2016-08-19
August 19, 2016
Ford Promises Fleets of Driverless Cars Within Five Years
N. Boudette, Aug 16, “In the race to develop driverless cars, several automakers and technology companies are already testing vehicles that pilot themselves on public roads. And others have outlined plans to expand their development fleets over the next few years.
But few have gone so far as
to give a definitive date
for the commercial debut of
these cars of the future.
Now Ford Motor has done just
that. At a news conference
on Tuesday at the company's
research center in Palo
Alto, Calif., Mark Fields,
Ford's chief executive, said
the company planned to mass
produce driverless cars and
have them in commercial
operation in a ride-hailing
service by 2021....
"That means there's going to
be no steering wheel.
There's going to be no gas
pedal. There's going to be
no brake pedal,'' he said.
"If someone had told you 10
years ago, or even five
years ago, that the C.E.O.
of a major automaker
American car company is
going to be announcing the
mass production of fully
autonomous vehicles, they
would have been called crazy
or nuts or both."...
Ford also said it had
acquired an Israeli
start-up, [Saips](http://www.saips.co.il/),
that specializes in computer
vision, a crucial technology
for self-driving cars. And
the automaker announced
investments in three other
companies involved in major
technologies for driverless
vehicles....." [Read more](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/17/business/ford-promises-fleets-of-driverless-cars-within-five-years.html?_r=0http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/17/business/ford-promises-fleets-of-driverless-cars-within-five-years.html?_r=0) Hmmm...This
is significant because
it implies that Ford,
(or an entity under its
control) will operate
and deliver on a
day-to-day basis MaaS
(Mobility as a
Service). In other
words it will both
build/assemble and
operate mobility's
"Cloud". The scale
economies of such a
mobility "cloud" are
arguably much more
substantial than that of
the data storage &
computing "cloud".
Think about it! Alain
Ford acquires SAIPS for self-driving machine learning and computer vision tech
D. Etherigton, Aug 16, "...
It's also partnering
exclusively with [Nirenberg Neuroscience](http://www.nirenbergneuroscience.com/), to bring
more "humanlike
intelligence" to machine
learning components of
driverless car systems.
SAIPS’ technology brings image and video processing algorithms, as well as deep learning tech focused on processing and classifying input signals, all key ingredients in the special sauce that makes up autonomous vehicle tech. This company’s expertise should help with on-board interpretation of data captured by sensors on Ford’s self-driving cars, and turning that data into usable info for the car’s virtual driver system. SAIPS’ offerings include detection of anomalies, persistent tracking of objects detected by sensors, and much more. The company’s past clients include HP and Trax, but its partner group doesn’t appear to have included much in the way of driving-specific applications.
Ford ... identified SAIPS as
a potential target through a
tech scouting operation it
began in Israel in 2013, and
quickly determined that the
company's machine learning
expertise would help bolster
its own efforts.
The Nirenberg partnership
similarly takes research
applied in a different area
to the problems of full
autonomous driving. Dr.
Sheila Nirenberg's research
focuses on restoring sight
to patients with
degenerative retinal
disease, but Ford thinks the
tech can be used to help its
virtual drivers greatly
improve their own vision
systems, and process
information in ways similar
to how human drivers
would...."[Read more](https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/16/ford-acquires-saips-for-self-driving-machine-learning-and-computer-vision-tech/)Hmmm...Very
promising. The race is
on. Who is "the Usain
Bolt"? Alain
APNewsBreak: Ohio Turnpike May Soon See Self-Driving Testing
J. Seewer, Aug 19, “Ohio’s toll road, a heavily traveled connector between the East Coast and Chicago, is moving closer to allowing the testing of self-driving vehicles.
Testing is likely to begin
within 12 months, and
possibly before the end of
the year, the Ohio
Turnpike's executive
director told The
Associated Press.
Officials overseeing the
roadway have spent more
than a year looking at the
possibilities, said Randy
Cole, the turnpike's
director...." [Read more](http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/wireStory/apnewsbreak-ohio-turnpike-driving-testing-41512517) Hmmm...Excellent!!
[The NJ Turnpik](http://www.state.nj.us/turnpike/)e and
the [NYS Thruway](http://www.thruway.ny.gov/index.shtml) should
also be doing this for
a host of excellent
reasons. These are
excellent roads that
are largely amenable
to self driving and
should offer to serve
that capability in
return for the tolls
paid by the traveling
public that has chosen
to acquire the
compatible
technology. Just
smart business sense.
