K. Korosec, Mar.
17, "Waymo said
Tuesday it is
pausing operations
of Waymo One, a
service in the
Phoenix area that
allows the public
to hail rides in
self-driving
vehicles with
trained human
safety operators
behind the wheel,
in response to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Waymo is also
halting testing on
public roads in
California.
However, Waymo
will keep some
operations up and
running, notably
its truly
driverless
vehicles, which
don’t require a
human safety
driver, according
to an announcement
on its website
Tuesday. These
driverless
vehicles are used
in the Phoenix
area as part of
Waymo’s early
rider program that
lets vetted
members of the
public hail a
ride..." Read
more Yippie!!! Unfortunately, the
latest is not
so good... Waymo has
suspended all
services, including
the
driverless.
Poopie!!!
Alain
M. Sena, April
2020, " THE ITU
AND UNECE
Symposium on the
Future Networked
Car is special for
several reasons.
It is arranged and
held by
organizations that
are in the
standards and
policy support
business, not in
the conference
business. That
means there are no
exhibitions where
large sums of
money are paid for
the privilege of
occupying a booth.
It
also means that
there are no
attendee fees.
The Symposium
comprises four
panel discussions
and two
information
presentations
about the
organizers’
activities in the
area of vehicle
connectivity.
Panelists are
subject experts in
the topic
addressed by the
panel and there
are no company
pitches. There are
no parallel
sessions or
breakout sessions,
so everyone hears
everything. The
two coffee breaks,
the lunch and the
Symposium-ending
reception (this
year sponsored by
DEKRA, QUALCOMM
and ROAD DB) offer
plenty of
opportunity for
old friends to
meet and new
friendships and
business contacts
to be made. As a
bonus, it’s held
on the first
public day of the
GENEVA
INTERNATIONAL
MOTOR SHOW, or
GIMS as it is
referred to, and
admission to the
Symposium also
provides access to
the SHOW at the
Palexpo for the
day.
The tally for
delegates on-site
was around 60, as
opposed to the
usual 120-150. In
spite of some
doubabout a
local/remote panel
discussion, it
worked.
The ITU conference hall provided everything we needed for both those who were present and for those who joined remotely. There were enough participants in the hall to give it the feel of a real, live event, while the remote panelists where shown on the multiple screens...." Read more I participated remotely, Michael provides a must read excellent summary and you may learn more by listening to PodCast 147. Alain
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class=""
src="cid:[log in to unmask]"
width="38"
height="42"
border="0"> Draft
Program 4th
Annual
Princeton
SmartDrivingCar
Summit
Postponed until after June 30. More
later
S.
Seltz-Axmacher,
Mar. 19, "In 2015,
I got obsessed
with the idea of
driverless trucks
and started
Starsky Robotics.
In 2016, we became
the first
street-legal
vehicle to be paid
to do real work
without a person
behind the wheel.
In 2018, we became
the first
street-legal truck
to do a fully
unmanned run,
albeit on a closed
road. In 2019, our
truck became the
first
fully-unmanned
truck to drive on
a live highway.
And in 2020,
we’re shutting
down.
I remain
incredibly proud
of the product,
team, and
organization we
were able to
build; one where
PhDs and truck
drivers worked
side by side,
where generational
challenges were
solved by people
with more smarts
than pedigree, and
where we
discovered how the
future of
logistics will
work.
Like Shackleton on his expedition to Antarctica, we did things no one else ever has. Similarly, though, it didn’t turn out as planned....
There are too many problems with the AV industry to detail here: the professorial pace at which most teams work, the lack of tangible deployment milestones, the open secret that there isn’t a robotaxi business model, etc. The biggest, however, is that supervised machine learning doesn’t live up to the hype. It isn’t actual artificial intelligence akin to C-3PO, it’s a sophisticated pattern-matching tool.... " Read more Hmmmm... Yup!!! Read on. It is VERY worthwhile! There are many fundamental truths... Alain
D. Shepardson,
Mar 17, "The
National Highway
Traffic Safety
Administration
(NHTSA) said
Tuesday it was
proposing sweeping
changes to U.S.
safety
requirements to
speed the
deployment of
self-driving
vehicles without
human controls.
