Autonomous Vehicles, LEAF and others...

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finman100 said:
hmm, just the opposite of what ACTUAL Tesla drivers say they experience with auto pilot. The relaxing and less stressfull driving experience...
I expect the driver who crashed his autoplioted S into the truck in Florida was quite likely relaxed and stress-free...

Until the moment before his decapitation.
 
finman100 said:
hmm, just the opposite of what ACTUAL Tesla drivers say they experience with auto pilot. The relaxing and less stressfull driving experience. i wonder if ACTUAL Tesla drivers would have any ACTUAL experience behind the wheel in ACTUAL driving environments to ACTUALLY have meaningful feedback.

Might as well take back all those other safety/ convenience systems from all the other car mfgs. Wow, this gets old.
Gee, and all those studies by NASA, NTSB accident investigations et al are outweighed by anecdotal claims of Tesla owners? A former girlfriend worked at NASA Ames doing human factors studies, and I used to read her copy of the proceedings from the conferences (e.g. The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society) she attended. The studies are well-documented over a long period of time, and automation-aided crashes are a continuing problem in the aviation industry, as the human monitors are often unable to tell when the system has switched itself off or is doing something other than what they intend. And that's commercial/military pilots, who get a far higher level of training in how those systems work and their limitations than drivers do. Here's a list of some commercial aviation accidents where flight deck automation was ruled a contributing factor:

http://www.flightdeckautomation.com/accidentstudy/accident-analysis.aspx

Here's some of the analysis of the reasons:

"automation may not work well under unusual conditions"; "mode selection may be incorrect"; "understanding of automation may be inadequate"; "mode awareness may be lacking"; "pilots may be overconfident in automation".

At least three of the above would apply to Brown's death. Here's an account of a fairly recent and highly publicized local automation-aided accident, the Asiana Airlines landing crash at SFO in clear day weather: https://skift.com/2013/12/02/pilot-reliance-on-flight-automation-may-have-caused-recent-crashes/

Do you seriously believe that the average driver is somehow more immune to these issues than far more highly screened and recurrently-trained airline or military pilots? I don't know about you, but the last time I was required to do any official driver training was about 30 years ago, when I had to get a limousine license (for insurance reasons) so that I could drive the 15-passenger van owned by the church that sponsored my Scout troop.
 
Via ABG:
Want a black box in your autonomous car? Germany does
http://www.autoblog.com/2016/07/19/germany-autonomous-black-box-legislation/

Germany is proposing new legislation focused on the growing ranks of semi- and fully autonomous vehicles. Essentially, regulators want black boxes for these vehicles.

According to Reuters, Germany's Minister of Transport Alexander Dobrindt is pushing for legislation that will require recording devices to monitor when driverless systems are active, when a human takes control, and any instance where the car asks for human intervention. Dobrindt's proposal also details what a driver can and can't do behind the wheel – according to Reuters, Germany will always require a human in the driver's seat, but the person doesn't need to pay attention to traffic or focus on steering the car. . . .
 
Based on Nissans ABS and stability control I would not trust their software for autopilot like features. Nissan software almost threw my car into a wall for no reason braking on it's own on a dry surface. Nissan seems to be far behind others in tech development.
 
Back on-topic, Nissan's description of how human and automated systems can share control of the vehicle during the period of transition to fully autonomous vehicles.

Notice that even when the vehicle is under human control, the autonomous features will be utilized back-up the driver in order to help prevent collisions:

Jul. 19, 2016
People behind the ProPILOT: From NASA Mission Control to the driver’s seat, scientist shapes future of autonomous driving


Space was not the final frontier for computer scientist Maarten Sierhuis.

The former NASA researcher, who once designed human-robot interactions and developed collaborative intelligent systems for space exploration, now focuses his efforts a bit closer to home: the artificial intelligence that's helping power the future of Nissan's autonomous vehicles.

But the passion that carried the robotics and artificial intelligence expert to the apogee of the U.S. space program hasn't cooled with his move to an earthly job as director of the Nissan Research Center (NRC) in California's Silicon Valley.

"Bringing this new technology to society, it will change so many things," says Sierhuis, a native of The Netherlands who has lived in the U.S. since 1989. "And call me crazy, but for me part of my drive of wanting to be thinking about these kinds of problems is that I want it to be done right."

