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Waymo Patent Shows Plans To Replace Steering Wheel, Pedals With Push Button (driverless.id)

Posted by BeauHD on from the go-go-gadget dept.

nesaefendija shares a report from Driverless: Waymo just received approval on a patent for a push-button console that replaces not only a steering wheel in a car but the brake and gas pedals, too. This reflects Alphabet's driverless arm could remain true to its original mantra of developing cars that pilot themselves without human intervention. In many ways, the push-button controls give the riders the same level of control you might have in an elevator, largely confined to just being able to make an emergency stop or to set the vehicle into motion by pressing the "GO" button.

61 of 96 comments (clear)

  1. New control by hackwrench · · Score: 2

    I want to decide how the car goes by drawing the route on a map display.

    1. Re:New control by Baron_Yam · · Score: 1

      I very much like that idea. Presumably something like the Google Maps interface, where you're shown multiple suggested routes ordered by your preferences, then you can drag points off-route if you wish.

      Assuming this is for a personal vehicle and not a self-driving taxi or rental, you'd probably also want to have it remember common destinations and routes for you.

      Now... how about the display being a large vertical panel between you and the windshield that turns opaque when it needs to be a touchscreen display (to pick your route or to watch a movie or something during your trip) and turns clear if you want to see the world outside?

    2. Re:New control by sycodon · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I WILL decide where the car goes by driving it myself.

      After rebooting my laptop twice today, I have no confidence in a computer to

      1. Take me where I want and...
      2. Do it safely.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    3. Re:New control by sycodon · · Score: 4, Informative

      Jet Airliners and Jet Fighters have someone in a cockpit. They have yokes and Sticks and can take control of the aircraft at anytime.

      Neither of them take off or land by themselves.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    4. Re: New control by ScottDB · · Score: 1

      Twice in one day!! - must be using Windows!!

    5. Re:New control by MrKaos · · Score: 1

      Jet Airliners and Jet Fighters have someone in a cockpit. They have yokes and Sticks and can take control of the aircraft at anytime.

      Neither of them take off or land by themselves.

      This is the reason that the astronauts wanted a manual control for the vehicle. Not having control of something before you die is not a problem you can solve as you are trying to avert a disaster.

      --
      My ism, it's full of beliefs.
    6. Re: New control by dougdonovan · · Score: 1

      this way the driver can concentrate on their smart phone while on the highway...cough, cough.

    7. Re:New control by Hylandr · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No for the love of God NO.

      For the sake of anyone that has been taken into bad areas and killed, or in Seattle where Google maps wants to take you off then back on I-5 in the middle of the city to going to the *completely* wrong place.

      Don't get me started on the worse ones like Bing and *shudder* apple.

      Do not tie these apps to an autonomous machine on public roads moving at lethal speeds without intelligent oversight in between. Don't even try and pretend that current "AI" or "machine Learning" is better than a human. All testing so far has been done under perfectly ideal conditions without having to account for degraded infrastructure or vandalized signs. ( https://www.bleepingcomputer.c... )

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    8. Re:New control by Baron_Yam · · Score: 1

      >Do not tie these apps to an autonomous machine on public roads moving at lethal speeds without intelligent oversight in between

      My comments on a potential interface were based on a magical world where unicorns fart rainbows and self-driving cars work reliably in all conditions.

      And I was talking about the style of interface, not the back-end algorithms and the data they work on.

    9. Re:New control by Hylandr · · Score: 1

      *I* understand what you meant but *please* stop putting ideas in these kids heads!

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    10. Re:New control by Visarga · · Score: 1

      Hey guys! I have an idea. Google should make an Android app where you drive a car on the map by tilting the phone. The real car should follow the same route. How's that for control?

    11. Re:New control by Visarga · · Score: 1

      Google might be able to make the self driving car but they still can't make Google Maps work right in 100% of routes. That means self driving cars driving into bad places.

    12. Re:New control by amiga3D · · Score: 1

      The last fighter to have actual cable control of flight surfaces is the F15. Everything since is fly by wire, lose the computers and you grab the handle and eject. I've seen an F15 lose all the electronics and basically turn into a very fast cessna running on VFR. The pilot followed I-75 at 5,000 feet to get to base.

    13. Re: New control by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      More than a few airliner crashes have been caused by human pilots overriding autopilot functions, where it would have been safe otherwise. Having manual controls is no guarantee of reduced disasters.

    14. Re: New control by Ralgha · · Score: 1

      Uncountable numbers of crashes have been AVERTED by the pilots overriding automation. Uncountable because most are never reported to anyone, ever.

      Did you know that we can, and do, fly airliners with the autopilot(s) inoperative? The passengers, and often even the flight attendants, never know.