The agency said it
is proposing to
rewrite 11 safety
standards that
require
traditional manual
control "by
revising the
requirements and
test procedures to
account for the
removal of
manually-operated
driving controls."
The proposal will
be open for public
comment before the
agency can
finalize it. ..."
Read
more
Hmmmm...
It is about
time. The
public
comments will
be very
interesting.
Details are in
the Federal
Register, next.
Alain
National Highway
Traffic Safety
Administration 49
CFR Part 571
Docket No.
NHTSA-2020-0014
RIN 2127-AM06,
Mar. 16, "SUMMARY:
This proposal is
one of a series of
regulatory actions
that NHTSA is
considering to
address the near-
and long-term
challenges of
testing and
verifying
compliance with
the Federal motor
vehicle safety
standards (FMVSS)
for vehicles
equipped with
Automated Driving
Systems (ADS) that
lack the
traditional manual
controls necessary
for human drivers,
but that are
otherwise
traditional
vehicles with
typical seating
configurations.
This notice seeks
to clarify the
ambiguities in
applying current
crashworthiness
standards to
ADS-equipped
vehicles without
traditional manual
controls, while
maintaining the
regulatory text’s
application to
more traditional
vehicles and
vehicles equipped
with ADS that may
have alternate
modes. This
proposal is
limited to the
crashworthiness
standards and
provides a unified
set of proposed
regulatory text
applicable to
vehicles with and
without ADS
functionality.
..." Read
more
Hmmmm...
Read all the
details, They
are
important.
Alain
Press release,
Mar. 16, "Federal
Transit
Administration
(FTA) today
announced
approximately
$20.3 million in
grant selections
through the Integrated
Mobility
Innovation (IMI)
program. IMI
supports projects
that use
innovative
technologies and
processes to
improve access to
public
transportation,
increase public
transportation
efficiency, and
enhance the
overall rider
experience.
Twenty-five
projects in 23
states will
receive funding
under the
program.
"These $20.3
million in federal
grants will help
communities
nationwide enhance
their
transportation
systems to make it
easier for people
to use transit,
especially older
adults and people
with
disabilities,"
said U.S.
Transportation
Secretary Elaine
L. Chao.
The projects will
advance mobility
through creative
partnerships and
emerging
technologies.
Combining public
and private
transportation
assets and
strategies can
greatly increase
access to mobility
for everyone...."
Read
more
Hmmmm...
Congratulations to the 23 recipients. Hopefully the services rendered
will outlast
the funding
provided.
Alain
D. Anguelov, Mar. 19, "Last August, we invited the research community to join us in accelerating self-driving technology with the release of one of the largest multi-sensor self-driving datasets available today. Even as COVID-19 continues to develop, we are committed to fostering an environment of innovation and learning - one that can continue to grow and thrive in our temporarily virtual world. That is why today, we are launching the next phase of our program: expanding the Waymo Open Dataset by an additional 800 segments and inviting researchers to participate in Waymo’s Open Dataset Challenges...
We’re offering
awards to the top
submissions in
each of the five
challenges as
follows:... , Read
more
Hmmmm...
As if we had
nothing to do
while working
from home. We
can now do
this for
Waymo. Alain
K. Staff, Mar.
19, "We present a
challenging
multi-agent
seasonal dataset
collected by a
fleet of Ford
autonomous
vehicles at
different days and
times during
2017-18. The
vehicles were
manually driven on
a route in
Michigan that
included a mix of
driving scenarios
including the
Detroit Airport,
freeways,
city-centers,
university campus
and suburban
neighborhood.