Alain
Uber Aims for an Edge in the Race for a Self-Driving Future
B. Vlasic, Aug 18, “…Uber also said it had acquired Otto, a 90-person start-up including former Google and Carnegie Mellon engineers that is focused on developing self-driving truck technology to upend the shipping industry…Uber plans to open a 180,000-square-foot facility in Palo Alto, Calif., to house Otto, which will operate as a stand-alone company focused specifically on upending the long-distance trucking industry. Otto engineers will also work out of offices in San Francisco and Pittsburgh.
But that talent and
technology will apply
more broadly to the
technology behind Uber's
grander self-driving car
efforts, Mr. Kalanick
said. He said he
believed that his
company's approach — a
combination of teaming
up with hardware
manufacturers, Otto's
software expertise and a
large network of more
than 50 million monthly
riders as recently as
July — places Uber in
the best position to be
competitive with
companies like Google."
[Read more](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/19/technology/uber-self-driving-cars-otto-trucks.html) Hmmm...Wow...I
didn't see that
coming, especially
after GM acquired
Cruise.
Congratulations
Anthony and Lior.
Alain
Uber paid $680 million for self-driving truck company Otto for the tech, not the trucks
J. Bhuiyan, Aug 18, “If the fact that Uber acquired a self-driving trucking company for $680 million in stock along with an agreement that included giving the company 20 percent of its trucking profits shocked you, you’re not alone.
Uber and Otto aren't
exactly a natural fit.
Uber has never once
mentioned going into the
long-haul trucking
business or creating a
logistics platform for
truck drivers as one of
its ambitions. On
paper, Otto doesn't yet
need a company like
Uber. The startup just
launched out of stealth
mode in May and had 91
employees. It built
proprietary, autonomous
technology and was
already testing its
self-driving technology
in trucks on highways in
San Francisco..." [Read more](http://www.recode.net/2016/8/18/12540068/uber-paid-680-million-for-self-driving-truck-company-otto-for-the-tech-not-the-trucks) Hmmm...Uber
paid less for Otto
than [GM paid for Cruise](http://fortune.com/2016/03/11/gm-buying-self-driving-tech-startup-for-more-than-1-billion/).
That's a real Hmmmm!
Alain
Volvo Cars and Uber join forces to develop autonomous driving cars
Press Release, Aug 18, “The two companies 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 USD 300M to the project.
Both Uber and Volvo will
use the same base vehicle
for the next stage of
their own autonomous car
strategies. This will
involve Uber adding its
own self-developed
autonomous driving systems
to the Volvo base vehicle.
Volvo will use the same
base vehicle for the next
stage of its own
autonomous car strategy,
which will involve fully
autonomous driving."...[Read more](https://www.media.volvocars.com/global/en-gb/media/pressreleases/194795/volvo-cars-and-uber-join-forces-to-develop-autonomous-driving-cars) Hmmm...Each
are using their own
"autonomous car
strategies" on the
same base vehicle.??
Seems to imply that
the real intellectual
property is in the
"autonomous car
strategies" and that
the "base vehicle" is
text-book. Alain
Uber’s First Self-Driving Fleet Arrives in Pittsburgh This Month
The autonomous cars, launching this summer, are custom Volvo XC90s, supervised by humans in the driver’s seat. M Chafkin, Aug 18, “Starting later this month, Uber will allow customers in downtown Pittsburgh to summon self-driving cars from their phones, crossing an important milestone that no automotive or technology company has yet achieved. …
In Pittsburgh, customers will request cars the normal way, via Uber’s app, and will be paired with a driverless car at random. Trips will be free for the time being, rather than the standard local rate of $1.05 per mile.”…Read moreHmmm…Some amount of “sleight-of-hand” here. This is about Self-driving and NOT Driverless, so it doesn’t solve Uber’s Labor “challenge”. HOWEVER, it is a very elegant way for both Uber and Volvo to give demonstrations of self-driving rides to the general public all the while assessing and learning from the customer response. This would have to be done in the initial stages even if the cars were actually capable of driverless operation as was done in the initial stages of the driverless Heathrow Terminal 5 podcars. The same must have been done when Otis first put in automated elevators. And I suspect that the elevators in NYC’s Tiffany & Co. can also operate operatorless (last time I was there they had operators :-) ). Alain
France is opening its roads to self-driving car testing
Aug 10, “The French government has announced that it will allow car companies to test self-driving cars on public French roads, reports Designyourworld.
