Autonomous Vehicles

[mark_m]

@Drop_Bear

… controlled environment… broader application.

Just add a turret, 105mm canon, and it might be that any environment could be considered controlled?

Autonomy and AI have many possible future applications?

[Fred123]

Another article regarding autonomous vehicle development in relation to AI research by MIT.

MIT’s AI makes autonomous cars drive more like humans

I wonder how the technology will cope with road changes and temporary detours which will not be in the currnet maps?

[grahroll]

@Fred123

how the technology will cope with road changes and temporary detours

Same as we do I guess, if we go down a road we don’t know and it ends up a dead end we backtrack and try a different path, and this also happens when we rely on GPS units that have maps that are out of date or aren’t getting road/traffic updates or take us to the UK via the Sydney Harbour Bridge. AI is not blindly following a path, it is using processes to make choices and so will adjust to changes (just not perfectly). Nothing is ever totally certain except the idea that nothing is ever totally certain (except death).

[Fred123]

An interesting article regarding driverless trains.

Driverless trains are being embraced around the world — what could go wrong?

[mark_m]

@Fred123

An interesting article regarding driverless trains.

I’d be happy with just a RT (Real Train)!
QR shut the whole of the Sunshine Coast mainline down for the weekend at short notice. No trains as far north of Brisbane as Gympie!

In a way that also qualifies the service as driverless?

Interestingly, does certainty and AI equate to death?

@Fred123

I wonder how the technology will cope with road changes and temporary detours

@grahroll

Same as we do I guess, if we go down a road we don’t know and it ends up a dead end

@grahroll

Nothing is ever totally certain except the idea that nothing is ever totally certain (except death).

QED

In which instance I might prefer my AI to be a little more ‘uncertain’.

[phb]

@Fred123

Driverless trains are being embraced around the world — what could go wrong?

Possibly nothing once fully up and running. Have caught driverless trains/metros in China, Taiwan and parts of Europe and were excellent, efficient and on time. Maybe our train drivers could learn a thing or two.

[mark_m]

@phb

Maybe our train drivers could learn a thing or two.

Two ways to read that?
For as long as we have grade level crossings and unexpected track access it would seem expedient to have someone capable upfront to respond or remedy situations promptly.
There is a cost in making the transition.

Until then I’m happy to have a driver up front, and some one in the train for those difficult moments with customers who only want to be difficult. I don’t expect either job is stress free or without challenges.

Perhaps the operators of our suburban trains and a portion of the traveling public could learn a thing or two from how services operate and passengers conform in other places?

p.s.
Both the old Seaworld GC and Sydney loop monorails were also automated, and no driver. Need to think back the best part of 30 years.

[draughtrider]

@mark_m

I’d be happy with just a RT (Real Train)!

There’s not many places you can still ride a ‘Real Train’

[mark_m]

@draughtrider

There’s not many places you can still ride a ‘Real Train’

I know a few others, but only on selected days and not in fire season!

No AI necessary.

[Fred123]

Australian officials visit Sweden to examine their driverless buses.

Driverless buses trialled by Aussie transport officials

[Fred123]

An article regarding camera research which has potential for use in autonomous vehicles.

Stanford camera can watch moving objects around corners

Amazing.

[Fred123]

A second lawsuit against Tesla regarding a driver who was killed in one of their vehicles.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/money/company-news/tesla-hit-with-another-lawsuit-over-a-fatal-autopilot-crash/ar-AAFdc3A?ocid=spartandhp

I just love how Tesla claims, and Elon Musk demonstrates, that you can drive the vehicles hands-free and then blames the accidents on the drivers taking their hands off the wheel.

Lucky Tesla does not make planes and ships.

[Drop_Bear]

We live in interesting times:

If an autonomous vehicle crashes, who pays and who is responsible?

ministers attending the meeting agreed to a national approach to these challenges in order to ensure that people involved in crashes and incidents involving autonomous vehicles are no worse off than in other non-autonomous vehicle incidents.

https://www.tca.gov.au/car/c-its

Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) use wireless technologies to enable real-time wireless communication between vehicles, roadside infrastructure, mobile devices and back-office systems, …

As with all such systems, our movements will be recorded and our location always known. The privacy implications bear contemplation.

Queensland debuts "most advanced" driverless car in Oz

The $1.5 million, purpose-built Renault ZOE2 completed the trip at level four on the automation scale, where the car can travel fully autonomously, but a human driver can still take control if needed.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90291820/8-robots-racing-to-win-the-delivery-wars

Enter delivery robots. These small bots could, in theory, solve many of these “last mile” problems by offering an efficient, quick, and inexpensive way to get your stuff whenever you needed it.

And, for anyone who’s interested, a rather academic perspective.

[ScottOKeefe]

The University of Michigan is researching a predicted increase in motion sickness when everyone becomes passengers.

Measuring motion sickness in driverless cars

[phb]

@ScottOKeefe

motion sickness when everyone becomes passengers

I will be one of them.

[mark_m]

@ScottOKeefe

predicted increase in motion sickness when everyone becomes passengers.

Only if I sit in the back seat. Nearly showed off to the taxi driver yesterday when I sat in the back. Something my parents learnt every time we headed off on a long trip. Plan A, don’t feed Mark for 12 hours before heading off.

Interestingly, the back seat of a taxi in Japan is fine, as is a large bus. Something to do with how the changes in direction are sensed.

Front seats are fine. There are always two, and possibly three in future driverless cars as they will no longer require a drivers station?

[Fred123]

An article regarding a Tesla driver who was literally asleep behind the whee.

Driver sleeping in moving Tesla on 'autopilot' down busy road

[Drop_Bear]

Another way to commit suicide. Yay!

Idiots are trying to run themselves over with their own Teslas

[SueW]

I would love to see driverless mini buses in the burbs. There was a proposal recently that you could “book” rather like a taxi, but you’d be sharing with others. However the bus would collect you from your home and take you where you needed to go. Sounded like a good idea to me.

[phb]

The American (US) Automobile Association (AAA) has found that the latest version of pedestrian detection systems released as standard equipment in many vehicles fall short of that required to protect pedestrians from death or injury from these systems. The AAA states ‘AAA reveals that automatic emergency braking systems with pedestrian detection perform inconsistently, and proved to be completely ineffective at night. An alarming result, considering 75% of pedestrian fatalities occur after dark.’

These finding will impact on the confidence and reliability of semi-autonomous drive systems available in existing vehicles (and also push more responsibility back onto the driver), and the development of such systems for future fully autonomous vehicles.