We present the
seasonal variation
in weather,
lighting,
construction and
traffic conditions
experienced in
dynamic urban
environments. This
dataset can help
design robust
algorithms for
autonomous
vehicles and
multi-agent
systems. Each log
in the dataset is
time-stamped and
contains raw data
from all the
sensors,
calibration
values, pose
trajectory, ground
truth pose, and 3D
maps. All data is
available in
Rosbag format that
can be visualized,
modified and
applied using the
open source Robot
Operating System
(ROS)." Read
more
Hmmmm...
Excellent. I
haven't had a
chance to look
at the data
but I suspect
that it is
excellent,
especially
since it
addresses some
of the variational
environmental
aspects. On
the surface (see map of the 66
km route)
it seems to be
oriented
towards the
self-driving
car market,
rather than
the driverless
mobility
services
market (which
consists of
residential
city streets,
their
construction
zones, etc.
where people
live and
places they'd
like to go to
... clinics,
hospitals, day
care centers,
food stores,
thrift stores,
libraries,
community
centers,
...). Some
streets in
Dearborn are
included, but
not that
first
residential
ring outside
the gilded
center city
towers such as
Petosky-Otsego
or Warrendale
or ...
Note, the empty open straight freeway that is displayed
on the lead
page
exemplifies
how much of
the data is
absolutely
useless. Who
cares about
all those
trees? If a
data point is
behind you and
going slower
than you, it
is
irrelevant!
Also note that the lane data for the approach of the the
overpass is
missing just
at the time
when you
really need it
as you
approach that
stationary
object in the
lane ahead.
Why is it
missing??
Does the
ground truth
contain the
minimum
clearance
under that
stationary
object
overpass) in
the lane
ahead? That's
the most
important data
segment, along
with the
lane line data
and the data
associated
with the car
in the other
lane,
Kyle Wiggers' take on the data release can be found in Ford releases a data set to accelerate autonomous car development in VB. Alain
F. Lambert, Mar. 17, "Elon Musk sent a new email to all Tesla employees today to share some thoughts about the coronavirus as the Bay Area, where tens of thousands of Tesla employees work, has imposed a shelter-in-place that tells people to stay home...
After that, the
CEO was critical
of the level of
panic around the
virus:
My frank
opinion remains
that the harm
from the
coronavirus
panic far
exceeds that of
the virus
itself. If there
is a massive
redirection of
medical
resources out of
proportion to
the danger, it
will result in
less available
care to those
with critical
medical needs,
which does not
serve the
greater good.
Though he also
issued a warning
for family
gatherings:
What the
COVID-19
coverage does
show is that the
danger of colds
and flu in
general can be
high for the
elderly,
especially if
there is prior
lung damage.
Much is made of
public
gatherings, but
please be
cautious of
family
gatherings, too.
What is
relatively
harmless to a
child can be
dangerous to
grandparents.
" Read more Hmmmm... I agree. Alain
J. Chokkattu,
Mar. 18, "APPLE
HAS A new iPad
Pro, and it looks
like a mash-up of
its predecessor
and the iPhone 11
thanks to Apple's
signature
dual-camera array
on the back. But
the cameras go a
step further; they
use Lidar, a
technology commonly
seen in
self-driving
cars, to
sense depth and to
boost the iPad
Pro's augmented
reality abilities.
Perhaps more
interesting, the
tablet's keyboard
cover now has a
built-in
trackpad..." Read
more
Hmmmm...
We've come a long
way, baby!
"Commonly
seem in ...".
Not if Elon
has his way!
Alain
R. Baldwin, Feb 26, "Every year companies working on autonomous cars in California have to file a report to the state, stating the number of miles they traveled during their drives and their disengagements (how many times the human behind the wheel had to take over). Recently, companies including Waymo and Cruise have balked about the disengagement data point, saying it doesn’t reflect the true power of their systems. Frankly, miles aren't much of an indicator, either, since these drives take place in only certain areas.... " Read more See Video, Alain
J. Heinze, Mar 5,
"Pennsylvania will
soon launch the
use of automated
cameras to enforce
speeding in work
zones across the
state.
