a fine pair of well-formed shaved legs and luxuriant hair before realizing the lithe, attractively-dressed figure was an actual dude whose nominal heterosexuality is actually contributing to the quoted fertility rate.

[matsuki]

soo true...

[Samurai_Jerk]

well-formed ... legs

That's not clue enough you aren't dealing with a daughter of Yamato?

[matsuki]

well-formed ... legs

That's not clue enough you aren't dealing with a daughter of Yamato?

Well, the non daikon ashi lemurs can have well formed looking legs....but like so many things here, it's a skin deep image and the reality sets in when you see them walk.