Driverless Autonomous Cars Can Now Be Tested in California

[Rainshadow]

People are going to be killed because of these driverless cars.

Really? You think?! Of course they are! And newsflash, they will be people who would not have otherwise died if the driverless cars weren’t out there. The difference is, there will be FAR fewer people killed. There will be growing pains. There will be sensationalists highlighting every fender bender, but the market will run toward the statistics and eventually embrace driverless cars... for good or for bad. It is inevitable.
[doublepost=1519712610][/doublepost]

Just waiting for the first car to be hacked.

This, however, can be a scary thought. This is one reason (the only reason) I hope Apple gets into the game. Imagine a terrorist cell or even one “lone wolf” who can hack a truck and drive it through a crowd

 

[ersan191]

This is what they have to do, test the cars without a driver.

This could bring back the pump jockey at fuel and EV stations.

Tesla and others have shown tech for automatic charging a long time ago - It's very unlikely that we're going to have driverless cars and manual charging stations.

 

[bartvk]

Lighten up Francis, it’s a joke.

To be honest, I also didn't get it. For the last couple of years, the first couple of comments on a story usually blast Apple to oblivion in overly-generalized, sweeping, knee-jerk statements. Often the poster is just fishing for likes, or they have some pet peeve that everybody on the forums already is tired of discussing.

Tesla and others showed some tech for automatic charging a long time ago - It's very unlikely that we're going to have automatic cars and manual charging stations.

Well, I wonder... That video was from 2015. I haven't heard from it, ever since. But I hope you're right, though.

 

[ersan191]

Well, I wonder... That video was from 2015. I haven't heard from it, ever since. But I hope you're right, though.

Tesla also advertises "For Superchargers that have automatic charge connection enabled, you will not even have to get out of your vehicle." in their "Full Self Driving Capability" option.

If you think they can program a car to navigate the entire world without a driver but can't figure out how to plug one in I don't know what to tell you.

 

[mgauss7]

New regulations that allow driverless autonomous cars to be tested on California roads were officially approved by the California Office of Administrative Law on Monday, reports the San Francisco Examiner.

Starting on April 2, companies in the Bay Area that are working on self-driving vehicle technology will be able to deploy cars that do not have a driver behind the wheel. The new autonomous vehicle regulations have been under review since January 11, but were green lit this morning.

The news is of interest as Apple is one of more than 50 companies testing self-driving vehicle technology in the Bay Area. For almost a year now, Apple has been testing autonomous driving software in a series of 2015 Lexus RX450h SUVs, which can often be seen on the streets surrounding its Cupertino headquarters.

While little has been said about Apple's testing efforts in recent months, the company was spotted using new LIDAR equipment in August of 2017, and as of January 2018, Apple has 27 vehicles running autonomous driving software, up from the three it started with last year.

With the new regulations in place, Apple can potentially apply for a new deployment permit with the California DMV that would allow it to test its software sans drivers. It's not known, however, if Apple is ready for that kind of advanced testing.

While California is allowing companies to deploy and test fully autonomous driverless cars, a "communication link" must be maintained between the testing vehicle and remote operators. All remote vehicle operators must monitor the status of driverless vehicles at all times and be ready to step in should the vehicle experience "failures that would endanger the safety of the vehicle's passengers or other road users." Cars must be protected from cyberattacks and must also be able to transmit information in the event of a crash.

Companies must also certify that a vehicle is capable of operating without the presence of a driver and develop a "law enforcement interaction plan" to be provided to the California Highway Patrol.

Should Apple choose to take advantage of the new policies, the company will need to obtain a permit from the California DMV, and granted permits are made available to the public. So should Apple opt for this route, it won't be able to keep its work secret. These kinds of regulations have already spurred Apple CEO Tim Cook to confirm the company's work on autonomous systems.

"We're focusing on autonomous systems. It's a core technology that we view as very important. We sort of see it as the mother of all AI projects. It's probably one of the most difficult AI projects actually to work on," Cook said back in June of 2017.

Some other states have already adopted more relaxed rules that allow companies to deploy autonomous vehicles without drivers. In Arizona, for example, Google-owned company Waymo is already operating autonomous minivans sans safety driver.

Article Link: Driverless Autonomous Cars Can Now Be Tested in California

If an accident happens with a normal car and a driver, the driver is seen as a person who made a mistake. But these cars with deep pockets are a lawsuit exposure for millions of dollars. No forgiveness for the billion dollar companies and then the mistake is Apple's. I'd stay away from this market for now. Enter it when the legal aspect is more mature.

 

[ersan191]

Silent electric driverless cars coming at you as you cross the street - doesn’t sound safe.

I trust software to stop and not hit me way more than I trust people doing their nails while texting.

 

[Jesse Waugh]

I think looking both ways before crossing the street is one of the earliest lessons I was taught. Also, I’d rather trust an autonomous car coming at me than a drunk driver.

True - but that's not saying much.
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I trust software to stop and not hit me way more than I trust people doing their nails while texting.

Touche... perhaps.

