Will we really have flying cars?

We talk to an expert about what a road trip in the future might look like, and see if the community’s imagination lines up.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
If you watched a lot of old cartoons, you'd think
the future of.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Road trips was much more in the air than on
the road. But now that we're.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Well into the twenty first century, we're getting a pretty
good feel for technology. We've got GPS in everything, our
fridges can order our food automatically, and vehicles drive themselves.
So I decided to find out our flying cars still
on the horizon. I'm Amanda Kella and this is brain

(00:30):
fuel Great Aussy stories from the future, fueled by Ampolf,
Australia's own.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
My name is Ahmit Trevetti. I worked for the Department
of Transport and Main Roads as a cooperative and highly
automated driving pilot Lead.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
Armot's team is doing some pretty amazing stuff. They're working
with technology that will make cars a bit more human.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
So connected technologies where cars are talking to each other
as well as listening to each other and infrastructure. Automated
technology is more about seeing and feeling, so these cars,
automated cars have sensors, they see the world around about
and perceive the environment and drive themselves. And the pilot

(01:16):
we are doing we're trying to integrate both of these technologies,
so we have a platform called Zoe Too, which is
a connected and automated vehicle which can be programmed to
behave like a highly automated car and then it can see,
feel here and talk to other cars.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
But there's a catch. Australia is a big country. We've
got lots of roads and a lot of bush. Sometimes
we share those roads with some pretty tough creatures.

Speaker 3 (01:49):
In Australia, we have a unique situation. So we took
a consultancy with various international experts, so experts from France,
Germany and the United States to find out what is
very unique in Australia that these automated vehicles will need
to negotiate. And we found out a unique Australian conditions

(02:10):
with these vehicles may not be prepared and one of
that being aware road trains are long trucks. Second one
being a very unique wildlife, especially kangaroos.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
Kangaroos they're fast, they can swim, and they grow up
to two meters tall. So how can armor teach a
car to avoid a roo?

Speaker 3 (02:30):
It is extremely challenging to find the kangaroo jump in
front of our car.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Maybe if you ask it nicely armored.

Speaker 3 (02:40):
And I had never come across the kangaroo jump in
front of me. So it is extremely difficult to come
across that situation. So we've been negotiating with some zoos
around and certain wildlife century and collect data while wild
kangaroos and this wildlife is running around us in a
slow speed. We have some information. Then we can simulate

(03:02):
that in our database and we can train our algorithm
to deal with it and to negotiate those situations.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
So, as it turns out, the future of road trips
is already here. We've got cars that drive themselves, that
can talk to each other and can even have something
like feelings. But in Australia, as long as we've got kangaroos,
there's a lot more research to be done for that.

Speaker 3 (03:27):
We are a long way. We're a long way.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
From a driverless car or whatever. Your journey. Ample is
the fuel that gets you there.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
Make sure you follow our adventures for free in your
favorite podcast app.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
I'm Amanda Keller and this is brain Fuel.