Or maybe an aerial drone. The LA Auto Show's annual Design Challenge suggests the patrol car of the future is optionally manned, self-driving, and armed with autonomous robots.
Posted 11.26.2012 at 2:30 pm
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Honda's CHP Drone Squad Concept
Honda
Every year, the Design Challenge--formulated by and for the LA Auto Show--asks the automotive industry’s most advanced design labs to speculate on possible futures as they pertain to the continuing evolution of the automobile. This year’s theme: highway patrol 2025. Entries from the likes of GM, Subaru, BMW, and Honda naturally show a lot of imagination, but more than that they show a degree of agreement between the industry’s brightest creatives that the future is going to be crowded, full of traffic jams, and above all very, very automated.
Everyday police work in 2025 will be autonomous and remotely controlled.
As in the defense sector, robotics potentially offer law enforcement agencies a force multiplier--something that allows fewer officers to be more productive at a lower cost--and this year’s Design Challenge entrants clearly understand that. Some of the proposals are pretty straightforward; Mercedes Benz offers up an advanced, fuel-efficient SUV for police forces trying to own the road with sheer size, while General Motors introduces the “Volt Squad,” a three-vehicle manned system based on the electric propulsion technology pioneered for the Chevy Volt.
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Cars, Clay Dillow, cars, concepts, design challenge, la auto show, robotics, robotsBMW’s concept is similar. Created by BMW Group DesignworksUSA, E-Patrol is the manned police cruiser of the future. The team’s research predicted that Los Angeles 2025 will host a traffic-filled yet fast-moving transit atmosphere, and for the car chases of the future the officers driving E-Patrol will be able to deploy both aerial drones or single-wheeled unmanned ground vehicles to pursue other vehicles or gather information and report back to the hub. Essentially, a couple of officers on patrol could do the work of multiple cruisers and an aerial helicopter unit today--assuming someone pioneers a user interface that would allow said officers to manage the entire system simultaneously.
BMW's E-Patrol Concept: BMW
That last part might be the biggest design challenge of all, and it will require lots of robotic autonomy. But if the concepts put forth by the auto industry’s most forward-thinking creatives is any indication, highway policing by autopilot could become the norm. And while this future won’t necessarily come to pass in the next 15 years, there’s a strong chance that at some point we will find ourselves receiving moving violations from autonomous systems, from some kind of RoboCop (minus the cyborg element). So don’t bother crying--your pitiful human emotions won’t get you off the hook this time.
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I have no respect for any robot attempting to pull me over. It will be destroyed before it give me a ticket. No human = no remorse.
If we have the technology to make robotic police cars that can maneuver around traffic, and distribute tickets, why not simply make CARS robotic so they don't make mistakes?
Ape logic...
SO has anyone read Fahrenheit 451? (think i got the name right) Basically books are illegal, everyone is required by law to watch tv and participate in social networking, and if you break the rules an electronic police dog hunts you down and kills you.
Second, unrelated comment. Why is it that PopSci thinks every comment I post is spam, but misses the dozens of auto posts linked to scam sites all over their website?
A bit "overfunctioned" but that is what you expect from a "pie in the sky" future-function.
UAVs are already creeping into LE functions, and this trend will likely continue (as many LE advancements have always been trickled down from military).
Also likely would be "auto tracking" software (letting a license plate search give a live feed of the car's position). This would be ostensibly for the purpose of automated vehicles, but with a side of Big Brother (like cellphone GPS).
Other than the software and drone side, most police budgets are going to be more focused on things that increase economy without sacrificing performance when needed.
Yes, lots of robot unicycles. But without the little robot monkeys riding them and the electronic organ grinder, where's the fun in that?
With all the cars of the future driving themselves,( http://www.forbes.com/sites/eco-nomics/2012/09/25/self-driving-cars-will-take-over-by-2040/ ) These stupid robots are going to be ticketing themselves.
Seriously though, the Highway Patrol is really out there on the road to help make it safe. Without human control of some form it's going to be impossible to turn one of these robots into any kind of a device to functionally work towards saving lives. It takes human intervention to assess emergency situations. These robots are going to only be some politicians tool to generate funding or to rip the population off of money they need. This is the wrong way to go. However remotely controlled traffic drones with operators controlling them from a remote location makes perfect sense.
Agree with Ringleader, rather than spending so much time and effort on this, why not create the automated cars for regular people? Sounds like more misplaced energy most likely propagated by the desire to fuel more revenue streams out of taxpayers wallets.
The "future" they all agree on doesn't have to exist at all and would have no need of these things.
We should not take the human element out of police work.
I said on popsci two years ago that drones would be in our skies no one agreed with me…listing many reasons why this would not happen. Now it is happening. Let me make another prediction. It won’t be long until these drones are armed and death will come from above.
This is a bad dea.
I'm still waiting on cars to just ticket you themselves (a la "The 5th Element"). I hope I'm dead before that.
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Wouldn't robotic cars-replacing the need to drive- be here by then?
Automated cops are as high as the technology goes?
I think the only reason they would choose robo-cops instead of robo-vehicles would be revenue.
We must trash this idea now before we wake up in a dystopic
ah nevermind...we're half way there already.
If at first, the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.
All it takes is one good hack and a smart car thief is home free. they should really mention some sort of firewall, or something!
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When "Robocop" starts pulling people over, how long do you think it will be before companies,criminals and private citizens start building electromagnetic pulse guns to bring down drones, robotic police cycles, and robotic police men.