 

[palmerc2]

I think looking both ways before crossing the street is one of the earliest lessons I was taught. Also, I’d rather trust an autonomous car coming at me than a drunk driver.

I look both ways when crossing a one way street.

That’s how little faith I have in drivers these days. Autonomous will be better than 90% of drivers on the road.

 

[Piggie]

I still think we are MANY years away from this being a practical reality.
I'd love to be proved wrong, but almost every day in my car, in the UK I come across road scenarios where I have no idea how a driverless car would work out what to do.
[doublepost=1519726224][/doublepost]

Just waiting for the first car to be hacked.

Yes, and that's fine, and we know it will happen.

If 2000 people died due to human drivers, or 1000 people died due to computer drivers.
We all know the 1000 deaths are better, with 1000 saved lives.

But as a society, would we currently accept being told every day of the year, 3 people have been killed by driverless cars?
The media would jump all over this, and I'm sure there would be recalls till things were improved.

I just don't think, yet, we as a society are ready to accept this.

 

[bartvk]

Tesla also advertises "For Superchargers that have automatic charge connection enabled, you will not even have to get out of your vehicle." in their "Full Self Driving Capability" option.

If you think they can program a car to navigate the entire world without a driver but can't figure out how to plug one in I don't know what to tell you.

Oh no, they can definitely do it. I wonder however if it got out of the lab and into production.

 

[gnipgnop]

Studies now show that Uber and Lyft have increased traffic congestion in cities, not reduced it...so driverless cars are likely to do the same thing. It just isn't a very good solution for anything outside of people with disabilities who might have trouble operating a vehicle.

 

[ersan191]

Studies now show that Uber and Lyft have increased traffic congestion in cities, not reduced it...so driverless cars are likely to do the same thing. It just isn't a very good solution for anything outside of people with disabilities who might have trouble operating a vehicle.

Solution to reducing traffic? Nobody ever said it was. It solves a thousand other problems though. If the only thing you can think of is people with disabilities then you aren't very imaginative.

Eating into the 3200 traffic deaths per day is a damn good start

 

[heimo]

Hopefully when the cars battery degrades it doesn't forceably slow the car down....or just shut down while your on the highway /s

Your iCar subscription is expiring in three days. If you’d like to keep using your iCar, please enter valid credit card information.

 

[xalea]

I can't wait to get rid of the sea of parking lots we now have. Have the car drop you off at the front door of (X) and drive itself back home, if close enough, or to a multi-story garage that is out of the way. Or loan it out during the day and make money Uber-ing or what have you. More grass please!

 

[ravenstar]

Solution to reducing traffic? Nobody ever said it was. It solves a thousand other problems though. If the only thing you can think of is people with disabilities then you aren't very imaginative.

Eating into the 3200 traffic deaths per day is a damn good start

While I agree in principle, it'll be decades before we see that kind of benefit. If left purely to market forces, driverless cars will remain a small percentage of the vehicles on the road for the foreseeable future. Expense combined with the general unease of relinquishing control to a computer is going to make this an uphill battle. So much research has been done into the technology, but not enough into the psychology.

 

[gnipgnop]

Solution to reducing traffic? Nobody ever said it was.

The CEO of Uber said that. It was always part of the "sell" for those companies.

http://www.businessinsider.com/trav...n-self-driving-cars-future-driver-jobs-2016-8

 

[ersan191]

The CEO of Uber said that. It was always part of the "sell" for those companies.

http://www.businessinsider.com/trav...n-self-driving-cars-future-driver-jobs-2016-8

Talking about driverless cars, not Uber.

 

[Tozovac]

Studies now show that Uber and Lyft have increased traffic congestion in cities, not reduced it...so driverless cars are likely to do the same thing. It just isn't a very good solution for anything outside of people with disabilities who might have trouble operating a vehicle.

Couldn’t agree more. As an engineer I should be enthusiastic about driverless cars but they just seem so much like technology for the sake of technology. Like much of Apple’s priorities today, ironically. If you step back and ask the questions of what you’re trying to improve, such as: safety, resource-use, congestion, efficiency, convenience, etc, then working towards replacing individual cars with individual self-driving cars feels the least elegant and most resource-using of the options, one of which could be investigating improving public transportation first, even if it becomes 75% as convenient as a self driving option could be, should it be found to be much more resource-efficient and congestion-reducing than the driverless option. There are certain technologies that, when just announced and far from market-ready, make me excited for their introduction, and driverless cars just aren’t one of them. iPad & iPhone was one of them, Apple Watch never was, for me, for example.

 

[sinsin07]

Would love to see how driver-less technology handles gaping potholes on the BQE, the I95 from Whitestone to Rye or Cross Bronx Expressway.

Some of these potholes have water swirling around in them so it's anyone's guess how deep they are.

 

[Ronald Stein]

New regulations that allow driverless autonomous cars to be tested on California roads were officially approved by the California Office of Administrative Law on Monday, reports the San Francisco Examiner.

Starting on April 2, companies in the Bay Area that are working on self-driving vehicle technology will be able to deploy cars that do not have a driver behind the wheel. The new autonomous vehicle regulations have been under review since January 11, but were green lit this morning.

