Back in September I had the most amazing opportunity to ride around Detroit with IAV in their partially automated vehicle.

A photo posted by Katelyn Davis (@katelynshelby) on Sep 30, 2015 at 6:07pm PDT

This VW was outfitted with IAV's automated technologies for automated driving. For this demonstration, the vehicle was designed for automated highway driving, so the driver manually drove the vehicle to Detroit's M10 where he then engaged the highway driving system. By using radars,sensors and cameras, the vehicle can calculate vehicles and objects around it and navigate traffic accordingly. The vehicle's cameras are also able to calculate lane markers to accurately steer as the road curves. Once on the expressway, the driver sets the automated system using switches similar to cruise control and once the driver presses the set button, the car will maintain its current speed and start lane marking. During automated driving active cruise control also kicks in and the driver can adjust the safety distance between the cars in front of him manually using buttons on the steering wheel at any time. The driver can also over-steer the system at any time to manually take control of the vehicle. I broadcasted my whole drive along on Periscope, you can watch the recorded version here:


 There is definitely some work to be done. Like he mentioned with the lane detection which currently detects tar lines as solid lane lines which would prohibits the car to make lane changes on its own in fully automated driving.

But overall, this was an amazing experience. It was incredible to see where the future is headed in the very near future!

I recently watched a YouTube documentary called Network Society, On the Brink which details the past, present, and future of human connectivity and a society linked together digitally. I am a huge documentary fan  (and tech fan) to begin with so, right off the bat, this caught my eye.

This film covers what a networked society would look like with new business models, talking plants, and globalized communities. Although it mainly focuses on the last 15 years of innovation, it covers the entire journey of human connectivity from the light bulb and electricity and what possibilities their introduction to the masses gave the human race to what our world will look like and function like 10 or 20 years down the road.

I highly recommended you check it out. Not only does this film give an optimistic view of where tech, digital networking, and connectivity are headed but it packs it all into a short, 20 minute story that will entice even those who are not fond of documentary films.