
Curtis Franklin, Jr. has the scoop at InformationWeek.
The virtual driver itself lives in a Linux cluster that sits in the trunk of the test vehicle. Williams said that the cluster is five nodes running Ubuntu Linux. Multiple nodes are required to handle all the sensor input and process it quickly enough to make driving decisions. Asked why there are five nodes in the cluster, Williams was succinct. “That’s all that would fit in the trunk,” he said.
Also, this:
Williams was quick to explain that assisting a human driver and creating a virtual driver are two distinct problems that share far less, electronically or conceptually, than it might seem at the outset. He said that the two programs are distinct, with separate management and development teams. [emphasis added]
Ford’s media release on the project is here.
Originally published at www.davidincalifornia.com on January 18, 2016.