Even when the driver is controlling the vehicle, the autonomous features must continue to monitor conditions and, in the event of imminent danger, assist the driver in avoiding an accident.
...
http://nissannews.com/en-US/nissan/usa/releases/people-behind-the-propilot-from-nasa-mission-control-to-the-driver-s-seat-scientist-shapes-future-of-autonomous-driving
 
Related to this subject. Looks like the Bolt will get this sooner than expected.

http://www.techinsider.io/gms-first-autonomous-car-will-be-electric-and-launch-on-lyft-2016-7
 
Via GCC:
Singapore LTA selects nuTonomy for trials of autonomous mobility-on-demand transportation service; new AV testing center
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/08/20160801-lta.html

In addition to Delphi (earlier post), Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) has also selected nuTonomy to begin trials of an autonomous mobility-on-demand transportation service. The partnership will expand and accelerate the nuTonomy’s development efforts in Singapore as it progresses towards the launch of a commercial autonomous vehicle (AV) service in 2018.

Delphi and nuTonomy were shortlisted from several participants which submitted proposals for autonomous mobility-on-demand concepts under the Request for Information (RFI) issued by LTA in June last year. (Besides mobility-on-demand services, LTA is also exploring SDVs for other public transport applications, such as self-driving buses.). . . .

If the trials of the Delphi and nuTonomy self-driving vehicles prove successful, the projects would be developed into full-scale mobility solutions for towns in Singapore. Commuters will then have access to an even wider range of public transport options, especially for first-and-last-mile travel, thereby further reducing the reasons to move around in a private car. . . .

Also GCC:
Singapore Land Transport Authority selects Delphi for autonomous vehicle mobility-on-demand program
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/08/20160801-delphi.html
 
Via ABG:
Australia to get new coordinates for future autonomous cars
The country has moved roughly five feet in the last 22 years.
http://www.autoblog.com/2016/08/02/australia-gps-coordinates-autonomous-cars/

Australia can't stand still and tectonic activity is to blame. Over the past 22 years, the country has moved approximately five feet. The movement has put the country out of sync with GPS systems and has caused local and global coordinates, which are used to produce maps, to be off by roughly 4.9 feet. In an effort to reflect Australia's new position, its government will officially update the country's new latitude and longitude in 2017, reports BBC News. . . .
 
Via ABG:
NADA calls for mandatory autonomous vehicle safety inspections
http://www.autoblog.com/2016/08/03/nada-mandatory-autonomous-vehicle-safety-inspections/

With autonomous vehicles, it's a question of "when" not "if" they'll rule the roads. That's going to require rules and regulations to govern not only their use but their maintenance. According to the North American Dealers Association's chief economist, that should mean mandated, regular inspections.

Automotive News reports that NADA's Steven Szakaly called on the auto industry to adopt the same maintenance mindset as the aviation and mining industries, including a stringent inspection schedule. . . .

"There's a 100-percent certainty that if we don't have mandated service intervals someone's system is not going to be properly maintained, and there's a 100-percent certainty that will end catastrophically in some way."

These are not unfair statements – people are terrible at taking care of their vehicles. But the issue is that they're coming from a major dealership lobby. It's easy to see mandatory regular inspections being a boon for dealerships. Perhaps not at first, but in the future dealers would enjoy a strong and steady supply of customers coming in for their regular inspections. . . .
 
Via GCC:
Toyota to collaborate with Japan Federation of Hire-Taxi Associations on next-gen taxi; role of automated driving
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/08/20160806-tmc.html


Also GCC:
MIT researchers developing LiDAR on a chip
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/08/20160805-lidar.html

Researchers at MIT’s Photonic Microsystems Group are developing a LiDAR-on-a-chip system that is smaller than a dime, has no moving parts, and could be mass produced at a very low cost to be used in self-driving cars, drones, and robots. An article describing the new system is published in IEEE Spectrum. . . .

The device is a 0.5 mm x 6 mm silicon photonic chip with steerable transmitting and receiving phased arrays and on-chip germanium photodetectors. The laser itself is not integrated into the chips; however, there are on-chip lasers that could be integrated in the future. . . .

The current on-chip LiDAR system can detect objects at ranges of up to 2 meters; the researchers are hoping to achieve a 10-meter range within a year. They said there is a clear development path towards technology that can reach 100 meters, with the possibility of going even farther.

The MIT team is producing the LiDAR chips on 300-millimeter wafers, making their potential production cost on the order of $10 each at production volumes of millions of units per year.
 
