@MastaFalse: No, you pay for the car. The Guinea Pig'ing is voluntary.

92BuickLeSabre

@apeguero:

I've had a rough night, and I hate the f*cking Eagles, man...

hanswurst0815

@apeguero: Plus, it drives like a timid old lady. They need to up the aggression on that robot.

GeekyNerdGuy

I'm confused. ... you have to PAY to be a guinea pig?

MastaFalse

That Explorer wouldn't last one day in Boston traffic. Unless you switched the left and right doohickies in the front bumper plus added an "I Speak Mumbles" bumper sticker there.

apeguero

@Kaiser-Machead's got LindsayJoy's cookies on the SuperDrive: HAHAHAHAHA! One of my favorite movie lines.

apeguero

I had an '04 Escape. I sold it at 85,000 miles, but at that point it had required zero maintenance aside from oil changes and tire rotations.

Depreciation was a bitch though. Domestic cars don't hold resale value worth crap.

GeekyNerdGuy

But will it drive itself straight to the repair shop so it can hang out with the rest of the Fords?

bms

I love the comments haha Eagles

Wegmans

Errr, can I buy the one that came in first place instead?

BadBoyNDSU

crap, i forgot a "the"
"I swear it wasn't me, the car was THE one driving."
Damm you Gizmodo if only your comments had edit, then I wouldn't look like a total fool!

Dapole

Hey, that's the Virginia Tech entry! That thing drove not 5 feet in front of me in the stadium lot there when I was walking to my car (unfortunately, there was someone driving it at the time).

Stang70Fastback

@wingbatwu: Yes it works well until the car goes on a rampage runs down a few people, and looks who's to blame, your wife. How many times do you think a cop is going to believe "I swear it wasn't me, the car was one driving."
Unless that's exactly what you want them to think....

Dapole

I wonder if I can get one just so it will drive my wife to work, to the mall, etc.

wingbatwu

QUIET!

They're approaching the Tyrannosaur paddock.

Kaiser-Machead's got LindsayJoy's cookies on the SuperDrive

Nice PS man :D

desostros

The photoshop is hilarous ^^

NilSn

Seriously, make them sit on it for another six months and keep making that robot-car loan payment. By then, you can probably snag it for $75k.

GeekyNerdGuy

@apeguero: i actually remember reading an article saying Boston was the worst city ever for driving. after DC i believe it was. since my brother lives in Boston... yeah. i believe it.

"huh? what? bumpers are MADE for bumping!!!"

was the quote that summed it all up for me. (after his roommate vigorously forced himself into a parallel parking spot... alarms and all. and that was NOT the only time i witnessed that while there.)

x23

do you like drinking? do you hate cabs? well then!!! do i have a DEAL for you!!!

x23

I want the MTV from Oshkosh Truck. Because then you could WRECK SHIT. Also it had the most badass siren I've ever heard. It sounded like it was ushering in the robot apocalypse!

Log1c

@x23: Sounds like Rome. You weren't parked close enough if the bumpers weren't touching.

GeekyNerdGuy

@x23: Yeah. I believe it. It's the norm here. Those are called the "Boston kiss". It's one of the main reasons I moved to the burbs.

Traffic in that city is nuts. And all traffic signals are out of synch too. Listen to this one, in this day and age, in a city as congested as that is, they removed a left turn only lane in the Mass Ave and Melnea-Cass BLVD so that they could widen the merridian sidewalk. WHAT?!? Yes. It's a hell of a busy intersection anytime of the day and they took a lane away. Make the street narrower Mumbles. We don't need anymore road space.

apeguero

Did anyone but me immediately think JURASSIC PARK? Remember those automated moving rovers? I think I just wet myself...

CutePuppyz

@apeguero: hahaha... the other funny one i saw... that i would NEVER try anywhere BUT boston... was trying to turn onto Mass Ave... not by waiting for a space to open up and turning into the road like a normal person in a normal town. but instead... by gradually creeping into the road until well over half the car was in the road and people were swerving and honking... THEN pulling out and flooring it.

and it wasn't just the one driver i was with then... i saw it many many many times. and some of the roads that completely randomly turn into one-way to two-way then back to one-way... what the hell? having cars back into driveways to pass etc. completely absurd.

they do seem to understand pedestrian right-of-way though. if you cross streets "boston style" as my brother calls it. (also will get you killed anywhere else. tried it in NYC once... no dice.)

x23

It's only $20,000 in 2007 dollars.

heroineworshipper

@bms: you beat me to it! What I want to know is if there's an articulating arm that removes the bird's nest when it sits on the dealer lot for a week
[jalopnik.com]

toyotaboy

@CutePuppyz: Yeah, Kaiser mentioned it about 50 comments ago.

And those rovers were on a track -- kind of lame compared to this.

Also, the Escape doesn't have the rollover lawsuit issues the Explorer did.

GeekyNerdGuy

Just a quick point of clarification by TORC: the ByWire XGV is a drive-by-wire, not autonomous, Ford Escape Hybrid. TORC does offer its AutonoNav autonomous navigation system as an optional upgrade, but the converted platform is ideal for use in R&D programs by universities and unmanned systems developers. It's designed to allow the focus to remain on higher level autonomy and perception challenges.

You can always visit www.torctech.com to get full details.

TORC

Thanks for picking up the story! There is one detail I just want to clear up -- the ByWire XGV is a drive-by-wire Ford Escape Hybrid, but not autonomous. TORC does have a product called the AutonoNav, which is an autonomous navigation system that can be added as an option.

The platform is ideal for universities and unmanned systems developers, allowing them to focus on higher level autonomy and perception challenges. They can work on pushing autonomy further, and not waste valuable time and resources converting vehicles or worrying about details such as emergency stop controls. The ByWire XGV provides a ready-made system for unmanned research and development programs.

You can always get the most up to date information on [www.torctech.com]

TORC

Damn it, I shouldn't have bought the eight tons of porno.

michaelleung

beeb beeb

vinnyr

I got to sit in TORC's magical car...
[www.insidevtknowledgeworks.com]

insidevtkw