Tag Archives: Self-driving cars

Been a while….

A while since I’ve talked about one of my favorite real-world subjects: autonomous vehicles.

The following article, written by Madison Park and appearing on CNN, is one of those stories that seem to be delivered by the Gods above…

Self-Driving Bus Involved in Accident on its First Day

The bus in question, which is running in Las Vegas, looks like this:

Las Vegas self-driving shuttle

So, based on the story title, one could be forgiven for thinking that the cause of the accident was -slap your forehead- the self-driving bus and its software.

Nope.

What happened, and sorry for giving it all away, was that the driver of a truck who was backing up didn’t see the bus, which had properly stopped, and wound up scrapping its front side.  No one was hurt, the damage was minor, and the driver of the truck was ticketed for failure to notice the car while backing up.

Though one does wonder: If the bus was responsible, who would be ticketed then?!

I kid, I kid.

Still, one can’t help but shake one’s head at stories like this.  The roll out of self-driving vehicles has begun and, naturally, one the first day of use of this particular new service, of course there would be a crash.

Uber’s self-driving cars…

I’ve noted many times before my fascination with what I feel is the inevitable future of transportation: Self-driving cars.

When this happens (and it will), there’s going to be a domino effect that will cause considerable benefits for many and economic hardship for others.  To begin, when self-driving vehicles become a reality, why would anyone own a car?  If a fleet of self-driving vehicles becomes a reality and its as easy as summoning one to pick you up with an app and pay a minimal amount to take you where you need to go, then pick you up afterwards to take you back, then why have your own car?  Why spend money on fuel, insurance, and service?

And if that becomes the case, think about how many businesses will be impacted.  If people don’t have their own cars, there will be less and less need for gas stations (that’s already happening to some degree with electric powered vehicles), car insurance (the companies and all they employ), and car dealerships (ditto).

Anyway, Uber’s thinking is clearly along my own, as the following article by Andrew J. Hawkins for theverge.com, demonstrates:

Uber’s Self-Driving Cars Are Now Picking Up Passengers in Arizona

If this experiment proves successful, it is but another step on the way toward having a fully autonomous vehicle industry.

The future is creeping up on us…part deux

I’ve posted frequently about self-driving vehicles.  It is my belief they’ll be here very, very soon and with their arrival, society will inevitably change.

The very bad news is that many people who have jobs driving vehicles, from taxis to Ubers to public buses to trucks, etc. etc. will find themselves out of those jobs.

This is sadly inevitable.

On the plus side: Vehicular accidents will drop, injuries and deaths will drop, traffic jams might become a thing of the past (self-driving cars, I’m assuming, won’t rubber neck), and people will have more money to use on other things.

About that last item I listed: With the arrival of self-driving vehicles, I envision a future where people won’t need to buy cars.  Instead, they will use an app on their phones (or whatever) and summon a self-driving vehicle to take them to wherever they want to go and, once they’re finished at the place they were taken to (their job, the mall, etc.), they again summon a self-driving car to take them back.  They will obviously pay for the use of the self-driving vehicles but I suspect the price will be quite low given the self-driving vehicles look to be small and very efficient.

With no need to buy a car, you obviously don’t need to spend money on insurance or fuel or car service (from oil changing to fixing a flat/replacing a tire, etc. etc.).

So, what’s keeping us from this future?

Regulation.

As with almost all new technologies, especially those that could potentially cause a person’s injury/death, the government has to look in on the matter and determine it is safe and reliable.

Already there are self-driving vehicles being tested all across the country and it is well known the Tesla electric cars have self-driving features people use even today.

The United States, however, isn’t the only country investing in self-driving vehicles.  The below article, written by Annabelle Liang and Dee-Ann Durbin for AP, notes…

World’s first self-driving taxis debut in Singapore

It would appear each passing day edges us closer and closer to this big technological shift.  What I found most fascinating in the article were these quotes, from Olivia Seow, who tested one of these vehicles:

“It felt like there was a ghost or something,” (Ms. Seow) said.

But she quickly grew more comfortable. The ride was smooth and controlled, she said, and she was relieved to see that the car recognized even small obstacles like birds and motorcycles parked in the distance.

“I couldn’t see them with my human eye, but the car could, so I knew that I could trust the car,” she said. She said she is excited because the technology could free up her time during commutes or help her father by driving him around as he grows older.”

Soon, people, soon.

The future creeping up on us…

I’ve written plenty of times regarding interest in self-driving car technology.  Of the car manufacturers out there, electric-car maker Tesla is clearly one of the companies most interested in bringing such technology to the masses.

Their vehicles already have self-driving technology on them, though drivers are warned to use this tech as an aid and to be aware/in control of their vehicle even when using this system.

