Google joins Uber, Ford, others to advocate self-driving car adoption
Several high-profile companies -- Google, Ford, Uber, Lyft, and Volvo -- have joined together in a new coalition, looking to persuade both the public and the U.S. government about the benefits of self-driving cars, with the particular goal of knocking down any legal barriers that might interfere.
The group wants people to "realize the safety and societal benefits of self-driving vehicles," according to a statement seen by Bloomberg. In a related statement of its own, Uber claimed that self-driving cars could "save millions of lives," but the coalition also suggested that the technology could reduce traffic jams, and open up travel for people who can't drive on their own.
Heading up the new entity will be David Strickland, once an administrator with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The group is in fact aiming for "one clear set of federal standards" to help put self-driving cars on roads, but will be beginning by talking to municipalities, civic organizations, and other businesses.
The U.S. is currently mired in a patchwork of laws affecting self-driving cars, all of which were written with the assumption of human drivers. The federal government has been sympathetic towards corporate pushes to relax and streamline rules -- the NHTSA is accepting different definitions of the term "driver," and will be exempting up to 2,500 self-driving vehicles from safety standards for the purposes of testing.
The coalition's efforts may ultimately help Apple, which is believed to be working on an electric car for launch in 2019 or 2020. The first model may or may not be self-driving, but Apple is nevertheless believed to be working on such systems, a virtual necessity given work in that area by rivals like Google and Tesla.
The group wants people to "realize the safety and societal benefits of self-driving vehicles," according to a statement seen by Bloomberg. In a related statement of its own, Uber claimed that self-driving cars could "save millions of lives," but the coalition also suggested that the technology could reduce traffic jams, and open up travel for people who can't drive on their own.
Heading up the new entity will be David Strickland, once an administrator with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The group is in fact aiming for "one clear set of federal standards" to help put self-driving cars on roads, but will be beginning by talking to municipalities, civic organizations, and other businesses.
The U.S. is currently mired in a patchwork of laws affecting self-driving cars, all of which were written with the assumption of human drivers. The federal government has been sympathetic towards corporate pushes to relax and streamline rules -- the NHTSA is accepting different definitions of the term "driver," and will be exempting up to 2,500 self-driving vehicles from safety standards for the purposes of testing.
The coalition's efforts may ultimately help Apple, which is believed to be working on an electric car for launch in 2019 or 2020. The first model may or may not be self-driving, but Apple is nevertheless believed to be working on such systems, a virtual necessity given work in that area by rivals like Google and Tesla.
Comments
Have you seen the way Gen-Y drives?
I often watch to see which drivers are using their phones. Mostly... adults, not teens.
That means that each car must pass a drivers exam in the same way humans do.
The rationale behind this is that a qualified person must test this capability to be 'sure' the car functions as desired as we do with humans, it would also be perceived as an act of discrimination against humans when cars can drive without this test.
So, a car must pass a Turing test with verbal instructions and will be judged on the same criteria as a human: this means uncertain driving behavior, driving to slow or fast, driving in an erratic irregular way, lack of judgement and anticipation, etc. etc. will all void the exam.
The pods would be programmed to take you wherever you were going and switch the railway links on the way as you approached. The electricity can be provided by the rail system so the cars would be continually charged but pods could also be recharged at the stations and each pod would be able to know where every other pod was at all times. They wouldn't have to travel as fast as a train (average would be under 100mph) because each pod wouldn't have to stop until it reached its destination and they can speed up to maximum speed more quickly. This would allow regulators to see that driverless vehicles could operate safely for long periods of time on rails beside other vehicles at high speed and with high traffic and the data can be provided about safety and efficiency.
Liabilities are covered by the train operators so separating passengers out lowers the risk of a single collision affecting lots of passengers. Every passenger group could travel at least 1/10th of a mile apart. In the event of a failure, the pods behind can slow down and a pod zips back along the line from the nearest station to pull the problem pod out the way, the one behind could push it or just remove it from the line and collect the passengers.
They'd build and test the vehicles on a disused railway then make a ~$50m investment to produce a set of vehicles to replace trains for a day. They'd load about 250 vehicles onto one line overnight and set them running for the day. If it works ok, they keep them running, otherwise put the trains back on the next day.