Look, Ma! No Hands!

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Autonomous driving is all the rage.  It’s almost every day we hear how car companies are advancing their offerings, perfecting their car systems, etc.

But, let’s consider the big facts.   Unless and until the insurance industry gets changed, the best we are going to have is assisted driving.  After all, when there is an accident with an autonomous car, who is charged?  The car owner or the technology provider?  Or, if the car owner had his license stripped for a DUI, is a driverless car illegal for him/her to use?

So, like the current car commercial, if we are lost in space and someone slams on the brakes in front of us, our car will slow down.  That’s just one part.  For years, many auto companies have been offering intelligent cruise control- which slows down our speed when the cars in front of us slow down, the road conditions change, etc.   But, full autonomous driving- that may happen in other countries way before it does in the US.

Autonomous vehicle operation already exists in a big way.  Consider our commercial aviation industry.  Pretty much every trip is controlled by the flight management system- autopilot- from takeoff to landing.  And, these systems work for airplanes, because as crowded as our skies are, they are far less congested than our roadways.

Its when things are hairy- like storms and the like- when the pilots need to take control, that’s often when there are problems.  Sometimes, it’s when the air traffic controllers call for visual approach and the pilots lack experience at the airport.  Consider OZ 214 (Asiana Airlines), where the pilots crashed short of the runway.  And, the autopilot system was mis-set, so the air speed wasn’t controlled.  (This is a sad example of GIGO- garbage in, garbage out.)

Nevertheless, our aviation system relies on autonomous operation.  So, the next time you see those pilots walking around the airport… remember, they are only there for when the system fails.  And, we hope it doesn’t.  (I also understand, but have no final knowledge, that landing planes at DCA- Washington National Airport, and LGA- Laguardia are so tricky that only qualified pilots- and no autopilot assist- get the honors.)

But, when it comes to our roads, I think it is going to be the trucking industry that reaches the autonomous threshold sooner.  Already, we’ve seen designs from companies like WalMart and the big OTR (over-the-road) haulers, that will let trucks work in convoys.  So, there still will be a driver for the first vehicle, but the other ones in the convoy will be autonomously navigating their journey in relationship to the lead vehicle.

Now, there’s yet another entry in this trucking field.   Anthony Levandowski, the Google self-driving car guru, has joined up with Lior Ron (Google Maps) to form Ottomotto LLC.  Don Burnette from the Google Car also joined the team, as well as Claire Delaunay, a Google Robotics expert.  The goal of Ottomotto, with its crew of 41?  Make the 18 wheeler work just like Google car.

Their project is converting Volvo trucks to driverless mode.  Sure, just like for cars, many 18 wheelers have driver-assist.  And, as is true for driverless cars, not many states sanction the use of such driverless trucks.  For example, California- which lets cars operate autonomously- refused to authorize trucks.  So, the testing has been done in Nevada.

The Volvo trucks are equipped with LIDAR  (spinning laser sensors), radar, cameras, and software.  They have programmed 220,000 miles of US highways into the system.  And, once the truck needs to navigate around a city, the driver must take the wheel.

Given the difficulty long-haul trucking has had in finding qualified drivers (yes, it is related to the fact that they want to pay them less than previous compensation scales), Levandowski feels this is a prime market to enter.  Levandowski feels that by concentrating on highway driving, which is the bulk of the 18 wheelers driving, the application is far more ideal than city driving.  There are fewer interactions with other cars, most of the highways are limited access, etc.  Moreover, driverless trucks will use less fuel, so there will be this other incentive to switch.

Interestingly, OttoMotto will be offering a kit ($30K, which sounds expensive until you realize a tractor can run about $ 150 to $ 180K) to covert any recent (post 2013) tractor to employ autonomous driving.  The kit includes the camera, radar, and the LIDaR mentioned above.  It also includes a program section that gets the driver to a secluded, safe area, should the driver become unresponsive.

The next step for OttoMotto? Find 1000 volunteers who will add the system to their trucks.  The high-tech gear will be available at no cost to the drivers.  This will let OttoMotto fine-tune their system.  Oh, and the driver will have to take control if the system fails.  Which, hopefully, won’t happen.

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5 thoughts on “Look, Ma! No Hands!”

    1. This was the first of two pieces.
      As I said, it is not clear that we will have autonomous cars in the US before 2050. Because we need different and better highways, a different insurance model, and probably a slew of different laws.
      Thanks, Alana, for the comment and the visit.

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