Vehicle-to-vehicle communication (V2V)

[slibert]

I found this press release (http://www.nhtsa.gov/About+NHTSA/Press+Releases/2014/USDOT+to+Move+Forward+with+Vehicle-to-Vehicle+Communication+Technology+for+Light+Vehicle s)on vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications very interesting.

Given the FRC focus on co-opertition, and the goal to inspire students to embrace autonomous vehicle technologies, V2V technology seems like a great direction to move towards.

Clearly we'll have the ongoing challenges of wireless communication interference, but a frequency band has been allocated, the security/privacy concerns appear to have been addressed, and auto makers have been researching DSRC (dedicated short range communications) for awhile now.

Going one step further, Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) is also possible using DSRC. Imagine how much more challenging and exciting autonomous periods could be if a team could localize a FIRST robot based on V2I communication with a beacon.

Here's hoping FIRST will support use of V2V / V2I technology soon....

- scott
Software Mentor, Team 2465 (Kauaibots)

[Michael Hill]

Well, Dean DID hint at something "exciting" in the future with Qualcomm...

[DampRobot]

Well, Dean DID hint at something "exciting" in the future with Qualcomm...

I believe that might be this facial recognition/vision board mentioned in a SlashDot article (scroll to the end):

http://www.slashgear.com/robot-love-inside-dean-kamens-first-championship-2014-03327435/

[adciv]

FIRST could allow V2V technology in the existing system. The main thing is it would require a key change in the configuration of the Field WIFI configuration. Right now every team is on their own separate VLAN (as I understand the system). In order to allow V2V, there would have to be packets allowed across the VLANs.

Rebound Rumble would have been able to use this, given the cooperative nature of the bridge balancing (even using opposing alliances). I'm not sure we'll see this, though.

[rich2202]

The system presumes that vehicles are trying to avoid close contact. Not so.

Also, the easiest form of communication between vehicles is for the drivers to yell at each other.

[bscharles]

I wrote a paper about this technology in cars for one of my classes, and I know that this is something that could be really useful in the traffic industry, especially in assisting in detecting wrong-way drivers. The concept of sharing information between vehicles could be an interesting thing to implement for FRC. I could see it being beneficial for autonomous mode, or maybe keeping track of certain game elements (such as which robot has which game piece)

[Whippet]

[snip]
(such as which robot has which game piece)

Automated assist scoring!