    15. Re:New control by colin_young · · Score: 1

      Now... how about the display being a large vertical panel between you and the windshield that turns opaque when it needs to be a touchscreen display (to pick your route or to watch a movie or something during your trip) and turns clear if you want to see the world outside?

      We could also make it turn opaque when something outside might alarm you...

    16. Re:New control by MobyDisk · · Score: 2

      Jet Airliners and Jet Fighters...Neither of them take off or land by themselves.

      Actually, then do:

      Jet Airliners:
      Every major Jet Airliner must have an automatic land feature.

      Jet fighters:
      The F/A-18 Hornet and the EA-6 Prowler have it. Looks like it is used for carrier landings since they are so difficult. Ooh, so does the F-35. The experimented with it on the F-16

    17. Re: New control by Ralgha · · Score: 2

      That quora is full of bad information. Auto land is only a requirement for some CATIII approaches. You can certify CATIII hand flown as well, using a HUD.

      If an airplane is not certified for CATIII autoland, then its autopilot doesn't have to be capable of landing. Even if it is, the autopilot can be downgraded, it just can't do a CATIII autoland approach until the autopilot is fixed.

    18. Re: New control by lordlod · · Score: 1

      Uncountable numbers of crashes have been AVERTED by the pilots overriding automation. Uncountable because most are never reported to anyone, ever.

      Of course they are reported, every near miss in the first world airline industry is reported.

      When airline people talk about safety they do so with a huge amount of data backing them up, you can't just hand wave it away because it disagrees with you personal narrative.

    19. Re: New control by Ralgha · · Score: 1

      You don't know what you're talking about, I do it for a living. Every time the autopilot disconnects, every time it doesn't follow the course, every time that any minor failure happens, humans correct it. We don't report it because it HAPPENS EVERY DAY. The pilot doesn't tell you when something breaks or is inoperative, because we work around it and go so you can get where you're going.

      You have no idea, not the single slightest clue, what goes into it, so shut it.

    20. Re:New control by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      As you will surmise from your comment being modded up all the way, you are far from alone in thinking what you're thinking -- and we are also far from alone in the Real World on this subject, either. Based on anyone I've ever spoken to in the real, non-internet world, I don't see where anyone, young or old, will accept a so-called 'autonomous car' with no real controls for the human occupant. It's essentially being out of control of the thing your life depends on, and that's diametrically opposed to human nature. You either control the tool or it's not a tool. If you can't control it, it's a threat -- and a palpable, real one in this case; it screws up, someone dies. You step into an 'autonomous' car with no way to drive it yourself, you're giving up your choices -- and that's also counter to human nature. Imagine being strapped into a wheelchair, legs and arms zip-tied down so you can't get out of it, and you tell the complete stranger who is going to push you around where it is you want to go -- and then they put a ball-gag in your mouth so you can't speak anymore, and they may or may not take you where you wanted to go; how would that make you feel? Even on a rollercoaster, you know you're going to come back to where you started. If you knew ahead of time there was a palpable chance the rollercoaster would fail catastrophically and there was a 50/50 chance you'd be killed, would you get on it? If you got into a cab, and the driver stopped talking to you and wasn't taking you where you wanted to go, and you couldn't get the door open to jump out, how would you feel? Those are the closest analogies I've come up with for how a level-5 autonomous car would feel like. I really don't think anyone is going to actually accept such a thing.

    21. Re:New control by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      You are far from alone, friend, remember that.

    22. Re:New control by sycodon · · Score: 1

      Hydraulics.

      You can't fly an aircraft pulling 6 gs or flying supersonic with a fucking steel cable

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  2. Yaaaayyyyy!! by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 4, Funny

    An elevator with the Mac interface would have a single button, "There". After all, I'm already "Here". By all means, let's take that kind of thinking and apply it to several tons of metal with passengers aboard. What could possibly go wrong?

    1. Re:Yaaaayyyyy!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      What could possibly go wrong?

      Everyone onboard dies when the car's computer fails to avoid a collision a human could have given enough control.

      No, this needs to be said. We have too many people who think: "That won't happen because of the magic box! There won't be a reason to have a steering wheel because everyone will be drove around by the box and no-one will be in direct control of the vehicle. So there's no need to control it directly. Unless you want to cause a wreck that is."

      The reality is that only has a chance of working if there are no manually controlled vehicles on the road period. That reality also completely disregards the fact that an auto-drive system is a high value target for would be criminals, and would be abused. Leaving the victims no possible means to defend themselves, completely at the mercy of their captors for committing the greatest offense of "getting in a car".

      Good luck convincing these people of this though. They are blinded by the promise of greater convenience and can't see the real threat to their lives (and the lives of others) lurking underneath the surface. Nor do they want to.

