The newspaper cited a case involving Dr Artur Filipowicz, a computer scientist at the world famous Princeton University in the US, who managed to manipulate computer game software to create a prototype algorithm that could control ‘stop’ signs.
Dr Filipowicz was focusing on a future that features driverless cars and picked up on one of the problems developers are having—how to ensure the vehicles respond to road signage, but more specifically stop signs.
In order for cars to recognise signs, the algorithm must be designed to enable the vehicle to respond to all types of signage, no matter what sort of condition it is in.
For example, signs could be partly obscured by other vehicles or trees, or even be covered in dirt—and this would require a huge amount of effort to go out and take photographs of all the different types of scenarios.
With this in mind, Dr Filipowicz turned to popular driving game ‘Grand Theft Auto V’, which enables players not only drive various vehicles, but also take on a series of mission involving a whole range of crime-related scenarios.
There is clearly still some way to go before such applications are rolled out to the masses, but the work done by Dr Filipowicz goes to show how sign-makers can work with technology leaders outside the industry to expand the digital signage world even further”
However, Dr Filipowicz was focused on the aspect of the game where computer-driven vehicles travel around the fiction city and surrounding areas, abiding by all traffic laws—including stop signs and traffic lights, no matter what sort of condition they are in.
As the newspaper reports, Dr Filipowicz was able to tinker with the video game’s software so that it “spit out” thousands of pictures of the signs for his algorithm to digest and understand.
Although this system is clearly in its infancy, the repercussions of the prototype algorithm could be huge for the sign-making industry in years to come. While the likes of Google are fully committed to developing driverless cars for consumer markets around the world, it could well be up to the sign industry to ensure that signage is compatible with the new vehicles.
In addition to the transport market, this type of technology could be used more in other types of signage to help consumers interact with signs. For example, how might sign-makers develop applications for consumers wearing personal artificial intelligence devices such as Google Glasses?
There is clearly still some way to go before such applications are rolled out to the masses, but the work done by Dr Filipowicz goes to show how sign-makers can work with technology leaders outside the industry to expand the digital signage world even further.
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