The change in policy is an
element of the New
Industrial France
initiative, which aims to
energize the country's
industrial and
manufacturing sectors..."
[Read more](http://www.businessinsider.com/france-is-opening-its-roads-to-self-driving-car-testing-2016-8)Hmmm...Another
small step forward.
Alain
Helsinki rolls out driverless bus pilot
M Chafkin, Aug 17, “History is being made in Helsinki’s Hernesaari district, as automatic buses take to the streets. Commuters and motorists will have to get used to seeing a pair of driverless mini-buses negotiating traffic in the area as the city tests the robot vehicles through mid-September.
The pilots are among the
first in the world, since
Finnish laws don't require
vehicles on the road to
have a driver. This has
made it easier for
officials to get the
required green light from
the transport safety
authority Trafi....
While Helsinki may be one of the first cities in the world to let loose the robot buses on the streets, it is not the first Finnish city to do so. Last year neighbouring Vantaa rolled out similar vehicles during its housing fair, although they only operated on routes shut off from other traffic at the time.
By contrast, Santamala
considers the test track
in Hernesaari to be a
challenging traffic
environment, because it is
constantly changing.
Motorists who may be prone
to road rage will also
have to keep their cool
navigating traffic
alongside – or behind –
the robot buses, whose
average speed is about ten
kilometres an hour...." [Read more](http://yle.fi/uutiset/helsinki_rolls_out_driverless_bus_pilot/9099541)Hmmm...Another
small step forward.
Alain
###
Some
other thoughts that
deserve your attention
###
Judge Overturns Uber’s Settlement With Drivers
M. Isaac, Aug 18, “ A federal judge on Thursday struck down a proposed class-action settlement between Uber and a group of its current and former drivers, potentially continuing a protracted lawsuit that questioned a key tenet of the ride-hailing company’s business.
Under a settlement forged in
April, Uber had been set to
pay up to $100 million in
reimbursement damages to
nearly 400,000
drivers...Judge Edward M.
Chen ruled that the April
settlement was "not fair,
adequate, and reasonable" as
grounds for denial. He also
said a small portion of the
$100 million amount reflects
only 0.1 percent of the
potential full verdict value
of the case...As part of the
settlement agreement, Uber
also made other concessions,
like recognizing and
speaking with quasi-unions
of its drivers in California
and Massachusetts. It also
allowed drivers to accept
tips at the end of each
ride...."[Read more](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/19/technology/uber-settlement-california-drivers.html?ref=business)Hmmm...Really
bad when the judge rules
settlement was "not
fair, adequate, and
reasonable". Poor
Uber drivers. Not
only are they not
wanted, they're not
represented.... but they
were going to be allowed
to accept tips! Alain
Turning off red light cameras costs lives, new research shows
July 29, “ Red light camera programs in 79 large US cities saved nearly 1,300 lives through 2014, researchers from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) have found. Shutting down such programs has cost lives, with the rate of fatal red-light-running crashes shooting up 30 per cent in cities that have turned off cameras.
...."[Read more](http://www.itsinternational.com/categories/enforcement/news/turning-off-red-light-cameras-costs-lives-new-research-shows/)Hmmm...Read
the original study: W.
Hu & J. Cicchino :[Effects](http://www.iihs.org/frontend/iihs/documents/masterfiledocs.ashx?id=2121)[of Turning On and Off Red Light Cameras on Fatal Crashes in Large U.S. Cities](http://www.iihs.org/frontend/iihs/documents/masterfiledocs.ashx?id=2121)[.](http://www.iihs.org/frontend/iihs/documents/masterfiledocs.ashx?id=2121)
It is a a reasonably
good study (especially
the discussion starting
on p16) but it did not
account for what seems
to be an increase in
distracted driving in
the last 10 years (See
especially Figure 1,
p12 ... the rise of
the open circles
since 2010.)
Also, if we can assume
that there are two main
reasons why drivers run
red lights: 1. they want
to, or 2. they were
clueless (they didn't
see it, for what ever
reasons).
Cameras/Fines address
#1 (from some
perspectives the means
(fines) have Draconian
overtones, especially in
poor communities where
the traffic fine can
spiral into total
ugliness, way beyond its
regressiveness. ) No
one should run a red
light (unless it is the
middle of the night and
there is zero traffic
and you've stopped and
look both ways and
deemed it is safe to
proceed and ...). So
once your behavior has
been changed by the red
light camera, then why
does the behavior revert
once they are turned
off. Is it because the
sign designating it as
such has been removed?