The plan, which
was announced in
Nov. 2019 and has
been in a trial
"pre-enforcement"
phase the last 60
days, begins on
March 9.
Officials hope the
program helps
change driver
behavior on a
larger scale.
Cameras will only
detect speeders in
works zones who
are going 11 miles
per hour or more
above the posted
limit...." Read more
Hmmmm... Seems
as if it is OK
in PA to go 10
mph above the
limit, even in
a work zone.
Does that mean
that it is OK
for Driverless
cars to go 10
mph above in
work zones.
How much over
the limit is
it OK to go in
non-work
zones??? PA
must have
their own
language where
the definition
of "limit" is
Fuhgeddaboudit.
Alain
[log in to unmask]:993/fetch%3EUID%3E/INBOX%3E3022058?part=1.5&filename=lmjdiniodjkflpia.png" class="" src="cid:[log in to unmask]" width="46" height="52" border="0">
F. Fishkin, May 18,, "From the 3rd Annual Princeton Smart Driving Car Summit, join Professor Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin. In this special edition, the summit's focus on mobility for all with guests Anil Lewis, Executive Director of Blindness Initiatives at the National Federation of the Blind and ITN America Founder Katherine Freund."
April 5, F. Fishkin, "The success of on demand transit company Via is proving that ride sharing systems can work. Public Policy head Andrei Greenawalt joins Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for a wide ranging discussion. Also: Uber, Tesla, Audi, Apple and Nuro are making headlines"
April 5, F. Fishkin, "Here comes congestion pricing in New York City...but what will it mean? Former city Taxi and Limousine Commission head and transportation expert Matthew Daus joins Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin. Also...Tesla, VW and even Brexit! All on Episode 98 of Smart Driving Cars."
March 28, F. Fishkin, "The Future Networked Car? From Sweden, The Dispatcher publisher, Michael Sena, joins Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for the latest edition of Smart Driving Cars. Plus ...the Boeing story has much to do with autonomous vehicles and more. Tune in and subscribe."
F. Fishkin, Sept 6, "The coming new world of driverless cars! In Episode 55 of the Smart Driving Cars podcast former GM VP and adviser to Waymo Larry Burns chats with Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and Fred Fishkin about his new book "Autonomy: The Quest to Build the Driverless Car and How it Will Reshape Our World"
Press
release, Feb
6, "NHTSA
announced
today that it
granted Nuro’s
request for a
temporary
exemption from
certain
low-speed
vehicle
standard
requirements.
The exemption
will allow the
company to
deploy its
low-speed,
occupantless
electric
delivery
vehicle, the
“R2.” Unlike
a conventional
low-speed
vehicle, the
R2 is designed
to have no
human occupant
and operates
exclusively
using an
automated
driving
system.
“Since this is
a low-speed
self-driving
delivery
vehicle,
certain
features that
the Department
traditionally
required –
such as
mirrors and a
windshield for
vehicles
carrying
drivers – no
longer make
sense,” said
U.S. Secretary
of
Transportation
Elaine L.
Chao... " Read
more
Hmmmm...
this is: One
small step.
The bigger one
will be for
the GM/Cruise
vehicle. Be
sure to read
the Supplemental
Information.
Details
matter. Alain
Kyle
Vogt, Jan 17,
"In a few
weeks the
California DMV
will release
disengagements
data from
Cruise and
other
companies who
test AVs on
public roads.
This data is
really great
for giving the
public a sense
of what’s
happening on
the roads.
Unfortunately,
it has also
been used by
the media and
others to
compare
technology
from different
AV companies
or as a proxy
for commercial
readiness.
Since it’s the
only publicly
available
metric, I
don’t really
blame them for
using it. But
it’s woefully
inadequate for
most uses
beyond those
of the DMV.
