Autonomous Vehicles

I doubt the police will listen to that, or hang around and call Waymo support lol. They will do their own thing. They won't care about protecting the technology.
 
Nasher said:
I doubt the police will listen to that, or hang around and call Waymo support lol. They will do their own thing. They won't care about protecting the technology.
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How well do you know California police? IMHO, I think that they will be very careful as all eyes will be upon them when they perform a community service that will help other motorists. Keeping California roads free of breakdowns is a high priority anyway.

Now that they have been trained what to do if they do not perform, their activities will be captured on video and legal action could be taken against them.
 
so will you be able to use the ride hailing for parcel(pizza?) delivery, and how will they prevent its use for criminal(drug delivery?) or terrorist purposes ?

The Demis video is interesting as it shows how deep learning(neural nets) enabled discovery of innovative stratgeigies for chess/go/ and even the older Atari games,
and also why this technique is not used for control of the AV vehicles (goal function too complex)
now need to see the netflix alphago film.
 
jpaul said:
so will you be able to use the ride hailing for parcel(pizza?) delivery, and how will they prevent its use for criminal(drug delivery?) or terrorist purposes ?

The Demis video is interesting as it shows how deep learning(neural nets) enabled discovery of innovative stratgeigies for chess/go/ and even the older Atari games,
and also why this technique is not used for control of the AV vehicles (goal function too complex)
now need to see the netflix alphago film.
Click to expand...

Very interesting comments about deep neural nets from Demi of Deep Mind.

Details are still scant on exactly the nature of the ride sharing service that Waymo intends to bring soon to Chandler, Arizona and the Phoenix area. There is an Early Rider programme is shuttling humans from point A to point B. As these Riders can access the AVs via an app, Waymo can control who gets to use the vehicle. Video of the inside of the vehicle is essential for improving safety standards.

Waymo has also discussed separately the concept of AV delivery vehicles but again, with few details.

About terrorists and drug dealers, how do you stop them from getting into a car today?
Waymo has ordered thousands of Fiat Chrysler AV minivans for the commercial launch. They have been specially modified but there are no details about how they have been modified as yet.
 
Nasher said:
I doubt the police will listen to that, or hang around and call Waymo support lol. They will do their own thing. They won't care about protecting the technology.
Click to expand...

Because police can’t just wilfully damage property. If they do without good reason then they the police force will have to reimburse the owner.

If an AV car randomly stops in the middle of a road, or ends up driving around in circles (for example) then neither are likely to be legitimate reasons to damage a vehicle. In both situations it makes sense to try and contact the owner first (like they would in many non AV situations).

It’s likely, in a couple of years when there are a lot more AV vehicles on the road, there will be specific procedures for police and emergency services to follow, perhaps pretty similar to what Waymo have released. Until that point it makes sense for manufacturers to provide “instruction manuals” to those that may have to deal with any errors.

That said, if an AV car is hurtling down the road at 80mph then I’m sure they’ll treat it like any other vehicle, that’s a situation where damaging a car to stop it is likely to be perfectly acceptable.

Edit: Actually, looking at the document the vast majority of it is specific to the fact the vehicles a hybrid. There’s just a few pages at the front which explain how to identify the vehicle, how to contact them and then how to know if it’s in self drive and if so how to turn it off. Nothing earth shattering.
 
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That will only stop them getting punctured from underneath though, not crushed. Which will also cause them to combust.

Problem is after a crash you might not be able to tell if it's catching fire straight away, if it's only a small rupture it will start smoldering very slowly at first. It could be a pretty dangerous situation tbh because it could look fine, gets towed away and then goes up in flames hours later.
 
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Recent California AV update makes it clear that more players are entering the race. There are now 53 permit holders compared to 42 in November 2017. And Apple has grown its testing fleet in California to 55 vehicles. All Apple vehicles have safety drivers. Waymo has applied for driverless vehicles to be tested in California, similar to what Waymo is already doing in Phoenix.

https://www.techradar.com/news/apples-self-driving-car-fleet-leaps-to-55-vehicles
 
Will "teleoperation" become more prominent in self driving vehicles? Will it be required by some States?

Interesting article in Verge about Drive.ai and its self driving testing in Texas with no safety driver in the front seat but one in the passenger seat able to take over if needed. They also feature their "tele-choice" which is teleoperation where a remote operator can assist the vehicle when it is not sure what to do. So far, Waymo has not included teleoperation although it has a button in the car within reach of the passenger if the rider needs roadside assistance.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/17/17365188/drive-ai-driverless-self-driving-car-texas
 
Arizona Governor offered opportunity to ride in a Waymo driverless vehicle around Phoenix. Until now, Waymo has only provided this service to pre-selected members of the public called Early Riders. Following the tragic events following the Uber self driving vehicle crash, and the Governor's ban of Uber self driving vehicles on Arizona roads, the Governor has been less visible in this area.

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news...r-ducey-ride-in-fully-driverless-car-10436091
 
Mobileye/Intel tested its self driving solution in front of TV cameras in Israel this week. The result: the Mobileye vehicle ran a red light. Recall that Mobileye uses camera solutions and does not use LIDAR in order to bring down its costs. This makes Mobileye's solution at odds with most in the industry who rely on LIDAR.

Why is LIDAR more expensive than standard camera solutions? Because LIDAR produces up to 700,000 data points per second and these data points all have to be processed in real time.

So Mobileye encountered a "fringe" case, something that self driving vehicles will be asked to deal with. This time, the wireless transmitters from the TV cameras interferred with signals being picked up from the traffic light transponder. Mobileye's driver solution is based on the transponder signal so the vehicle continued even though the light was red.

This to me is why I believe self driving vehicles is mainly an AI problem. I still believe Waymo leads the field.
 
Uber to close self driving operations in Arizona

Today Uber advised its 300 workers in Arizona that they were being terminated effective immediately.

Uber plans to re-start self driving car testing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and San Francisco once Federal regulators conclude their investigation into the fatality in Tempe, Arizona "this summer".

https://eu.azcentral.com/story/news...se-self-driving-operations-arizona/636974002/
 
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Uber: move fast and break things?

Not so fast says the Mayor of Pittsburgh. He was caught unaware of Uber's announcement and reacted quickly by saying he wanted a full Federal investigation into the Tempe fatality, and set additional conditions before he is prepared to allow the programme to restart.

While Uber intends to restart self driving tests, I believe employee morale in this unit will be damaged and will be ripe for competitors to recruit.

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2018...ing-cars-in-arizona-will-focus-on-pittsburgh/
 
New York Times: "Apple, spurned by others, signs deal with Volkswagen for driverless cars".

"Apple has signed a deal with Volkswagen to turn some of the carmaker’s new T6 Transporter vans into Apple’s self-driving shuttles for employees — a project that is behind schedule and consuming nearly all of the Apple car team’s attention, said three people familiar with the project."

This after apparently being spurned by BMW and Daimler.

More...."Apple’s deal with Volkswagen, which has not been previously reported, and the failure of its talks with other automakers reflect the continuing travails and diminished scope of the company’s four-year-old car program.

The project has suffered from repeated changes in direction that have hurt morale and led to hundreds of departures from its peak of more than 1,000 members two years ago, five former Apple employees said. They added that the project lacked a clear plan beyond the vans, including any near-term commercial goals."

"Buffeted by a scandal around cheating emissions tests — and lagging some rivals in development of self-driving cars — Volkswagen jumped at the chance to work with Apple, former Apple employees said."

Not clear whether Apple will achieve a big breakthrough at any point soon.
 
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