(How prominent were
those signs in the first
place?) Then don't
remove the sign, but
would ITS still be a
fan?. Alain
On the More Technical Side
http://orfe.princeton.edu/~alaink/SmartDrivingCars/Papers/
Half-baked
stuff that probably
doesn't deserve your
time:
Older
stuff that I had
missed:
Tesla responds to ‘cover-up’ claims in ‘Montana Autopilot Accident’, offers more details on investigation
F. Lambert, July 23 “…Here’s Tesla official response in full:…” Read moreHmmm…Speaks for itself. Alain
C’mon Man!
(These folks didn't
get/read the memo)
Calendar
of Upcoming Events:
Sept 15 & 16, 2016 Arlington, VA
Sept 19-21, 2016 Antwerp, Belgium
Recent
Highlights of:
#
###
August 8, 2016
Latest to Quit Google’s Self-Driving Car Unit: Top Roboticist
J. Markoff, Aug 5, “ A roboticist and crucial member of the team that created Google’s self-driving car is leaving the company, the latest in a string of departures by important technologists working on the autonomous car project.
Chris Urmson, a Carnegie
Mellon University research
scientist, joined Google in
2009 to help create the
then-secret effort. ...Mr.
Urmson has been unhappy with
the direction of the car
project under Mr. Krafcik's
leadership and quarreled
privately several months ago
with Larry Page over where
it was headed, according to
two former Google
employees....
Mr. Urmson said he had not
decided what he will do
next. "If I can find another
project that turns into an
obsession and becomes
something more, I will
consider myself twice
lucky," he wrote. [Read more](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/06/technology/alphabet-google-autonomous-car-chris-urmson.html)Hmmm...Very
unfortunate. What a
great job he has done.
All the best. Alain
August 1, 2016
Mobileye Ends Partnership With Tesla
M. Ramsey, July 26, “ A key supplier of semiautonomous car technology ended a supply agreement with Tesla Motors Inc. following a high-profile traffic fatality in May involving one of the Silicon Valley company’s electric vehicles.
Mobileye NV said it would no
longer provide its computer
chips and algorithms to
Tesla after a current
contract ends due to
disagreements about how the
technology was deployed.
Mobileye provides core
technology for Tesla's
Autopilot system, which
allows cars to drive
themselves in limited
conditions....[Read more](http://www.wsj.com/articles/mobileye-ends-partnership-with-tesla-1469544028)Hmmm....Very
interesting!! Alain
And in [Mobileye's Short Trip with Tesla](http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2016/07/26/mobileyes-short-trip-with-tesla/)
: D. Gallagher, July 26, "In
the emerging business of
autonomous driving, even the
safer road isn't free of
potholes....In explaining
its move, Mobileye suggested
that protecting its
reputation was at least part
of the rationale. Below is
what the company said on the
call:... [Read more](http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2016/07/26/mobileyes-short-trip-with-tesla/)Hmmm....And
why in all of this isn't
there a discussion of
Automated Emergency
Braking (AEB)
technology/suppliers??
There must be no
consumer/regulatory
appeal to AEB? Alain
July 21, 2016
Master Plan, Part Deux
E. Musk, July 20 “…Integrate Energy Generation and Storage
Create a smoothly integrated
and beautiful
solar-roof-with-battery
product that just works,
empowering the individual as
their own utility, and then
scale that throughout the
world. One ordering
experience, one
installation, one service
contact, one phone app....
Expand to Cover the Major Forms of Terrestrial Transport…
With the Model 3, a future
compact SUV and a new kind
of pickup truck, we plan to
address most of the consumer
market. A lower cost vehicle
than the Model 3 is unlikely
to be necessary, because of
the third part of the plan
described below.
What really matters to
accelerate a sustainable
future is being able to
scale up production volume
as quickly as possible. That
is why Tesla engineering has
transitioned to focus
heavily on designing the
machine that makes the
machine -- turning the
factory itself into a
product....In addition to
consumer vehicles, there are
two other types of electric
vehicle needed: heavy-duty
trucks and high
passenger-density urban
transport. Both are in the
early stages of development
at Tesla...With the advent
of autonomy, it will
probably make sense to
shrink the size of buses and
transition the role of bus
driver to that of fleet
manager. Traffic congestion
would improve due to
increased passenger areal
density by eliminating the
center aisle and putting
seats where there are
currently entryways, and
matching acceleration and
braking to other vehicles,
thus avoiding the inertial
impedance to smooth traffic
flow of traditional heavy
buses. It would also take
people all the way to their
destination. Fixed summon
buttons at existing bus
stops would serve those who
don't have a phone. Design
accommodates wheelchairs,
strollers and bikes.