    2. Re:Yaaaayyyyy!! by Neuronwelder · · Score: 1

      Yea, nothing like putting your life and family and people who unfortunately got in the way in the hands of a computer. Do they have: Any OTHER bright ideas?

    3. Re:Yaaaayyyyy!! by Sir+Lurkalot · · Score: 1

      Good post...

    4. Re:Yaaaayyyyy!! by Theaetetus · · Score: 1

      What could possibly go wrong?

      Everyone onboard dies when the car's computer fails to avoid a collision a human could have given enough control.

      Well, there is the big red "stop" button.

      No, this needs to be said. We have too many people who think: "That won't happen because of the magic box! There won't be a reason to have a steering wheel because everyone will be drove around by the box and no-one will be in direct control of the vehicle. So there's no need to control it directly."

      Well, there is the big red "stop" button.

      That reality also completely disregards the fact that an auto-drive system is a high value target for would be criminals, and would be abused. Leaving the victims no possible means to defend themselves, completely at the mercy of their captors for committing the greatest offense of "getting in a car".

      Well, there is the big red "stop" button.

    5. Re:Yaaaayyyyy!! by Hylandr · · Score: 1

      Well there's an interesting twist.

      Instead of finding someone to abduct off the street, hack their car and have them meet you out in the desert or some other remote place. Perhaps instruct their car to drive into a nearby warehouse and do what they will.

      Better and safer for all the criminals involved. No awkward screaming, fighting in public, nobody around to call the cops. Very clean.

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    6. Re:Yaaaayyyyy!! by Visarga · · Score: 1

      > The reality is that only has a chance of working if there are no manually controlled vehicles on the road period.

      I like an expert with firm predictions. Where did you get your self driving car PhD? You should be hired at the Amish Self Driving Vehicle (ASDV) project.

    7. Re: Yaaaayyyyy!! by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 1

      That was how I came up with the joke in the first place. A fellow-programmer friend and I were on an elevator in a two-story building, talking about how over-engineered the elevator was...

  3. So, basically... by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    ...it has about the same nuance of control over the car that the TOS console with its handful of buttons had over Kirk's starship. :)

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
    1. Re:So, basically... by freeze128 · · Score: 1

      He jettisoned the instrument pod, potentially killing a man!

  4. They're going to have just 1 little problem by rally2xs · · Score: 1

    Selling it to me...

  5. Because a button is better than a wheel by quonset · · Score: 4, Informative

    If these people truly believe their software and systems will never make a mistake, will never have a problem, will never be hacked, will be the perfect antidote for what ails us, they should be fired right now.

    The steering wheel and pedals are as simple as driving can be. Especially for how lazy the vast majority have become by driving automatic rather than manual gearboxes. What they are planning to do is increase the complexity which increases the chances for something to go wrong which increases the likelihood of problems.

    Simplicity is the key to everything. This is not simple.

    1. Re:Because a button is better than a wheel by Kjella · · Score: 1

      I think you might find that modern cars have massive complexity to present the driver with as simple an interface as possible. With electronic stabilization control, traction control systems, anti-lock braking systems etc. the wheels and pedals are now functions to say "I want to go faster/slower/left/right" with only moderate relation to what will physically happen. Not to mention all the other features like adaptive cruise control, lane assistance, red light stop assistance, collision detection, parking assistance and so on trying to take that away too. I doubt most young people would recognize a car in full mechanical mode, in fact I doubt a modern car wouldn't even run without the engine's electronic control systems.

      Now we're talking about introducing a helluva lot more complexity to present an even simpler interface, you tell it where you want to go with an emergency stop button. How is that not the ultimate culmination of what we've been trying to do? Will it be perfect? Probably not. But we don't need to suggest silly things like the GPS trying to send you on a road that doesn't exist, that happens today because the car has no sensors and doesn't know anything but what the map says. If that happens with an autonomous car it should recognize that there's no road markings, no road signs, simply no road at all. It shouldn't just drive off a cliff just because the GPS tells it to.

      Personally I think this patent is way premature though, which is why I'm glad it's filed now. Even if the first occasionally autonomous cars should show up on the road in a few years, having a car that'll deal with all road and weather conditions is many, many years away. That you'll have to tow it if a faulty sensor causes the autonomy to fail also seems like a terrible inconvenience. My guess is this patent will expire before such a thing is street legal, then we can all point to this as prior art.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  6. Prior art by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Every single sci-fi movie with autonomous vehicles ever

    How in the name of jesus christ and his seven dwarves can a button to control something be granted a patent in the 21st century?

  7. Last-decade tech. by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

    Push buttons are so 20th century. What happened to just speaking "take me to the store?" We can talk to so many of our cheap gadgets, why can't we do so in a very expensive one?

