Autonomous Future of Vehicles Poll.

[PHC1]

Riding in a Driverless Taxi at CES 2019!

https://youtu.be/gfWjsKsEry0

[PHC1]

Very ambitious push forward towards autonomy by a few key players. Good video that points out some interesting facts.

GM is planning on starting production of fully autonomous/pedal/steering wheel-free models at the end of 2019. As well as their own ride hailing service with autonomous vehicles.

Self-Driving Cars: The Future of Transportation

https://youtu.be/aNkKZuKbVKc

[PHC1]

So if the autonomous vehicle is "cruising" instead of being parked while the owner is shopping as they are proposing and it gets into a fender bender, will it present the licence, registration and insurance? If it doesn't stop, is that a "hit and run"? If the police officer hails it down and it doesn't stop, is that "resisting arrest"?? Lot's of questions for sure.

[PHC1]

Also, if the accident rates are estimated to be 90% less with full autonomy, will we be paying 90% less for auto insurance? Yeah right, dream on....

[PHC1]

Waymo rolls out a driverless taxi service called Waymo One in Arizona. The company has been operating self-driving cars, occasionally without safety drivers behind the wheel, for about a year and half now. The goal is to use all the data they have collected to make Waymo's autonomous vehicles the safest drivers on the road. Andrew Hawkins went down to Chandler, Arizona for a test ride.

https://youtu.be/WBkgs4u5tW0

[PHC1]

Here is a more "technical" video covering some of the challenges and solutions for autonomous navigation for those who may be interested.

Of course exploring the subject, identifying the major obstacles and key players that offer solutions is always of interest to those who like to "invest" into the future. Sadly some of the real innovators are private, not public companies but it never hurts to explore the topic to identify potential winners and possibilities of investing some $$$.

One of the hurdles is a low cost LIDAR system which is a crucial component to the future of affordable autonomous vehicles. Solid State Lidar (much cheaper and with no moving parts) will probably be the winner at least until new innovations take over. The likes of BMW are already planning on installing the solid state LIDAR systems in their 2021 models.

Good article on Solid State Lidar. https://arstechnica.com/cars/2019/02...idar-industry/


Anyways, enjoy the techie video. https://youtu.be/U5laBg-ERbQ

[PHC1]

While on the topic, it seems 2023 will see some cargo airplanes being fully autonomous and then as they convince the public it is safe to fly with AI at the flight yoke, the planes will be pilotless as well. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...lot-is-a-robot

[PHC1]

And finally, does anyone here believe that given mature enough algorithms and sensor technology that AI will somehow lose to these statistics? https://www.asirt.org/safe-travel/road-safety-facts/

[PHC1]

Since there are already talks about the future autonomous vehicles not having a steering wheel at all, it may not be a choice whether one wants to drive himself. I suppose that will suit the agenda of making the roads safer and the human driver becoming obsolete in the eyes of the governments and society in general. After all, the Wright Brothers did not have a pilot’s license just like the early drivers did not have a drivers license, but now you need one as proof of competency. Some day in the future they will say you can’t have a license anymore, you are a safety hazard by comparison to AI. I think for most of us here, it may be a moot point as by the time that happens, we will happily hand over the drivers license voluntarily due to advanced age.

[antipop]

Originally Posted by 62caddy

I'm fairly confident in saying ADVs may never completely be able to surpass an experienced human operator under extreme foul-weather conditions.

Yes and I had the experience this weekend driving under a strong storm.

The rental car had adaptive cruise control so i can adjust the speed based on the car in front of me. It worked fine but when we had a massive downpour (and I mean biblical kind of rain), the car couldn't detect the car in front of me and would suddenly accelerate. Obviously, I knew to be careful and I took control as soon as I saw the limits of the system.

I think people are overly excited for ADV but we are still years away from a fully functional that could work outside of predefined cases. Highway is easy but city or rural road are the real challenges.