Another update to what I am doing with the Mclaren Blueprint. This time I am toying with the idea of making it like a technical drawing. I am still looking at doing the camera one which shows where cameras are usually located in racing games but I seem to have hit a dead end with that one at the moment.
This one was done very quickly using the raw ‘blueprint’ outline I got from the internet, if I took this one forward, I would go round the car in Illustrator as per my others:
Small update on the Mclaren, it is still a work in progress, and the idea is coming along nicely albeit a bit clunky…
Meanwhile the Mclaren I posted up last time is now my iMac desktop wallpaper.
A quick something that I have done, in preparation for another idea I am working on and have had for a while. Coincidentally, this has become another contender to be put on canvas…
A Mclaren Mk.II
A small update. This is something I have just started to do in my spare time from writing my dissertation over the summer. It’s a BTCC Honda Civic. I don’t know what I am going to do with it in the long run, but I’m hoping it will turn out quite well.
This is what I have ended up doing whilst waiting for the laser cutter… Lack of timekeeping and structure by others have hindered any useful work today…
In the same theme as the last post, I have been doing something relating to F1 and Red Bull Racing. But if I’m honest, I think the last one is great compared to this… I don’t quite know what I was trying to achieve this this one. Anyways…
Here is my part 2 for my dissertation proposal. I am finding the dissertation related things some of the most interesting things that I am doing at the moment, and am currently speaking with a few designers at Jaguar and Volvo in regards to my topic which is rather exciting. Though with only a week and a half left until the Easter break, I am rather glad that we will get a bit of time off soon despite the work load slowly winding down.
Title:
The future of computers and interactions in Automobiles
Summary:
Computers are playing an ever increasing role in the world. One of the main areas they are being used in, and have been used in for many years is in the automotive industry. Starting out in the 1970’s, their main function was related to ignition timing (Laurens, 2009). Ever since that point they have seen exponential growth in their use, with their function addressing and overlooking almost every aspect of a vehicle.
Today, computers located in cars are responsible for keeping the occupants safe and entertained, it ensures the engine is running efficiently and it keeps the car on the road. But what role does the computer have in the future of motoring, and how will we, as humans operating cars, end up interacting with them?
One direction the automotive world may head in, is the truly autonomous vehicle. Driverless cars, filling the roads letting the user carry out other tasks. This has been a dream for many for decades, and is only just becoming reality thanks to computers. The DARPA Grand Challenge (approximately 135 miles over desert), subsequently followed by the DARPA Urban Challenge (roughly 60 miles in a closed suburban environment with all the usual perils of town driving) has pioneered part of this dream with it’s quest for driverless cars, albeit with the United States military specifically in mind (DARPA 2004).
Certain aspects of driverless cars are already in operation today in many forms. Some manufacturers have developed adaptive cruise control systems where the speed of the vehicle is not fully based on driver input but instead, on the traffic surrounding it. Speeding up and slowing down as needs be in the ebb and flow of modern driving. Other cars have a system which keeps the vehicle in between the lines on the road, preventing lane drifting and potentially serious accidents by moving into another lane with a car in the drivers blind spot. One of the more useful automatic features some new cars have (specifically Volvos), is pedestrian safety technology, which detects if a pedestrian steps out in front of the driver and if no input is detected to avoid a collision, it applies the brakes automatically (Volvo Cars 2011).
What if the direction taken is completely different? What if cars do not become driverless and humans remain fully in control of vehicles? This is a possibility, where people fight against the increasing amount of technology and do not want a piece of silicone deciding where and what the car goes and does. Social factors such as this will play a massive part in the future of the world and not just the automation of cars. Forcing people to accept new technology in something as potentially lethal as driving could go either way. Granted, it has been achieved many times in the past, though in a less deadly form, with technology such DVD’s, Blu-Rays, and even ATM’s.
The direction in which the technology is most likely to take is somewhere between complete automation and having the driver in control. This would give the driver an option of whether or not they are in complete control one day, enjoying the thrill of driving, or the next day, letting the car do the driving whilst the driver catches up on some work.
If the interactions in vehicles is looked at from a different view point future cars could lead to somewhat of an uprising in many different disciplines. In the late 1990’s, the head of Ford’s design department, J Mays, enrolled the help of renowned product designer, Marc Newson and created the Ford 021C (Argyriades, 2009). A car that was designed more from a product design point of view rather than an automotive design one. It was applauded form the product designers as it was thought to increase the usability and functionality of certain amounts of the cars features. From an automotive design point of view it was, in short, slated. Many thought it looked far too much like a toy car, that was far too simple and didn’t adhere to the unwritten ‘rules’ that were set out in the field.
Trying to take into consideration the past and present forays of interactions and computers in cars, where is the future of this field headed? Will it be awash with self driving vehicles or will it be a technical tour de force with computers allowing drivers to achieve things they only dreamed would be reality in the past? In essence there are only a few directions technology could lead the design and innovation, but the outcome could be massively different to what we experience now, in our cars that have not really changed much technically in the last century.
Aims:
Objectives:
Keywords:
Computer, car, future, interaction, interface
Bibliography
In the last post about Gran Turismo 5 I said I had an X2010, and here is the proof!
It took a good 3 or so hours to win it in the Sebastian Vettel Challenge with the DS3 controller and that is without a doubt, one of the most stressful and difficult things I have ever encountered in a game before. Everything else seems so slow compared to it, even the Ferrari F10.
The time has come, they’re now available. Prints from The Principles of Driving and Racing have been uploaded and are ready for purchase.
It is all done through DeviantART at the moment due to time constraints on my part so they are available on a range of different sizes, and if requested, different products, and the prices set are the standard prices on DeviantART.
Photo prints can be had in either 18″x24″ or 9″x12″ with a matte, glossy or lustre finish. Prices range from £4.39 for a 9×12 matte to £18.36 for a 18×24 lustre. More sizes will hopefully be available for photo prints in the near future.
If you would like something a bit different, they are available as a fine art prints, which are printed on either paper or canvas. The sizes range from 12″x18″ up to 24″x36″. The fine art prints are available with an art block frame, but can be had without. The frame is an additional £40ish depending on size and medium printed on. Prices of the prints without the frame range from £12.50 on matte paper, to £68.83 for 24×36 on canvas.
If none of those sizes are small enough for what you are looking for at the moment, I have only just put them in as postcard size as well, available with a matte or glossy finish, they are only £1.24 for the 4″x6″ size.
There is a choice of 8 different prints: Scandinavian Flick, Oversteer, Understeer, Overtake, Pitstop, Reverse Flick, Handbrake Turn and Donut.
For shipping, using the first class option carries a 3-6 week shipping time, whereas the second day or overnight option are as they say and give a tracking number as far as I’m aware, but cost more.
Link to the store on DeviantART
As I mentioned in post #61 I was in the process of putting together a book called the Principles of Driving & Racing, which was done as a personal project. It was eventually completed after a few long days of hard graft. Once it was uploaded to the Apple Printing service, and a week passed whilst it was being printed, it arrived on my doorstep and looked fantastic.
This of course was the first version of the book and there are changes which I am going to make to it eventually and get another book printed. This may hopefully lead to selling it to people as the general opinion I got from tweets I made on Twitter were generally positive and a few people showed great interest in it.
Just can’t get away from cars can I?