Via GCC:
Uber acquires self-driving truck company Otto
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/08/20160818-uberotto.html

Uber has acquired Otto, a 90-plus person technology startup the stated mission of which is to rethink transportation, starting with self-driving trucks. Anthony Levandowski, Otto’s co-founder, will now lead Uber’s self-driving efforts and report directly to Travis Kalanick, Uber CEO and Co-Founder—across personal transportation, delivery and trucking—in San Francisco, Palo Alto and Pittsburgh.

Otto hardware and software is tuned for the consistent patterns and easy-to-predict road conditions of highway driving. Sensors are installed high atop existing trucks, offering vehicles an unobstructed view of the road ahead. Highways represent only 5% of US roads, allowing Otto to focus its testing on this specific set of critical trucking routes. . . .

Related story from GCC:
Volvo Cars and Uber join forces to develop next-gen autonomous driving cars; $300M joint project
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/08/20160818-volvouber.html

Volvo Cars and ride-sharing company Uber have signed an agreement to establish a joint project that will develop new base vehicles that will be able to incorporate the latest developments in AD technologies, up to and including fully autonomous driverless cars. The base vehicles will be manufactured by Volvo Cars and then purchased from Volvo by Uber. Volvo Cars and Uber are contributing a combined $300 million to the project. . . .
 
From two drivers to none in ~five years?

World’s First Self-Driving Taxis Hit the Road in Singapore

Singapore’s nuTonomy debuts autonomous cabs, beating the likes of U.S. tech giants Uber and Google


...NuTonomy’s test vehicles, a Renault Zoe and Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car, will have a computer engineer and backup human driver during the trial phase in case anything goes wrong, and can be hailed by select members of the public using a smartphone app, the company said. The one-north district is a self-contained area of about 0.8 square miles accessible by trunk roads but much quieter than most public roads in Singapore. NuTonomy said it would test its vehicles on a 6 kilometer (3.7 mile) route...
http://www.wsj.com/articles/worlds-first-self-driving-taxis-hit-the-road-in-singapore-1472102747

Self-driving cars reach a fork in the road, and automakers take different routes

Cars capable of driving themselves may be on the showroom floor sooner than you think, but whether they should come with all the current essentials — including a steering wheel and pedals on the floor — has the auto industry at a fork in the road.

Ford sided with the pioneering engineers at Google last week in announcing plans to introduce limited-use vehicles without traditional controls within five years. Some other major automakers — and virtually all of them are well along in their work on self-driving vehicles — say they will introduce automated elements one step at a time, until drivers accept that they no longer need to control their cars.

The different approaches are rooted in conflicting views of safety and what the public is willing to accept...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/self-driving-cars-reach-a-fork-in-the-road-and-automakers-take-different-routes/2016/08/24/5cdeaba8-63d9-11e6-8b27-bb8ba39497a2_story.html
 
Toyota shares its AV plans, and expected limitations:

Toyota's two-step autonomous push

Toyota guru sees true autonomy in 5-10 years


...The target is a so-called Level 4 autonomous vehicle — a car capable of driving itself anywhere, anytime, under any weather scenario, while the human sits back, hands off.

Toyota’s first applications of Level 4 autonomous driving will be “geofenced,” said Eustice, who, with Olson, is co-director of Toyota’s autonomous driving program. That means the cars will be fully self-driving but in restricted areas such as interstate freeways.

“In reality, I don’t think anybody is going to launch a product and say on day one it will be Level 4 everywhere,” Eustice said in an August interview. “That is a monumental goal.”

Geofenced Level 4 Toyotas, however, are just five to 10 years away, he said...
http://www.autonews.com/article/20160903/OEM06/160909980/toyotas-two-step-autonomous-push
 
Via GCC:
Strategy Analytics: consumers showing less interest in autonomous driving systems
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/09/20160918-sa.html

After reaching an all-time high in 2015, consumers’ interest in autonomous driving systems has fallen in 2016, reflecting hesitance about the reliance of self-driving technology, according to a recent survey from the In-Vehicle UX (IVX) group at Strategy Analytics.

Strategy Analytics surveyed consumers in the US, Western Europe, and China regarding their interest and willingness to pay for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). Consumer interest in all forms of ADAS remains somewhat high but has moderated from 2015 in the US and Europe.

Interest in autonomous parking and driving features has fallen in some regions, especially in the US. Consumer willingness to pay for most ADAS features has dropped for all but the lowest reasonable price points, especially for advanced functions and semi-autonomous features. . . .
 