Despite this, my understanding is the system is quite advanced and it doesn’t surprise me that Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, feels the self-driving cars will be a reality for everyone in just a few more years.

He should know.

Anyway, I bring all this up to present the following fascinating story which appeared on BBC…

Tesla car drives owner to hospital after he suffers a pulmonary embolism

As I said in the heading, the future is creeping up on us.

It was (sadly) bound to happen…

The first automobile driver fatality while using the autonomous feature on a car, a Tesla, has happened…

Driver Killed While Using Tesla’s “Autopilot” feature

I don’t mean to sound cold, especially with regard to the individual who lost their life in this accident, but the statistics regarding car accidents and deaths are these:  In an average year there are 30,000+ fatalities in auto accidents and another 2.2 million injured.

The fact that we’re several years into “self-driving” vehicle experimentation (I use this term because though the Tesla cars can engage in autonomous driving, there are clear warnings to do so only as an aid and to keep one’s hands on the wheel and attention on the road), this is the very first fatality to occur while a car was in a self-driving mode.

Here’s the description of the accident, as reported in the article linked to above:

“What we know is that the vehicle was on a divided highway with Autopilot engaged when a tractor trailer drove across the highway perpendicular to the Model S,” Tesla wrote. “Neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied.”

Again, its tragic that anyone should lose their life in a car accident, regardless of the why or how.  Based on the description above, it would appear this accident might have occurred even if the driver was at the wheel and the self-driving mechanism was not engaged.

I suspect “real world” cases like this, tragic though they are, will only lead to improvements in the self-driving systems.

Self-driving future…

Once again (and with your kind patience, dear reader), I delve into one of my favorite pet-topics: Self-driving vehicles.

In this case, the fascinating story of Olli as found in this article written by Rob Lever and found on phys.org:

Olli, A 3D Printed, Self-Driving Mini-Bus to Hit the Road in the U.S.

For those too lazy to click the link and read the article (you really should, you know), I found this video regarding the vehicle on youtube:

As I’ve said before: I envision a future where people no longer own cars and all -or most- of the vehicles on the road will be like this one: You call in a vehicle using your smartphone, it picks you up and takes you to your destination, then is off to deal with the next, nearest client.

When you’re ready to be driven back home, you summon a vehicle and off you go.

The addition of 3D printing is a fascinating new wrinkle to the whole thing.  You can create, as mentioned in the video, fast modifications to the design so that the vehicle will work best in whatever environment it is intended for.

Another thing that may happen when self-driving cars fill our streets…

I’ve mentioned it before: I’m fascinated with the concept of self-driving cars and believe they very much are in our future, perhaps sooner rather than later.

What fascinates me is what will happen and how will this impact us once they become a reality.  Will anyone bother to own a car at that point or will we rely on a fleet of automated vehicles to call up and take us to our destinations?  Economically, how will it affect a large base of drivers, from taxis to Uber to cargo drivers?

And then there’s this:

Self-driving features could lead to more sex in moving cars, expert warns

What I like the most about this article’s headline is the fact that it warns of more sex in moving cars.  Because that’s clearly a thing already and once self-driving cars become a reality you should expect more.

Much more?!

The article, by the way, appears on cbc,ca, the Canadian Press.

Yet a little more on those self-driving cars…

A couple of days ago news was made that a Google self-driving car got into an accident with a bus…and the Google car was at fault (you can read an article concerning this crash here).

Rather than note how incredible it is that Google self-driving cars have been in operation (on a limited area basis) for years now and have driven, according to Google’s latest monthly self-driving report (you can read the February 2016 PDF report here), some 1,452,177 miles autonomously and this is appears to be the first actual accident caused by a Google self-driving car.  It was a minor fender bender yet already some are questioning the future of self-driving vehicles.

People such as Samuel Anthony English who offers the following essay for Slate…

The Trollable Self-Driving Car

I can’t argue all his points but I think he makes one critical mistake in his essay: He assumes that in the future there will be a mix of self-driving cars and human driving cars and I believe we will very quickly move into a world where the self-driving vehicles will rule the roads and there will be fewer and fewer and, eventually, no cars being driven exclusively by people.

The fact is the accident caused by the Google car involved the vehicle not anticipating what the other (human) driver was about to do.  While the programmers at Google no doubt will offer fixes to their self-driving software I have little doubt that future driverless cars vs. human driver car crashes are possible…some of which will be the fault of the Google car.

But if all vehicles are automated I equally suspect they’ll also be able to “interact” with each other to some degree so any situation where a car can move -or allow another to go ahead- will be dealt with and no accident can or will occur.