Autonomy
As the technology matures,
all Tesla vehicles will have
the hardware necessary to be
fully self-driving with
fail-operational capability,
meaning that any given
system in the car could
break and your car will
still drive itself safely.
It is important to emphasize
that refinement and
validation of the software
will take much longer than
putting in place the
cameras, radar, sonar and
computing hardware.
Even once the software is
highly refined and far
better than the average
human driver, there will
still be a significant time
gap, varying widely by
jurisdiction, before true
self-driving is approved by
regulators....I should add a
note here to explain why
Tesla is deploying partial
autonomy now, rather than
waiting until some point in
the future. The most
important reason is that,
when used correctly, it is
already significantly safer
than a person driving by
themselves and it would
therefore be morally
reprehensible to delay
release simply for fear of
bad press or some mercantile
calculation of legal
liability....It is also
important to explain why we
refer to Autopilot as
"beta"....
Sharing
When true self-driving is
approved by regulators, it
will mean that you will be
able to summon your Tesla
from pretty much anywhere.
Once it picks you up, you
will be able to sleep, read
or do anything else enroute
to your destination. You
will also be able to add
your car to the Tesla shared
fleet just by tapping a
button on... [Read more](https://www.tesla.com/en_HK/blog/master-plan-part-deux?redirect=no)Hmmm....This
is a chock-full vision
that sounds pretty good
me (and doesn't have a
mention of DSRC, V2V or
V2x :-) ); except, do I
really want to invest to
become a "Tesla (AirBnB)
Host" or simply use the
"Mobility-on-Demand
Transit System" (MoDTS)
that Tesla or ALK or
???? (unfortunately NJ
Transit, the obvious
MoDTS operator, will
pass.) Alain
July 14, 2016
Another Tesla crash blamed on car’s Autopilot system
S. Musil, July 12, “The most recent crash involved a Model X near the small town of Whitehall, Montana, on Sunday morning, according to the Detroit Free Press. Neither the driver nor the passenger was injured in the single-vehicle crash, the Montana Highway Patrol told the newspaper….The car failed to detect an obstacle in the road, according to a thread posted on the Tesla Motors Club forum by someone who said they’re a friend of the driver. The thread included photos showing the damage to the vehicle.
Tesla said Tuesday that it
appears the driver in the
crash was using the system
improperly.
"The data suggests that the
driver's hands were not on
the steering wheel, as no
force was detected on the
steering wheel for over 2
minutes after autosteer was
engaged (even a very small
amount of force, such as one
hand resting on the wheel,
will be detected)," a Tesla
spokesman said in a
statement. "This is contrary
to the terms of use that are
agreed to when enabling the
feature and the notification
presented in the instrument
cluster each time it is
activated.
"As road conditions became
increasingly uncertain, the
vehicle again alerted the
driver to put his hands on
the wheel. He did not do so
and shortly thereafter the
vehicle collided with a post
on the edge of the roadway,"
the spokesman said. He added
that the Autopilot feature
was being used on an
undivided mountain road
despite being designed for
use on a divided highway in
slow-moving traffic....[Read more](http://www.cnet.com/au/news/another-tesla-crash-blamed-on-cars-autopilot-system/) Hmmm....Interesting
that Tesla didn't say
that the car began to
slow down (as it is
supposed to if the
driver does not put
his/her hand back on the
wheel!!!!???? (The
"lane-centering" should
NOT turn off if the
driver does not respond
(I believe the Mercedes
"997 package" turns off
lane-centering if you
don't respond to the
buzzer :-( (However,
since the lane centering
on
my 2014 S-550 only
works if the lane is
essentially perfectly
straight, and Mercedes
has never made an effort
to fix/update my
software, I rarely take
my hands off the wheel.
The system is so poor
that I can't tell if
lane-centering is just
not working or the
buzzer turned it off.