Via GCC:
Lyft co-founder projects private car ownership will all but end in major US cities by 2025
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/09/20160919-lyft.html

. . . In a piece published in Medium, Zimmer proposed that the coming transportation revolution—which will shape the future of our communities—will be defined by three key shifts:

  • Autonomous vehicle fleets will quickly become widespread and will account for the majority of Lyft rides within 5 years.

    By 2025, private car ownership will all-but end in major U.S. cities.

    As a result, cities’ physical environment will change more than we’ve ever experienced in our lifetimes. . . .

    Ridesharing is just the first phase of the movement to end car ownership and reclaim our cities. As I mentioned before, the shift to autonomous cars will expand dramatically over the next ten years, transforming transportation into the ultimate subscription service. This service will be more flexible than owning a car, giving you access to all the transportation you need. Don’t drive very often? Use a pay-as-you-go plan for a few cents every mile you ride. Take a road trip every weekend? Buy the unlimited mileage plan. Going out every Saturday? Get the premium package with upgraded vehicles. The point is, you won’t be stuck with one car and limited options. Through a fleet of autonomous cars, you’ll have better transportation choices than ever before with a plan that works for you.
As with all such predictions of inevitable major changes, the actual rate at which this occurs (assuming it does - I think it's very probable), is likely to take far longer than the enthusiasts believe. Still, I'm one of the people who could switch to this now, given convenient car-sharing. I'm already using pay-as-you-go insurance, and don't use a car locally except for the occasional trip in crummy weather, or emergencies. If I didn't have a paid-for car on my parking pad, I could fairly easily do without car ownership.
 
The logic is inescapable:

Robot rides may force error-prone human motorists off the road

New rules of the road for robot cars coming out of Washington this week could lead to the eventual extinction of one of the defining archetypes of the past century: the human driver.

While banning people from driving may seem like something from a Kurt Vonnegut short story, it’s the logical endgame of a technology that could dramatically reduce -- or even eliminate -- the 1.25 million road deaths a year globally. Human error is the cause of 94 percent of roadway fatalities, U.S. safety regulators say, and robot drivers never get drunk, sleepy or distracted...

With mobile devices an added distraction, U.S. highway fatalities rose 8 percent last year, the biggest increase in 50 years. Some 38,300 people were killed on the road in 2015 and 4.4 million were seriously injured, according to the National Safety Council. Globally, 1.25 million people die in car crashes annually, according to the World Health Organization.

“Behind the wheel, we are only human and we are expected to screw up,” said Raj Rajkumar, co-director of the General Motors-Carnegie Mellon Autonomous Driving Collaborative Research Lab in Pittsburgh. “There will come a point in time where we should not be allowed to drive.”...
http://www.autonews.com/article/20160922/OEM06/160929928/robot-rides-may-force-error-prone-human-motorists-off-the-road
 
Via GCC:
Consumer Watchdog urges California DMV to prohibit autonomous vehicles without human driver until NHTSA safety standards are enforceable
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/10/20161020-cw.html

Consumer Watchdog urged the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to prohibit autonomous vehicles without a human driver capable of taking control until the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) enacts enforceable standards covering safety performance.

Consumer Watchdog notes that NHTSA’s proposed voluntary safety checklist contains no enforceable standards. The proposed DMV rules would require manufacturers to submit that federal checklist before testing or deploying robot cars. Consumer Watchdog testified that the checklist is inadequate to protect public safety on the roads, and that DMV must therefore prohibit driverless cars until enforceable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards are in place. . . .

The regulation’s advertising provision would prohibit manufacturers of cars that use only some automated technologies from advertising their vehicles in a way that would leave the impression that a car is fully autonomous when it is not. The regulation specifically cites “self-driving,” “automated,” and “auto-pilot” as cause for concern.

Current California DMV regulations cover the testing of autonomous vehicles in California and require a licensed test driver who can take control when the robot technology fails. Another key requirement of that regulation is that manufactures report all crashes involving their robot cars. They must submit an annual “disengagement” report detailing all the times that the autonomous technology failed. Google, for example, reported its technology failed 341 times. There were 272 times that the software turned over control to the driver and 69 times when the driver felt compelled to override the robot system.

Consumer Watchdog said the regulations should be tweaked to require disengagement reports on a quarterly basis and that video and technical data associated with any crash should be made public. Police should investigate all crashes.
 
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