The idea that
disengagements
give a
meaningful
signal about
whether an AV
is ready for
commercial
deployment is
a myth. ..."
Read
more
Hmmmm...
Amen! This
is a MUST
read. As with
everything, details
matter. It is
true that
figures don't
lie, but but
it is easy to
game systems
such that
figures,
without the
underlying
details, do
lie. As Kyle
points out,
there are
important
details
associated
with
disengagements.
These need to
be well
understood for
disengagements
to be a proxy
for safety and
market
readiness. The
when, where
and associated
details of
each
disengagement
is critically
important if
the objective
is safety and
market
readiness.
What is also most important here
is the
underlying
objective of
the companies
doing the
tests and
reporting the
data. As has
happened in
our secondary
education
where students
are taught
what is in and
how to take
the SATs
rather than
just learn.
The objective
is not
learning , but
getting 800s
on the SATs so
that they can
get into
'Princeton'.
This is
perpetuated by
the
'Princetons'
of this world
that don't
look into the
details of the
student's
academic
qualities and
capabilities.
In the
academic
world, we know
these students
as 'box
checkers',
gamers of the
college
admission
process. The
gaming is
continued by
the 'banks and
med schools'
that use
simplistic GPA
(Grade Point
Average, aka
'disengagements')
cutoffs. The
'box checkers'
then take
'underwater
basket
weaving'
courses and
become grade
grubbers. It
is lazy and
irresponsible
to use
simplistic
measures as
proxies to
very complex
concepts such
as
intelligence,
creativity,
compatibility,
and all the
other details
that make a
good student,
a good
employee, a
good citizen,
a good
mobility
system.
In our case, testing is assumed to be about safety and market readiness; however, for some, it may be about trying to "make a silk purse out of a sow's ear" or "putting lipstick on the pig". It is easy to game the metric 'Disengagements' by simply testing in easy places, under easy conditions, instead of really trying to find the corner/edge cases that you don't know in places and conditions of the Operational Design Domain that you are actually going to serve and make a business out of all of this technology; rather than just trying to get good press, or flipping it to someone else or putting it on an academic self. The details would readily divulge the real objective of the company doing the testing.
I hope that Kyle, in his next post, will divulge what he, GM's lawyers and GM's board are requiring of his system for each of them to sign off and begin to operate an economically viable mobility service to the general public in some ODD. Each will demand that it be safe. The board will also demand that it be profitable. What details are they requesting that will make each comfortable signing on the bottom line? AlainT. Lee, Jan. 10, "...In a Tuesday speech at the Consumer Electronics show, Mobileye CEO Amnon Shashua made clear just how big of a strategic advantage this is. He laid out Mobileye's vision for the evolution of self-driving technology over the next five years. And he made it clear that he envisions Mobileye staying at the center of the industry...
In
his Tuesday
speech,
Mobileye's
Shashua calls
ADAS systems
with
high-definition
maps, like
Super Cruise,
"Level 2+"—a
small step
above regular
ADAS systems
that are
called "level
2" in the
five-level SAE
framework. A
number of
carmakers have
developed
similar
systems.
Shashua says
Mobileye is
supplying the
technology for
70 percent of
them,
including
systems from
Nissan,
Volkswagen,
and BMW..." Read
more
Hmmmm...
This is all
about
Self-driving
just like
Tesla's
AutoPilot. It
is not Driverless.
A lot is made about HD maps that I
simply don't
appreciate. "...
The company
uses all this
data to
generate
detailed,
high-definition
maps of the
areas where
the cars
drive..." HD maps don't have any info on
the other
cars,
pedestrians
and ... that
are moving
around you
when you
drive. Nor do
they have the
"stopped
firetrucks" in
your lane
ahead. Call
these thing
"half" of the
things that
you don't want
to hit while
driving down
the road. You
and I need
something
(cameras,
radars) to
sense these in
real time as
we move down
the road.