:-( )) , What should
happen is that the car
should turn on its
emergency flashers, slow
down at a rate that is
proportional to the
quality of the road
conditions and once it
reaches a slow enough
speed have the
capability to
determine
if a lane change to the
right (in US and ...) is
safe or a clear shoulder
to the right is
available. If so, make
the lane change and come
to a complete stop, all
the while announcing to
the driver what the
system is doing because
hands have not been put
back on the wheel.
After stopping,
"AutoPilot" should then
turned off as should
"AutoPilot" privileges
until a "Tesla"
representative resets
the system. If that
doesn't convince the
driver to put
"hands-on-wheel", then
the car has just averted
a possible catastrophe
associated with a
comatose driver.
Alain
July 11, 2016
Lessons From the Tesla Crash
Editorial Board, July 11, "A
recent fatal crash in Florida
involving a Tesla Model S is an
example of how a new technology
designed to make cars safer
could, in some cases, make them
more dangerous. These risks,
however, could be minimized with
better testing (Hmmm....Yes!)
and regulations (Still too
early, we don't know enough,
yet)...Tesla's
electric cars are not
self-driving, but when the
Autopilot system is engaged it
can keep the car in a lane,
adjust its speed to keep up with
traffic and brake to avoid
collisions. Tesla says audio and
visual alerts warn drivers to
keep their hands on the steering
wheel and watch the road. If a
driver is unresponsive to the
alerts, the car is programmed to
slow itself to a stop.
Such warnings aren't sufficient,
though; some Tesla drivers, as
shown in videos on YouTube, have
even gotten into the back seat
while the car was moving. Such
reckless behavior threatens not
just the drivers but everyone
else on the road, too. (Absolutely!)...
If that system ([V2V](http://www.safercar.gov/v2v/index.html))
had been in place,
Mr. Brown might have survived. (Sure, but
Mr Brown would have had to
wait more than his normal
expected life span before
that system would have been
adopted by more than 70% of
all vehicles for it to have
better than a "coin flip"
chance of helping him.
What would have helped Mr.
Brown is if the Automated
Emergency Braking system
worked on his Tesla, or if
the truck driver had seen
him coming (not
become distracted) and had
not "failed to yield". )
Federal officials could take
lessons from the history of [airbags](http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/01/automobiles/autos-on-friday-safety-when-air-bags-help-and-harm.html)
and the lack of strong
regulations. (This is a
VERY appropriate and
relevant lesson!)...
The agency does not yet have
regulations for driverless cars
or cars that have driver
assistance systems. But when
officials do put rules in place,
they will have to update them
regularly as they learn about
how the technology works in
practice. Automation should save
lives. But nobody should expect
these vehicles to be risk-free.
(This
is very wise. They should
also immediately focus on
Automated Emergency Braking
systems which are the
foundation of any
Self-driving or Driverless
systems. ) [Read more](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/11/opinion/lessons-from-the-tesla-crash.html?ribbon-ad-idx=2&rref=opinion&module=Ribbon&version=context®ion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Opinion&pgtype=article)Hmmm....Comments in-line
above. Alain
July 5, 2016
May 7 Crash
Hmmm…What we know now (and don’t know):
1. On May 7, 2016 at about 4:40pm EDT, there was a crash between a Tesla and a Class 8 Tractor-Trailer. The accident is depicted in the Diagram from the Police Report: HSMV Crash Report # 85234095. (1) Google Earth images from the site.
2. The driver of the Tesla was Joshua Brown. “No citations have been issued, but the initial accident report from the FHP indicates the truck driver “failed to yield right-of-way.”” (2) . Hmmm….No Citations??? Did the truck have a data recorder? Was the truck impounded, if so, how is the truck driver making a living since the crash? Why was his truck not equipped with sensors that can warn him of collision risks at intersections? As I’ve written, driving is one of the most dangerous occupations. Why isn’t OSHA concerned about improving the environment of these workers? Why doesn’t ATRI (the American Trucking Association’s research arm recognize the lack availability/adoption of “SmartDrivingTruck technology” as one of its Critical Issues? Why didn’t his insurance agent encourage/convince him to equip his truck with collision risk sensors. If they aren’t commercially available, why hasn’t his insurance company invested/promoted/lobbied for their development? These low-volume rural highway intersections are very dangerous. Technology could help.
“…(the truck driver)…said he saw the Tesla approaching in the left, eastbound lane. Then it crossed to the right lane and struck his trailer. “I don’t know why he went over to the slow lane when he had to have seen me,” he said….” (2) . Hmmm….If the driver saw the Tesla change lanes, why did he “failed to yield right-of-way”???
