Automotive technology giant, Siemens, was set to deliver the best Recycled Hawtness story I’ve written yet this week. That’s because the latest test bed for their autonomous vehicle technology was going to be a meticulously restored and modified 1965 Ford Mustang– and they were going to point the thing at the historic hillclimb evet at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
I shouldn’t say, “were going to”, I suppose. I shouldn’t say that, because Siemens actually did end up pointing their self-driving Mustang up the hill. It’s just that, you know– it didn’t turn out exactly the way that Siemens hoped it would. The Mustang’s run starts about five minutes in.
Video | Autonomous Mustang at Goodwood
As a big believer in autonomous cars and a fan of old Mustangs, in general, I have to say that watching that was pretty painful. Watching the “driver” correct the Mustang’s course manually a few times too, was painful. Even though I couldn’t quite see their faces, I’m pretty sure the looks on the Siemens engineers riding in the car were also pretty painful. The whole thing was just– I would say, “deeply unimpressive”.
Siemens will be quick to point out that this Mustang is a test bed. It’s an advanced AI that is at the steepest part of its learning curve. Still, Goodwood is a huge stage, and car enthusiasts all around the world are watching. As such, I have to wonder why they would ever think presenting this car on this stage at this point in its development was a good idea.
What do you guys think? Did Siemens shoot the bulls-eye with this Goodwood publicity stunt, or just shoot themselves in the foot? Let us know what you think about the autonomous Mustang in the comments section at the bottom of the page.
Sources | Images: Goodwood FOS, Digital Trends.
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