These things
need to "see"
everything
around you
(especially in
front of you),
which likely
include the
things that
are NOT in the
HD maps.
Moreover, by
sensing them
relative to
"my nose", I
only need "10
cm" accuracy,
especially
when I do this
in real time
20 to 30 a
second.
Also, I don't really need to know
where I am. I
only care
about objects
relative to
where I am.
(Since I only
care about my
position
relative to
the static map
data, I need
to take the
difference
between my
position and
the position
of the objects
in the map
data. The
accuracy of
that
difference in
those two
values (my
location and
the object's
location in
the map data)
is the
inferior
accuracy of
those two
values. Good
luck at
independently
knowing to
centimeter
accuracy your
position every
20th or 30th
of a second.
So
"centimeter'
accuracy in
the HD data is
totally
useless and
need not be
any more
accurate than
your
independent
positional
accuracy.
What is easier
and better is
to simply
directly
measure the
relative
positions (and
velocities and
accelerations
and...) of
everything
every/many
time steps in
(near)
real-time and
disregard any
of the
"precision" in
the map data
that isn't
complete and
latent.
So, please, explain to me why I
need super
accurate info
about the
stationary
things. Seems
like an
enormous
amount of
overhead to
carry around
when it is
still p to the
real-time
sensing system
to spot the
stopped
firetruck in
the lane
ahead. (Also,
most folks, if
they pay
attention and
behave, they
drive very
safely without
HD maps and
just
Rand-McNally
fold out
maps.)
Also, can you imagine how useless much of the real-time image data are (data is plural). Everything that is moving in each frame is unique, never to happen precisely again. All of that needs to be purged. Also all of the non-"permanent" stuff like parked cars and "stopped firetrucks". One thing that our brains do very well is to forget, (especially those of Steelers fans). In addition to "Optimal Learning" algorithms, we need some "Optimal Forgetting" algorithms. Alain
A. Kornhauser, Jan 12, Hmmmm... Self-driving cars are hot and the OEMs are responding. I'm about to buy a new Subaru Outback and EyeSight is standard. It is no longer just AutoPilot or expensive options that car salesmen don't sell. Car companies, as reflected in what is in showrooms and what was promoted at CES, have realized the comfort and convenience of Self-driving technology (cars that have a lot of the Safe-driving car features but also enable you to take your feet off the pedals and hands off the wheel at least for short periods of time. These technologies are really becoming the 'chrome and fins' that sell cars to individuals in the 2020s. The momentum is all behind that happening and there is little Washington or Trenton or Princeton Council can do about it. Hopefully part of that momentum will be to make these systems actually work well, especially the Automated Emergency Braking Systems (MUST quit assuming that all stationary objects in the lane ahead can be passed under and consequently each is disregarded. As Tesla is finding out, sometimes those objects are parked firetrucks.) and begin to put hard limits on over-speeding, tailgating and use while driver is impaired. Self-driving cars are unfortunately going to lead to substantial urban sprawl, increased VMT, increased congestion and do nothing to help the energy and pollution challenges of our addiction to the personal automobile. Only 'Waymo-style Driverless' (autonomousTaxis, (aTaxis)) tuned to entice ride-sharing can potentially stem the tide of ever more personal car ownership and ever expanding urban sprawl. Alain
A. Kornhauser, Jan. 6, Hmmmm... I'm in rehab and hope to go home on Wednesday morning. Thank you to so many of you for all the good wishes and prayers. They each helped. I'm looking to making a full recovery. Remember, if you don't feel well, get evaluated by a doctor. I was totally clueless about what hit me from out of nowhere. Alain
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autonomousTaxi (aTaxi) stop facilitating true ride-sharing to any destination within the autonomous transit system's Operational Design Domain. The first of what may well become a half million or so others. Each strategically located to be less that a 5 minute walk from essentially any of the billion or so person trip ends that are made on any typical day in the USA (outside of Manhattan (whose subway stations provide the comparable accessibility). Twenty million or so aTaxi vehicles could readily provide on-demand, share-ride mobility from these ~0.5M aTaxi stops. Provided would be essentially the same 24/7 on-demand level-of-service as we do for ourselves with our own conventional automobiles; however, this mobility would be affordably achieved using half the energy, creating half the pollution, eliminating essentially all the congestion, doubling conventional transit ridership and making such improved mobility available to those who today can't or wish not to drive a conventional automobile. This is a MAJOR 1st. Alain
R.
