Self-Driving Vehicles
#736
#737
#738
I'm not, because I'm like the guy in the direct TV commercial. When I see a diminutive car that peasants drive, and it says "Student Driver," and "I have less than 10 hours behind the wheel," I make sure I am in front of it and feel happy when it rear ends me at an intersection...
#739
I'm not, because I'm like the guy in the direct TV commercial. When I see a diminutive car that peasants drive, and it says "Student Driver," and "I have less than 10 hours behind the wheel," I make sure I am in front of it and feel happy when it rear ends me at an intersection...
#740
on another note, Nvidia is coming out with a self-driving simulator: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/nv...tor-2018-03-27
one step forward, two steps back?? Google has how many miles on their self driving cars?
one step forward, two steps back?? Google has how many miles on their self driving cars?
#741
Irrelevant to the tech that might have avoided the incident yes, but entirely relevant to how the footage misrepresented how a human driver would have seen the scene - as at the onset, many characterized the pedestrian as having "jumped out of the shadows" based on the recording camera's footage, and hence assessed the crash as "unavoidable" - even if the human driver were paying attention. Like you posted earlier, we'll see what the investigation produces - but I think it's unlikely the human driver will be held harmless in this case.
#742
The driverless tech industry is distancing itself from the Uber crash. IMO it's not necessarily a question of being a Luddite vs promoting the tech - its a question of how Uber is using all of these technologies together.
Source
Aptiv and Mobileye also speaking publicly now.
Lidar maker Velodyne has put out a statement concerning the fatal accident between an Uber autonomous vehicle and a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona, last week. Uber's self-driving Volvo XC90 uses a Velodyne lidar (light detection and range) unit, said to be an HDL-64E. That model has a 360-degree field-of-view and a 120-meter range, so one of the big questions has been why didn't the lasers (or the 360-degree radar) pick up pedestrian Elaine Herzberg before the vehicle hit her.
Velodyne president Marta Thoma Hall told Bloomberg, "We are as baffled as anyone else. Certainly, our lidar is capable of clearly imaging Elaine and her bicycle in this situation. However, our lidar doesn't make the decision to put on the brakes or get out of her way."
The company, which supplies lidar units to a number of tech firms testing autonomous cars, wants to make sure its equipment isn't blamed for the crash. The accident took place around 10 p.m., and in fact, lidar works better at night than during the day because the lasers won't suffer any interference from daylight reflections...
Thoma Hall's comments have been about clarifying a lidar array's role in the driving task; namely, that even when the lasers detect an object, "it is up to the rest of the system to interpret and use the data to make decisions. We do not know how the Uber system of decision-making works." If Uber's software doesn't process the data properly, then it doesn't matter what the lasers register.
Velodyne president Marta Thoma Hall told Bloomberg, "We are as baffled as anyone else. Certainly, our lidar is capable of clearly imaging Elaine and her bicycle in this situation. However, our lidar doesn't make the decision to put on the brakes or get out of her way."
The company, which supplies lidar units to a number of tech firms testing autonomous cars, wants to make sure its equipment isn't blamed for the crash. The accident took place around 10 p.m., and in fact, lidar works better at night than during the day because the lasers won't suffer any interference from daylight reflections...
Thoma Hall's comments have been about clarifying a lidar array's role in the driving task; namely, that even when the lasers detect an object, "it is up to the rest of the system to interpret and use the data to make decisions. We do not know how the Uber system of decision-making works." If Uber's software doesn't process the data properly, then it doesn't matter what the lasers register.
Aptiv and Mobileye also speaking publicly now.
Aptiv is speaking up for its technology to avoid being tainted by the fatality involving Uber, which may have been following standard practice by disabling other tech as it develops and tests its own autonomous driving system.
Experts who saw video of the Uber crash pointed to apparent failures in Uber's sensor system, which failed to stop or slow the car as 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg crossed a street pushing a bicycle... The driverless technology industry has tried in recent days to separate itself from the Uber fatality.
Intel Corp.'s Mobileye, which makes chips and sensors used in collision-avoidance systems and is a supplier to Aptiv, which helps power the Volvo XC90's driver-assistance system, said Monday that it tested its own software after the crash by playing a video of the Uber incident on a television monitor.
Mobileye said it was able to detect Herzberg one second before impact in its internal tests, despite the poor secondhand quality of the video relative to a direct connection to cameras equipped to the car.
Experts who saw video of the Uber crash pointed to apparent failures in Uber's sensor system, which failed to stop or slow the car as 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg crossed a street pushing a bicycle... The driverless technology industry has tried in recent days to separate itself from the Uber fatality.
Intel Corp.'s Mobileye, which makes chips and sensors used in collision-avoidance systems and is a supplier to Aptiv, which helps power the Volvo XC90's driver-assistance system, said Monday that it tested its own software after the crash by playing a video of the Uber incident on a television monitor.
Mobileye said it was able to detect Herzberg one second before impact in its internal tests, despite the poor secondhand quality of the video relative to a direct connection to cameras equipped to the car.