The news is of interest as Apple is one of more than 50 companies testing self-driving vehicle technology in the Bay Area. For almost a year now, Apple has been testing autonomous driving software in a series of 2015 Lexus RX450h SUVs, which can often be seen on the streets surrounding its Cupertino headquarters.

While little has been said about Apple's testing efforts in recent months, the company was spotted using new LIDAR equipment in August of 2017, and as of January 2018, Apple has 27 vehicles running autonomous driving software, up from the three it started with last year.

With the new regulations in place, Apple can potentially apply for a new deployment permit with the California DMV that would allow it to test its software sans drivers. It's not known, however, if Apple is ready for that kind of advanced testing.

While California is allowing companies to deploy and test fully autonomous driverless cars, a "communication link" must be maintained between the testing vehicle and remote operators. All remote vehicle operators must monitor the status of driverless vehicles at all times and be ready to step in should the vehicle experience "failures that would endanger the safety of the vehicle's passengers or other road users." Cars must be protected from cyberattacks and must also be able to transmit information in the event of a crash.

Companies must also certify that a vehicle is capable of operating without the presence of a driver and develop a "law enforcement interaction plan" to be provided to the California Highway Patrol.

Should Apple choose to take advantage of the new policies, the company will need to obtain a permit from the California DMV, and granted permits are made available to the public. So should Apple opt for this route, it won't be able to keep its work secret. These kinds of regulations have already spurred Apple CEO Tim Cook to confirm the company's work on autonomous systems.

"We're focusing on autonomous systems. It's a core technology that we view as very important. We sort of see it as the mother of all AI projects. It's probably one of the most difficult AI projects actually to work on," Cook said back in June of 2017.

Some other states have already adopted more relaxed rules that allow companies to deploy autonomous vehicles without drivers. In Arizona, for example, Google-owned company Waymo is already operating autonomous minivans sans safety driver.

Article Link: Driverless Autonomous Cars Can Now Be Tested in California

Are driverless cars only for fair weather states? How do they navigate with snow on the road or when sea gulls muddy up the sensor lenses?

 

[gnipgnop]

Talking about driverless cars, not Uber.

No, it wasn't just specific to driverless cars.

https://www.ted.com/talks/travis_ka...ussion?referrer=playlist-the_economy_of_trust

http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/16/technology/uber-travis-kalanick/index.html

And now you also have these companies proposing set routes where the cars just go around in circles and don't necessarily drop you off exactly at your location (like a bus). Imagine what that's going to be like for congestion.

 

[BruceEBonus]

These are going to be big in Disneyland and in fact any theme park. But On UK roads? Not so much.

I was told 50years ago we were going to lead lives of luxury as our robotic AI friends would do all the work. I love that story.

So far they've switched the lights on and the central heating.

Meantime if we haven’t even planned for a cycling inferstructure in this country (and never will) what then the chances for a driverless future? Ha! The driver-ed roads are lamentable now.

Nice idea. But when REALITY kicks in = Nice idea.

Now. Pass me the plans for that house cleaning robot again ....

 

[npmacuser5]

Read a very interesting article, autonomous cars cannot handle car washes. So all these engineers need to do is solve the car wash problems, good to go. Just setup a few cars washes, if the atonomous car comes out the other side and still working, ready for the street. Perfectly public safe testing by the way.

 

[lkrupp]

Oh yes, I miss both of those things, including the VGA port and parallel/serial ports!

Francis, nobody, including myself, is asking Apple to listen to focus groups. If, as you sound, you believe every decision Apple ever makes is unquestionably acceptable, then I guess we have nothing to discuss, as you could not possibly be convinced to even consider that, perhaps, eliminating MagSafe, for example, is a dumb, forced change-for-the-sake-of-change “design improvement for customers who obviously don’t know what they want,” which, I would predict, most customers would prefer to have back if they could.

What my post has to do with self driving cars: this article is about Apple and self driving cars. My ongoing concern is how Apple hides behind the supposed “inability to please all customers” when it throws Hail Mary controversial design changes for the sake of change. So, to help sell my agenda, I made a funny in regards to self driving cars. Does that help break it down into digestible terms? I’ll assume the people who liked my post get in agree with my message. So I’m not the only one watching with tentative, doubting, squinting eyes as Apple enters into truly big dollar consumer products.

Well it’s same old tired argument. Don’t change anything until I, the consumer, am ready. I’m still using my ten year old Mac so Apple better make sure I get security updates and patches until I’m darned good and ready to buy something else. USB-C is okay as long as you keep the standard USB ports too until I’m darned good and ready to buy something else. Or else I’m looking with “tentative, doubting, squinting eyes” at going to the competition. Guess what? Apple doesn’t care, never has cared, from ADB and SCSI, NuBus, to doing away with DVDs before consumers were “ready” for it. And Apple is doing quite well with that way of doing business.

 

[marco114]

When one of these cars kill someone, I hope the company is just as accountable as a person behind the wheel.