Cited on HN 6 times, 2019–2024, never outright recommendedscore 0
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
HN commenters cite it as proof that autonomous driving was demonstrated decades before the current boom.
A three-minute clip about Ernst Dickmanns' VaMoR and VaMP projects, in which fully autonomous vehicles drove thousands of miles on public roads in the 1980s. It is a brief look at early German self-driving research.
“this is Germany in the 1980s where Ernst Dickmann had autonmous cars drive thousands of miles” (HN, 2022)
> Automatic driving is starting to work, after a few billion dollars was thrown at that problem. That, too, was harder than expected. It is quite surprising that it took so long if you look at the achievements from the 1980s and 90s by German military. [1] [1] [this video]
> Hard to see how that could be true. In just about any field, computers today provide much better situational awareness than was possible in 1970. You sure about that? [link] > Waymo runs self driving cars today in very specific locations Ernst Dickmann had autonomous cars on the road in very specific locations in the 1980s [this video]
Dickmanns had autonomous cars on roads in the 1980s
because that's like arguing that because you can now climb your way up a tree which you couldn't do five years ago you're closer to climbing to the moon. Self-driving is still incredibly limited and progress is often overstated because people make headway on some tiny issue. A thing I always liked for people who think progress is rapid, this is Germany in the 1980s where Ernst Dickmann had autonmous cars drive thousands of miles: [this video]
Autonomous cars driving thousands of miles in 1980s Germany
Sure, they even did some cool self driving experiments back in the 80s-90s but the tech wasn't ready. There must be a video of a mercedes loaded with PCs driving slowly but autonomously. I couldn't find the video I was looking for but this is another cool one from the 80s: [this video] Anyway, the way I see it is, to get positive reaction you need to drive and follow the narrative. That is, for example, providing arguments about how it should be done as if it is a public debate and then reveal your tech. Then you will have fanboys and and hateboys and people will feel involved and if you do it in SV your ability to do what you say you do would not be questioned as much because magic happens in SV. You say that your car is basically a computer o wheels and the story gets traction, when a car company making a self driving car doesn't fit and will need to do much more convincing because the techies will be digging in to find faults. The computer on wheels might cause crashes but the techies will be much more forgiving and look for excuses.
I'd question if that's true. Research wise both applied and theoretical Germany's still a really good place to be as far as Computer Science is concerned. We're just not and never have been a consumer driven economy and that's what people focus on these days. An example of this to me is Dickmann's autonomous cars which were driving around on highways in the 80s ( [this video] ), yet you'd hardly think they even existed given how the rate of progress is framed in that industry by consumer products.
> " 15 years ago self driving of any sort was pure fantasy, yet here we are. " This was 38 years ago: [link] - "NavLab 1 (1986) : Carnegie Mellon : Robotics Institute History of Self-Driving Cars; NavLab or Navigation Laboratory was the first self-driving car with people riding on board. It was very slow, but for 1986 computing power, it was revolutionary. NavLab continued to lay the groundwork for Carnegie Mellon University's expertise in the field of autonomous vehicles." This was 30+ years ago: [this video] - "Short video about Ernst Dickmanns VaMoR and VaMP projects - fully autonomous vehicles, which travelled thousands of miles autonomously on public roads in 1980s." This was 29 years ago: [link] - "A South Korean professor [... Han Min-hong's] vehicle drove itself 300km (186 miles) all the way from Seoul to the southern port of Busan in 1995." This was 19 years ago: [link] - "DARPA Grand Challenge - 2005 Driverless Car Competition"
Fully autonomous vehicles travelling thousands of miles in the 1980s
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