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    1. Re:Last-decade tech. by Rei · · Score: 1

      With the quality of today's speech recognition, you'd probably doze off and wake up at "ThisTorres - Corretora de Seguros" in Rio De Janeiro. ;)

      Or, the "Jesus Christ Supercop" version:

      Owner: "I'm looking for Nietzsche."
      Car: "How do you spell that?"
      Owner: "Exactly like it sounds. N-I-E-T-Z-S-C-H-E."
      Car: "I'm sorry, I'm not finding that person."
      Owner: "Try 'Father of Lies'. 'Lord of Darkness'. 'The Great Deceiver.' "
      Car: "I'm sorry, I'm not finding any of those names."
      Owner: "Son of a bitch...."
      Car: "I've found a 'Son of a bitch' on 5th and Clemson...."

      -----

      GPS already leads people astray without voice recognition and self driving. Here in Iceland we had a tourist who was supposed to be staying at a hotel on Laugavegur, a main street in downtown Reykjavík, but instead they punched "Laugarvegur" into their GPS and ended up in Siglufjörður, a little fishing village 4 1/2 hours away ;) I can only imagine what he was thinking during that drive.... "Man, the airport is waaaay out of town!" ;)

      --
      Ever since, I've been suspicious of Jesus and very careful around chlorine.
    2. Re:Last-decade tech. by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      So how is this anything but a user error? As compared to, say, "take me to the hotel on Laugavegur?"

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    3. Re:Last-decade tech. by PPH · · Score: 1

      Open the pod bay doors.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    4. Re:Last-decade tech. by Visarga · · Score: 1

      > Push buttons are so 20th century.

      Yep. They should integrate voice recognition. When passengers start yelling at the top of their lungs, the car should safely pull over. Hands-free!

    5. Re:Last-decade tech. by Hylandr · · Score: 1

      This has already happened in Brazil

      http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/05/...

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    6. Re:Last-decade tech. by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      No, I expect the speech recognition to recognize the word "hotel", and when it doesn't recognize the word "Lagavegur," to offer a list of options and locations, starting with the closest hotel that sounds like it begins with the sound "la".. His mistake wouldn't have happened with a voice recognition system.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  8. Re:It's a Design Patent by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 1

    I don't think controlling something with buttons should warrant a patent no matter what it is. This is the type of crap that will have automakers and trolls suing each other. The control concept itself is something easy to pull off. The actual vehicle that can accept those controls and execute safely is another matter, and that doesn't exist yet.

  9. When Bad UI Design Kills by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    http://www.core77.com/posts/54...

  10. A patent? Seriously? by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    How the bleep do you patent an emergency stop button. The drill press in my shop class had one in 1990.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:A patent? Seriously? by 4wdloop · · Score: 1

      drill != car
      It's not the problem with the patent but with the patent law.

      --
      4wdloop
  11. What? by dohzer · · Score: 1

    What's a Waymo?

    1. Re:What? by Visarga · · Score: 1

      It's a smart name, on par with "Google" which was initially meant to be Gogol (10^100). Waymo is "the WAY towards MObility" or something. Very smart name, indeed.

    2. Re:What? by fox171171 · · Score: 1

      How much does it cost compared to a regular vehicle? Waymo.
      How much more can go wrong? Waymo.

    3. Re:What? by goose-incarnated · · Score: 1

      What's a Waymo?

      A car for people who don't diet anymore

      --
      I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
  12. Re:That's too complicated by freeze128 · · Score: 1

    Because that's called a train.

  13. Sounds like lots of towing by HalAtWork · · Score: 1

    No manual option means if the car does anything wrong, you can't take over at any point, you can only turn it off or pray you make it and then get it towed

    --
    Twinstiq, game news
  14. Re:a real car by PPH · · Score: 1

    and three pedals.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  15. Design patent by Theaetetus · · Score: 1

    This is for a specific design for a center console. They didn't really patent 'using a single button'.

  16. Re:a real car by mrbester · · Score: 1

    Judging by the way people drive, a steering wheel is still optional

    --
    "Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
  17. Trouble ahead. by sethstorm · · Score: 1

    I'll keep to the steering wheel and pedals.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
  18. Re:a real car by ChatHuant · · Score: 1

    And for those driving two seat/six gears in particular, they can remove the turn signals completely...

  19. Re:a real car by mrbester · · Score: 1

    And the mirrors showing what's behind you. After all, you've just been there and know what it looked like. If you wanted to see it again, you'd turn around and maybe park up so you could see it again for longer, but who has that kind of time?

    --
    "Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
  20. A button for Stop, and a button for Go by n329619 · · Score: 1

    Now all they need is movement arrows and it'll look just like a game controller.