Wile, Nov 22,
"Sen. Jeff
Brandes (R-St.
Petersburg)
had just
finished
serving in the
Army, and was
looking to
make a name
for himself in
Tallahassee as
a junior
representative.
He came across
a talk given
by the founder
of Google’s
driverless car
project.
He quickly
realized the
potential of
self-driving
cars to
transform many
aspects of
daily life.
Ever since, he
has made it
his mission to
turn Florida
into what he
calls “an
angel
investor” in
automation
policy. “We
want to have
policies in
place for this
technology to
flourish,”
Brandes said
in an
interview at
the 7th Annual
Florida
Automated
Vehicles
conference in
Miami, which
concluded
Friday.
R.
Mitchell, Oct. 4,
" Smart Summon is
for parking lot
use. But drivers
have other ideas.
Tesla unleashed the latest twist in driverless car technology last week, raising more questions about whether autonomous vehicles are outracing public officials and safety regulators.
...Using
a smartphone, a
person can now
command a Tesla to
turn itself on,
back out of a
parking space and
drive to the
smartphone
holder's location
- say at a curb in
front of a Costco
store.." Read
more Hmmmm.... Russ, great article. A
must read!
Elon,
please stop.
StupidSummon
was a bad
Valley-entitled
idea before
you released
it. Now that
it is out
there it will
ruin all that
is good about
Tesla,
AutoPilot and
Driverless
cars. The
shorters are
going to have
a field day.
While
you are at it
also remove
all of the
DistractTainment
add ons or
limit their
use when
AutoPilot is
NOT on and
drivers are
engaged in
driving. Just
go back to
V09! Along
the way also
get the
Automated
Emergency
Braking (AEB)
system to work
properly (See
NTSB
below).
To do that,
maybe you
should take a
serious look
at Velodyne's
new
Tesla LiDAR.
It may be able
to tell you if
the stationary
object in the
lane ahead is
high enough
above the road
surface before
your AEB
system decides
to disregard
it. Then
Tesla's may
stop decapitating
drivers.
If you don't remove StupidSummon
then at least
be sure to
limit its use
to the Tesla
owner's own
private
property by
responsible
users. (You
know the GPS
coordinates of
where each
owner lives,
so you can
geofence it.
You also know
each
irresponsible
use (You get
the videos).
Irresponsible
use (use in
the violation
of the
conditions
spelled out in
the user's
manual) should
void its
future
availability
in that car
unless proper
amend are
made. If not,
then insurance
companies
should clearly
state that
insuring the
use of this
feature
requires a
substantial
additional
premium; else,
you're not
covered.
Courts should
view that use
of this
feature
implies
premeditated
harm and
demonstrates
an extreme
indifference
to human
life. Parking
Lot owners
should install
signs
forbidding the
use of this
feature on
their property
to protect
themselves
from being
dragged into
the claims
process.
Oct 16, Establishes
fully autonomous
vehicle pilot
program A4573
Sponsors: Zwicker
(D16); Benson (D14)
Oct 16, Establishes
New
Jersey Advanced
Autonomous Vehicle
Task Force AJR164
Sponsors: Benson
(D14); Zwicker (D16);
Lampitt (D6)
May
24, "About 9:58
p.m., on Sunday,
March 18, 2018, an
Uber Technologies,
Inc. test vehicle,
based on a modified
2017 Volvo XC90 and
operating with a
self-driving system
in computer control
mode, struck a
pedestrian on
northbound Mill
Avenue, in Tempe,
Maricopa County,
Arizona.