“…Meanwhile, the accident is stoking the debate on whether drivers are being lulled into a false sense of security by such technology. A man who lives on the property where Brown’s car came to rest some 900 feet from the intersection where the crash occurred said when he approached the wreckage 15 minutes after the crash, he could hear the DVD player. An FHP trooper on the scene told the property owner, Robert VanKavelaar, that a “Harry Potter” movie was showing on the DVD player, VanKavelaar told Reuters on Friday.
Another witness, Terence
Mulligan, said he arrived
at the scene before the
first Florida state
trooper and found "there
was no movie playing."
"There was no music. I was
at the car. Right at the
car," Mulligan told
Reuters on Friday.
Sergeant Kim Montes of the
Florida Highway Patrol
said on Friday that "there
was a portable DVD player
in the vehicle," but
wouldn't elaborate further
on it. She also said there
was no camera found,
mounted on the dash or of
any kind, in the
wreckage....
…Mulligan said he was driving in the same westbound direction as the truck before it attempted to make a left turn across the eastbound lanes of U.S. Highway 27 Alternate when he spotted the Tesla traveling east. Mulligan said the Tesla did not appear to be speeding on the road, which has a speed limit of 65 miles per hour, according to the FHP….” (2) .
- “…the vehicle was on a divided highway with Autopilot engaged when a tractor trailer drove across the highway perpendicular to the Model S. Neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied. The high ride height of the trailer combined with its positioning across the road and the extremely rare circumstances of the impact caused the Model S to pass under the trailer, with the bottom of the trailer impacting the windshield of the Model S. Had the Model S impacted the front or rear of the trailer, even at high speed, its advanced crash safety system would likely have prevented serious injury as it has in numerous other similar incidents…” (3). Not sure how Tesla knows what Joshua Brown saw or did not see. Events prior to the crash unfolded over many seconds. Tesla must have precise data on the car’s speed and steering angle, video for those many seconds prior to the crash, as well as, what it was “seeing” from MobilEye’s cameras and radar data. At no time prior to the crash did it see anything crossing its intended travel lane? More important, why didn’t the truck driver see the Tesla? WHAT WAS HE DOING? What was the truck doing. How slow was it going? Hopefully there was a data speed recorder on the truck. Was the truck impounded, if so, how is the truck driver making a living since the crash?
One can also ask: Why was the truck not equipped with sensors that can warn the driver of collision risks at intersections? As I’ve written, driving is one of the most dangerous occupations. Why isn’t OSHA concerned about improving this workplace environment? Why doesn’t ATRI (the American Trucking Association’s research arm) recognize the lack availability/adoption of “SmartDrivingTruck technology” as one of its Critical Issues? Why didn’t the driver’s insurance agent encourage/convince him to equip his truck with collision risk sensors. If they aren’t commercially available, why hasn’t his insurance company invested/promoted/lobbied for their development? These low-volume rural highway intersections are very dangerous. Technology could help.
While the discussion is about AutoPilot, the Tesla also has Automated Emergency Braking (AEB) which is supposed to always be on. This seems more like an AEB failure rather than an AutoPilot failure. The Tesla didn’t just drive off the road, The discussion about “hands-on-wheels” is irrelevant. What was missing was “foot-on-brake” by the Tesla driver and “eyes-on-road” by, most importantly, the truck driver, since he initiated an action in violation to “rules of the road” that may have made a crash unavoidable.
-
“Problem Description: A fatal highway crash involving a 2015 Tesla Model S which, according to Tesla, was operating with automated driving systems (“Autopilot”) engaged, calls for an examination
of the design and performance of any driving aids in use at the time of the crash." [(4)](http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/jaxrs/download/doc/UCM530776/INOA-PE16007-7080.PDF). Not to be picky, but the initiator of the crash was the failure to yield by the truck driver. Why isn't this human failure the most fundamental "Problem Description"? If "driving aids" were supposed to "bail out" the truck driver's failure to yield, why isn't the AEB system's "design and performance" being examined. AutoPilot's responsibility is to keep the Tesla from steering off the road (and, as a last resort, yield to the AEB). The focus should be on AEBs. How many other Tesla drivers have perished that didn't have AutoPilot on, but had AEB? How many drivers have perished of other cars that have AEB? Seems as if this crash was more about an emergency automated systems failing to apply the brakes, rather than a driver not having his hands-on-wheel. Unfortunately, it is likely that we will eventually have a fatality in which an "AutoPilot" will fail to keep a "Tesla" on the road (or in a "correct" lane), but from what is known so far, this does not seem to be the crash. -
“What we learn here is that Mobileye’s system in Tesla’s Autopilot does gather the information from the vehicle’s sensors, primarily the front facing camera and radar, but while it gathers the data, Mobileye’s tech can’t (or not well enough until 2018) recognize the side of vehicles and therefore, itcan’t work in a situation where braking is required to stop a Tesla from hitting the side of another vehicle.
