A Robo-Car Just Drove Across the Country

Press2ToContinue writes with this news from Wired: Nine days after leaving San Francisco, a blue car packed with tech from a company you've probably never heard of rolled into New York City after crossing 15 states and 3,400 miles to make history. The car did 99 percent of the driving on its own, yielding to the carbon-based life form behind the wheel only when it was time to leave the highway and hit city streets. This amazing feat, by the automotive supplier Delphi, underscores the great leaps this technology has taken in recent years, and just how close it is to becoming a part of our lives. Yes, many regulatory and legislative questions must be answered, and it remains to be seen whether consumers are ready to cede control of their cars, but the hardware is, without doubt, up to the task." That last one percent is a bear, though.

Comments

I wonder

[justthinkit]

I wonder what long distance truck drivers are thinking right about now.

Re:I wonder

[DrunkenTerror]

"I bet no one will miss that ugly pale one. Damn, she kinda looks like a man. She'll do."

Re:I wonder

[Anonymous Coward]

That they'll get plenty of sleep for 90% of the trip, until they need to hit city streets.

Re:I wonder

[slack_justyb]

Most truck drivers already know the writing is on the wall. The older ones could not care less, they'll be off the road for good before there is enough states stitched together to make any usable routes. The younger ones don't care either, they barely like their job to begin with and anything that makes their life less stressful all the better.

And all of that cycles around the fact that it'll be a long time before someone in some state's capital let's 80,000 pounds just roll down the road unsupervised. Most truck drivers are pretty convinced that their jobs will just turn into watching a machine roll down the road, and sign the paperwork when that machine runs into something.

Also, besides the obvious state law stuff that needs to get passed. Security will need to be addressed as well. There already is a problem with semis that are not automatic and they have a human watching the goods for a majority of the time. Imagine a semi just rolling down the street and someone decides to flatten the tires with a spike strip. Yeah, an alarm might go off, but the thieves will be long gone with the goods by the time anyone gets to the disabled machine.

Re:I wonder

[Anubis IV]

Well, there are a few problems that crop up if you don't have someone along for the bulk of the ride:
1) Who refuels it?
2) Whose job is it to prevent the cargo from being stolen?
3) Who ensures that the cargo remains properly secured?
4) Who is legally responsible if the cargo is unsecured?
5) Who answers questions at weigh stations?
6) Who gives the okay to start driving again after someone crashes into it?

Some of those can obviously be dealt with easily, others not so much, especially when it comes to questions of legal liability and providing sufficient (dis)incentives to ensure the public's well-being.

Re:I wonder

[ShanghaiBill]

1) Who refuels it?

The folks at the truck stop, who have a contract with the trucking company.

2) Whose job is it to prevent the cargo from being stolen?

Two people are responsible: The guy who puts the padlock on the back of the trailer, and the guy who checks the cameras when a breach is detected.

4) Who is legally responsible if the cargo is unsecured?

The insurance company

5) Who answers questions at weigh stations?

The guy at the other end of the phone call.

6) Who gives the okay to start driving again after someone crashes into it?

After a collision, I think a human would show up to deal with the situation.

Re:I wonder

[CODiNE]

Short term solution: experienced driver in the lead truck responsible for the 2-5 following him. Much simpler driving for the automatic ones, and a real human there for taking care of problems.

Re:I wonder

[Anubis IV]

So, I want to be clear about my intent here. I'm not trying to suggest that driver-less trucks are infeasible. On the contrary, I agree with what I would assume is your belief as well: that driver-less trucks will be the future. I'm merely pointing out that the problem is much harder than you're giving it credit for. Moreover, your latest response is trivializing a complicated situation by suggesting that a handful of trite answers are sufficient to address it.

For instance, we currently lack a nationwide network of stations that offer full-service for your trucks. It's certainly doable, but so far as I know it's not currently in place, and that's one of the simpler problems to address.

Your notion that a padlock and camera is sufficient to deter theft falls apart when we consider all of the flatbed trailers out there, or the fact that we live in a world where bolt cutters and masks exist. As it is, I see flatbeds loaded with lumber, steel pipes, and all manner of other material go by regularly, with the only things stopping me from stealing them being a trucker and my sense of what's right.

And I wasn't talking about who pays for lost cargo when I asked about unsecured loads (yes, that would be the insurer). I was asking who gets charged with manslaughter when the aforementioned steel pipes come loose and impale the passengers in the car following your truck. My family once had to swerve around one of these tires after it came loose from a flatbed. Trucks are pulled over all the time for violations in properly securing their loads, and that's despite the fact that the driver is currently held legally responsible for it. Heaven help us if it's a corporate drone three states removed who may or may not be traceable.

And what phone numbers would the folks at the weigh station call? Do we require trucking companies to register themselves in a national database, or do we just let them paint it on the side of the truck? Who do they call if the paint has faded? How do they tell the truck to pull off to the side of the weigh station while they wait for a human to arrive to deal with any problems that can't be answered over the phone?

Again, I agree that all of these issues are solvable, but suggesting that your trite answers are sufficient is doing a disservice to the people working on the technological, political, and economic issues surrounding the subject.

Also happened in 1995

[Anonymous Coward]

CMU had a car drive itself across America in 1995, 98% autonomously:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~tjochem/nhaa/Journal.html

Re:Also happened in 1995

[jaak]

The 1995 CMU vehicle was sponsored by Delco Electronics which, two years later, became part of Delphi (which engineered the car in this story).

Re:Also happened in 1995

[ShanghaiBill]

And in all that time they still cannot make a car that can drive itself in inclement weather

Not everyone has weather. I live in California. It doesn't snow here, and a few years ago, it stopped raining as well.

When hype turn to Tripe.

[jklovanc]

Lane following is one of the simplest things for vehicle technology to do. All it does is follows the lane lines and keeps a speed/ or minimum distance from the vehicle in front. I bet every time they had to change highways the driver took over. Also notice it was not raining heavily, snowing or recently snowed in the trip. Current technology has problems in those cases. Comparing lane following to autonomous driving is like comparing algebra to calculus.

Disagree

[Giant Electronic Bra]

Most drivers accidents are in places they are familiar with. Its not entirely clear if this is simply due to mostly driving in such places, but it is commonly asserted that over familiarity often leads to inattention. I know this is true for me, and so presumably for many others. The fact remains, human drivers have a high error rate, and so far all the automated driving systems being tested in the US fall far below that number, even given that they drive in controlled circumstances.