...The
vehicle was factory
equipped with
several advanced
driver assistance
functions by Volvo
Cars, the original
manufacturer. The
systems included a
collision avoidance
function with
automatic emergency
braking, known as
City Safety, as well
as functions for
detecting driver
alertness and road
sign information.
All these Volvo
functions are
disabled when the
test vehicle is
operated in computer
control..."
Read more Hmmmm....
Uber must
believe that
its systems
are better at
avoiding
Collisions and
Automated
Emergency
Braking than
Volvo's.
At least this
gets Volvo
"off the
hook".
"...According
to data obtained
from the
self-driving
system, the
system first
registered radar
and LIDAR
observations of
the pedestrian
about 6 seconds
before impact,
when the vehicle
was traveling at
43 mph..." (=
63
feet/second)
So the system
started
"seeing an
obstacle when
it was 63 x 6
= 378 feet
away... more
than a
football
field,
including end
zones!
"...As
the vehicle and
pedestrian paths
converged, the
self-driving
system software
classified the
pedestrian as an
unknown object,
as a vehicle,
and then as a
bicycle with
varying
expectations of
future travel
path..." (NTSB:
Please tell us
precisely when
it classified
this "object'
as a vehicle
and be
explicit about
the expected "future
travel paths."
Forget
the path,
please just
tell us the
precise
velocity
vector that
Uber's system
attached to
the "object",
then the
"vehicle".
Why didn't the
the Uber
system
instruct the
Volvo to begin
to slow down
(or speed up)
to avoid a
collision? If
these paths
(or velocity
vectors) were
not accurate,
then why
weren't they
accurate? Why
was the object
classified as
a
"Vehicle" ?? When did it finally classify the object as a "bicycle"?
Why did it
change
classifications?
How often was
the
classification
of this object
done. Please
divulge the
time and the
outcome of
each
classification
of this
object. In the tests that
Uber has done,
how often has
the system
mis-classified
an object as a
"pedestrian"when the object was
actually an
overpass, or
an overhead
sign or
overhead
branches/leaves
that the car
could safely
pass under, or
was nothing at
all??
(Basically,
what are the
false alarm
characteristics
of Uber's
Self-driving
sensor/software
system as a
function of
vehicle speed
and
time-of-day?)
"...At 1.3 seconds before impact, (impact speed was 39mph = 57.2 ft/sec) the self-driving system determined that an emergency braking maneuver was needed to mitigate a collision" (1.3 x 57.2 = 74.4 ft. which is about equal to the braking distance. So it still could have stopped short.
"...According to Uber,
emergency
braking
maneuvers are
not enabled
while the
vehicle is
under computer
control, to
reduce (eradicate??) the potential
for erratic
vehicle
behavior.
..." NTSB: Please describe/define potential and erratic vehicle
behavior Also
please uncover
and divulge
the design
& decision
process that
Uber went
through to
decide that
this risk
(disabling the
AEB) was worth
the reward of
eradicating "
"erratic vehicle behavior". This
is
fundamentally
BAD design.
If the Uber
system's false
alarm rate is
so large that
the best way
to deal with
false alarms
is to turn off
the AEB, then
the system
should never
have been
permitted on
public
roadways.
"...The vehicle operator
is relied on
to intervene
and take
action. " Wow! If Uber's
system
fundamentally
relies on a
human to
intervene,
then Uber is
nowhere near
creating a
Driverless
vehicle.
Without its
own Driverless
vehicle Uber
is past "Peak
valuation".
Video similar to part of Adam's Luncheon talk @ 2015 Florida Automated Vehicle Symposium on Dec 1. Hmmm ... Watch Video especially at the 13:12 mark. Compelling; especially after the 60 Minutes segment above! Also see his TipRanks. Alain
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list is maintained by
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Kornhauser and
hosted by the Princeton
University
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