'Self-Driving' 1965 Mustang Crashes With The Whole World Watching

A supposedly autonomous classic Mustang was all over the place on a Goodwood FoS demonstration run, requiring human intervention several times

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Posted by Goodwood Festival of Speed on Thursday, July 12, 2018

‘Self’ appears to be the buzzword in society right now. Self-service at the supermarket works if you are in a rush. So does self check-in at the airport (well, most of the time). But the jury is still out on self-driving cars. And while an autonomous Ford Mustang from the mid sixties sounds glamorous, mixing the best of old and new, unfortunately it hasn’t quite worked out.

Developed by German tech giant Siemens with help from Cranfield University, the car was revealed to the world earlier this week. Of course, of all the places on the planet you would want it to work, where you don’t want something to go wrong knowing bad PR will follow, it is the Goodwood Festival of Speed - an event where the great and the good assemble and where thousands flock to see them. Oh, and then footage is seen live all over the world on YouTube.

The autonomous(ish) Mustang seemed to be all over the place up Goodwood hill
The autonomous(ish) Mustang seemed to be all over the place up Goodwood…

The system is designed to be fitted to older cars - but the Ford’s timed run up the famous hill will not go down as a classic. Using trick sensors and a super-fast on-board computer, Siemens said it would allow the car to navigate the hill climb with little if any driver input. Things started off well, albeit at a snail’s pace. In fact, it made for very painful watching (see the top video from the 24min mark). Some are likely to have even closed down their PC browser as fresh paint would run down a wall faster.

A short distance into the drive the Mustang begins to lurch left then right, forcing the driver to reach for the steering wheel. This trend - and some eratic braking - continues and, inevitably, with the finish line in sight, the car heads staight into a safety bale. The display is perhaps best described as a real-life example of car crash TV.

The silver lining is the car did at least manage to go up the hill on Friday a little tidier.

Jason Craig

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Comments

SAVAGE DOGG (Ping-Pong Gang) (Corvette Squad)

Well, that was lame

07/13/2018 - 17:22 |
0 | 0
Smiller

Manufacturers need to be careful with these early mistakes because before we know it people will completely lose trust in autonomy

07/13/2018 - 17:45 |
2 | 0
Simon Wyatt (four arm squad)

In reply to by Smiller

We want people to think autonomy is dangerous and scary, self driving cars is the worst thing that could happen to the car community

07/25/2018 - 03:48 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

Horses love hay

07/13/2018 - 18:32 |
12 | 0
White Comet

Here, we learned that technology can’t save Mustang from crashing at all…

07/13/2018 - 19:14 |
4 | 0
Anonymous

So basically, the problems with Mustangs isn’t a driver issue it’s a vehicle issue..i mean if a computer cannot even control it…

07/13/2018 - 19:45 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

I’ll take this as a sign. The mustang has spoken, self driving car are a bad idea it is trying too warn us the autonomous vehicles will wipe out the human race….

07/13/2018 - 19:55 |
0 | 0
H4R1S_01

ERROR 404 CROWD NOT FOUND

07/13/2018 - 20:58 |
0 | 0
ThatDudeThatFapsToSupras

The mustang was so disappointed in what it had become the only way out was to commit seppuku. It was probably more disheartening then watching the mustang ll be born

07/13/2018 - 21:57 |
0 | 4
Wogmidget

AHAHAHAHAHA

07/13/2018 - 22:23 |
0 | 0
'Self-Driving' 1965 Mustang Crashes With The Whole World Watching
Edu Doffi

Leave “self driving cars” to people who cares a f*ck about driving, this tipe of cars need to be driven, thats how it works. This is a car not a ps4

07/14/2018 - 00:24 |
0 | 0