I strongly believe that when given a choice, people will accept the freedom of a self-driving car versus the drudgery of driving oneself to and from your destinations.

If as I suspect will happen, then the amount of cars with actual human drivers in them will diminish and, perhaps, one day even disappear.

In which case a crash like the one above will probably no longer be an issue.

Self-Driving cars in…two years?!

As anyone who’s read this blog should know, I’m absolutely fascinated with the concept of self-driving vehicles.  I firmly believe that they are coming and while people may express some skepticism or hesitancy toward them, in the end this will be the future of cars/trucks.

In fact, I further believe people will no longer actually own a car, that we will travel to work or on vacation by “renting” a car via an app on our cellphone (or whatever equivalent service we use).  This self-driving vehicle will pick us up and take us to our destination and when we need to return home we call up another such vehicle and it takes us back.

All the while, we’ll be in the car reading our paper or playing on our tablet/smartphone.

Anyway, Elon Musk, head of Tesla, offers a great interview for Fortune magazine regarding the future of self-driving cars.  He offers his predictions regarding when Tesla cars will be self-driving…

Elon Musk Says Tesla Vehicles Will Drive Themselves In Two Years

If his prediction is accurate, the world will change radically.  It will be interesting to see…

Technology…

Love it…

Tesla CEO Elon Musk Drops His Prediction of Full Autonomous Driving From 3 Years to 2

…and loathe it…

Hackers Threaten to Bring Down XBox and Playstation Networks on Christmas

The first article, written by Fred Lambert and available on elektrek.com, offers even more optimistic thoughts regarding the future of self-driving/driverless vehicles.

Those who check out my blog know how fascinated I am about this technology and how equally fascinated I am by what will happen following the actual widespread use of this technology.  Bear in mind, just because Mr. Musk feels the technology will be good enough for general use in 2 years doesn’t mean the various government agencies in the United States and other countries will instantly allow for its deployment everywhere.

There are plenty of things that will need to be done, including perhaps creating highway lanes specifically designed for self-driving vehicles or highways that charge self-driving vehicles

…but I suspect future generations, perhaps even those born this year, may well grow up in an environment where people actually driving their cars from location to location will be a thing of the past.

I’ve mentioned many of the things that such a technology will change, but one rather frivolous one occurred to me which I might have mentioned before (If I did, forgive the duplication):

Driverless car technology will surely force a change in one golden staples of Hollywood action movies: The car chase.

Think about it: When people get used to the idea that cars function automatically, the idea of a hero/villain car chase as currently envisioned will become a thing of the past.  Just as westerns have our heroes/villains on horses, any movie featuring your “standard” car chase will be a film from the past.  Especially given the safety features these new vehicles will surely have which will likely apply to you even if you switch to a driver mode (which I suspect we’ll see as an intermediate first step before the cars go “full” driverless).

So no more Bullitt-like car chases…

…Hollywood will have to consider something new.

Which brings us to the second article presented above.  It is written by Hope King and presented on CNNmoney and I suppose it is as much a testament to our times as anything else.

As with self-driving vehicles, we are a society that relies more and more and more on technology, specifically computer technology, for our everything.

You can’t get the cellphones out of my daughters’ hands but, even as much of an old fogey as I am, I’m on some kind of computer for a startling number of hours each day as well.

This means, of course, that there’s plenty of data flowing through these computer networks, data ripe for hackers to screw around with, just as the hackers in that above article threaten to shut down gaming services on Christmas day.

It suddenly occurs to me the Hollywood car chase will live on…

 

FADE IN ON:

A hacker types in a series of commands and, when finished, hits the enter key.  He cackles menacingly.  His plan is in motion.

CUT TO:

Keanu Reeves sits in his Tesla Mark LXI, reading his newspaper off a holographic screen while sipping insta-coffee.  All appears blissfully normal…

…and then the engine of his car suddenly revs and Keanu is thrust into his chair.  His instacoffee spills and is absorbed by the seats…

CUT TO:

Highway, day, a perfect geometry of cars in four separate lines moves quickly and efficiently along the highway.  All are in synch as they always are.

All but one.

That car veers wildly to the side, nearly hitting another.  It speeds up…

CUT TO:

Keanu realizes his car is hacked and is out of control.  He frowns.  As dangerous as the situation is, the hackers picked the wrong man to mess with.

Keanu reaches for the dashboard and with one swift fist smash dislodges the smooth dashboard plate before him.  He pulls it off, revealing wires and circuitry, and quickly gets to work on it.

Sparks fly and sweat fills Keanu’s forehead.  He grimaces while looking out the window and back at the circuitry.

His car is on a collision course with a speeding bus…