Since Tesla pushed its 7.1 update earlier this year, the automaker's own system used the same data to recognize anything, under adequate conditions, that could obstruct the path of the Tesla and if the radar's reading is consistent with the data from the camera, it will apply the brakes. Now that's something that was put to the test by Model S owners earlier in the week:" [(4)](http://electrek.co/2016/07/02/tesla-autopilot-mobileye-automatic-emergency-braking/). See video, "In the last two tests, the Autopilot appears to detect an obstacle as evidenced by the forward collision warning alerts, but the automatic emergency braking didn't activate, which raised questions – not unlike in the fatal crash. Though as Tesla explained, the trailer was not detected in the fatal crash, the radar confused it for an overhead sign, but in the tests above, the forward collision warning system sent out an alert – though as evidenced by the fact that the test subject wasn't hit, the AEB didn't need to activate and therefore it didn't. Tesla explains: "AEB does not engage when an alternative collision avoidance strategy (e.g., driver steering) remains viable. Instead, when a collision threat is detected, forward collision warning alerts the driver to encourage them to take appropriate evasive action. AEB is a fallback safety feature that operates by design only at high levels of severity and should not be tested with live subjects."..." [Read more](http://electrek.co/2016/07/02/tesla-autopilot-mobileye-automatic-emergency-braking/)(5) With all of the expertise that MobilEye has in image processing, it is surprising that it can't recognize the side of a tractor trailer or gets confused with overhead signs and tunnel openings. If overhead signs (and overpasses and tree canopies) are really the issue, then these can be readily geocoded and included in the digital map database.)
5. It seems that all of the other stuff about DVD player, watching movies, previous postings on YouTube is noise. Automated Collision Avoidance Systems and their Automated Emergency Braking sub-system MUST be more robust a mitigating “failed to yield right-of-way” situations irrespective of the “failure to yield” derived from a human action (as seems to have occurred in this crash) or an “autoPilot” (which doesn’t seem to be the case in this crash). Alain
(1) Self-Driving Tesla Was Involved in Fatal Crash, U.S. Says, June 30 NYT,
(2) DVD player found in Tesla car in fatal May crash, July 1, Reuters
(3)A Tragic Loss, June 30, Tesla Blog
(4) NHTSA ODI Resume PE 16-007 Automatic vehicle control system, June 28, 2016
(5) Tesla elaborates on Autopilot’s automatic emergency braking capacity over Mobileye’s system Electrek, July 2, 2016 See also: Understanding the fatal Tesla accident on Autopilot and the NHTSA probeJuly 2, 2016, Tesla Autopilot partner Mobileye comments on fatal crash, says tech isn’t meant to avoid this type of accident [Updated], May 15, 2016
Extracting Cognition out of Images for the Purpose of Autonomous Driving
Chenyi Chen PhD Dissertation , “…the key part of the thesis, a direct perception approach is proposed to drive a car in a highway environment. In this approach, an input image is mapped to a small number of key perception indicators that directly relate to the affordance of a road/traffic state for driving…..” Read more Hmmm..FPO 10:00am, May 16 , 120 Sherrerd Hall, Establishing a foundation for image-based autonomous driving using DeepLearning Neural Networks trained in virtual environments. Very promising. Alain
March 25, 2016
Hearing focus of SF 2569 Autonomous vehicles task force establishment and demonstration project for people with disabilities
March 23 Hmmm… Watch the video of the Committee Meeting. The testimony is Excellent and very compelling! Also see Self-Driving Minnesota Alain
March 17, 2016
U.S. DOT and IIHS announce historic commitment of 20 automakers to make automatic emergency braking standard on new vehicles
February 18, 2016
Motor Vehicle Deaths Increase by Largest Percent in 50 Years
December 19, 2015
Adam Jonas’ View on Autonomous Cars
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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