#744
I wonder if the Tesla crash will be attributed to autopilot, or not? If it is, would that fall under self-driving, or not? And are we delving into the concept of being distracted...at least Wall St. is not happy and Tesla is below its 52-wk low
#745
#746
Uber disabled the Volvo safety systems (in order to test its own software) and also used a single Lidar. Uber's previous vehicles, Ford Fusions, used at least 6-7 Lidars. The XCs Lidar sits higher up on the vehicle because the vehicle sits higher, and apparently could have had a blind spot. It's aimed higher by the nature that it's sitting on a taller vehicle's roof.
Basically, there won't be one single cause of this. Aviation accidents have shown this over and over again. A single factor triggers a subsequent chain of events which leads to the tragedy. That's likely what the exhaustive investigation by the NTSB will show at some point.
The trigger: a jaywalking person who expects an oncoming vehicle to spot her and slow down. She never knew it was an autonomous car.
The error: a driver who is fatigued and has been driving around autonomously for hours and hours, and looks down at a device at the precisely wrong time.
The failure: a system that could not see the whole picture properly. Did it see feet, the spokes of a bicycle or even a person? Why could it not recognize what was happening or about to happen? If it didn't alert soon enough, it did not see who was walking across the road.
Basically, there won't be one single cause of this. Aviation accidents have shown this over and over again. A single factor triggers a subsequent chain of events which leads to the tragedy. That's likely what the exhaustive investigation by the NTSB will show at some point.
The trigger: a jaywalking person who expects an oncoming vehicle to spot her and slow down. She never knew it was an autonomous car.
The error: a driver who is fatigued and has been driving around autonomously for hours and hours, and looks down at a device at the precisely wrong time.
The failure: a system that could not see the whole picture properly. Did it see feet, the spokes of a bicycle or even a person? Why could it not recognize what was happening or about to happen? If it didn't alert soon enough, it did not see who was walking across the road.
#747
Uber reaches settlement with family of autonomous vehicle victim
TEMPE, Ariz. (Reuters) - The family of a woman killed by an Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] self-driving vehicle in Arizona has reached a settlement with the ride services company, ending a potential legal battle over the first fatality caused by an autonomous vehicle.
Cristina Perez Hesano, attorney with the firm of Bellah Perez in Glendale, Arizona, said “the matter has been resolved” between Uber and the daughter and husband of Elaine Herzberg, 49, who died after being hit by an Uber self-driving SUV in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe earlier this month.
The terms of the settlement were not given. The law firm representing Herzberg’s daughter and husband, whose names were not disclosed, said they would have no further comment on the matter as they considered it resolved.
An Uber spokeswoman declined to comment.
The fallout from the accident could stall the development and testing of self-driving vehicles, designed to eventually perform far better than human drivers and to sharply reduce the number of motor vehicle fatalities that occur each year.
Uber has suspended its testing in the wake of the incident. Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) and chipmaker Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) have also suspended self-driving car testing on public roads, as they and other companies await the results of an investigation into the Tempe incident, believed to be the first death of a pedestrian struck by a self-driving vehicle.
Uber does not use the self-driving platform architecture of Nvidia, the chipmaker’s Chief Executive Jensen Huang said on Wednesday.
The March 18 fatality near downtown Tempe also presents an unprecedented liability challenge because self-driving vehicles, which are still in the development stage, involve a complex system of hardware and software often made by outside suppliers.
Herzberg was walking her bicycle outside the crosswalk on a four-lane road when she was struck. Video footage from a dash-mounted camera inside the vehicle, released by Tempe police, showed the SUV traveling along a dark street when the headlights suddenly illuminated Herzberg in front of the SUV.
Other footage showed that in the seconds before the accident, the human driver who was behind the wheel was mostly looking down and not at the road.
Cristina Perez Hesano, attorney with the firm of Bellah Perez in Glendale, Arizona, said “the matter has been resolved” between Uber and the daughter and husband of Elaine Herzberg, 49, who died after being hit by an Uber self-driving SUV in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe earlier this month.
The terms of the settlement were not given. The law firm representing Herzberg’s daughter and husband, whose names were not disclosed, said they would have no further comment on the matter as they considered it resolved.
An Uber spokeswoman declined to comment.
The fallout from the accident could stall the development and testing of self-driving vehicles, designed to eventually perform far better than human drivers and to sharply reduce the number of motor vehicle fatalities that occur each year.
Uber has suspended its testing in the wake of the incident. Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) and chipmaker Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) have also suspended self-driving car testing on public roads, as they and other companies await the results of an investigation into the Tempe incident, believed to be the first death of a pedestrian struck by a self-driving vehicle.
Uber does not use the self-driving platform architecture of Nvidia, the chipmaker’s Chief Executive Jensen Huang said on Wednesday.
The March 18 fatality near downtown Tempe also presents an unprecedented liability challenge because self-driving vehicles, which are still in the development stage, involve a complex system of hardware and software often made by outside suppliers.
Herzberg was walking her bicycle outside the crosswalk on a four-lane road when she was struck. Video footage from a dash-mounted camera inside the vehicle, released by Tempe police, showed the SUV traveling along a dark street when the headlights suddenly illuminated Herzberg in front of the SUV.
Other footage showed that in the seconds before the accident, the human driver who was behind the wheel was mostly looking down and not at the road.
#749
#750