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Uber Expands Driverless-Car Push With Deal For 24,000 Volvos (bloomberg.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the autonomous-control-technology dept.

Uber agreed to buy 24,000 sport utility vehicles from Volvo to form a fleet of driverless autos. According to Bloomberg, "The XC90s, priced from $46,900 at U.S. dealers, will be delivered from 2019 to 2021 in the first commercial purchase by a ride-hailing provider." Uber will add its own sensors and software to permit pilot-less driving. From the report: Uber's order steps up efforts to replace human drivers, the biggest cost in its on-demand taxi service. The autonomous fleet is small compared with the more than 2 million people who drive for Uber but reflects dedication to the company's strategy of developing self-driving cars. "This new agreement puts us on a path toward mass-produced, self-driving vehicles at scale," Jeff Miller, Uber's head of auto alliances, told Bloomberg News. "The more people working on the problem, we'll get there faster and with better, safer, more reliable systems."

4 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. 2021? Maybe. by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I don't see self-driving cars without a "check driver" being legal in any (US) city where rideshare is popular by 2019 (in a year and 2 months). Still a lot of unanswered questions:
    (1) How to get them to deal with snow
    (2) Cyclists/pedestrians -- none of which behave like normal vehicles obeying traffic laws exactly.
    (3) Construction areas

    They also currently require very detailed mapping to work -- any truly autonomous vehicle should be able to take info from GPS, a general map of the street network, visual/IR/mmWave sensors, and street markings/signs in order to operate safely. Details of roads change too frequently (by the hour, sometimes) to be reliable.

  2. Do any of you people program? by Darkling-MHCN · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seriously reading through the majority of the comments that list inane things like "what about children crossing the road?", "what about cats and dogs?", "what if there's an ambulance?", "what if the road is blocked and there's construction work, how does GPS work then?"

    I mean seriously do you guys have no understanding of information systems?

    To those of you think driverless cars are too hard, and they can't possibly work, just watch, the only issues driverless cars will have will be trust, in the same way people trusted a horse and cart over a car 100 years ago.... The technology is already all here and those who understand it know that driverless cars will be safer and result in less congestion than roads filled with cars driven by people.

    Welcome to the 21st century.

    1. Re:Do any of you people program? by mjwx · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Seriously reading through the majority of the comments that list inane things like "what about children crossing the road?", "what about cats and dogs?", "what if there's an ambulance?", "what if the road is blocked and there's construction work, how does GPS work then?"

      These are not inane things. They are real issues that we already have to deal with and wont be going anywhere in 2 years.

      It continually astounds me that people think that these cars will automagically fix themselves in 2 years and be perfect and safe and give you all sunshine and fucking unicorns.

      And the best excuse that they can come up with is:

      I mean seriously do you guys have no understanding of information systems?

      With zero context... Information Systems covers a lot of technologies.

      I do have some knowledge of the technologies involved as I've worked in remote sensing for a number of years. RADAR and LIDAR are great technologies that fall victim to a few common problems, namely bad weather. LIDAR is terrible when it rains or snows because rain and snow have a high refractive index, LIDAR being based on light, tends to have issues with that. RADAR cant tell the difference between a leaf and a bollard. The state of the art systems installed into high end Mercs and BMW's are easily fooled by an overhanging branch.

      The problem you've got is sensory processing. It takes real processing power to take all these disparate sensing method (Image, IR, LIDAR/RADAR) and produce a clear picture of what is going on. Right now, to read features on a face against a grey background takes minutes with high speed computers, thats looking at something with a clear picture and a very narrow set of parameters. The thing Autonomous cars need to do to be at level 4 (we're currently at level 2) is to be able to make split second decisions on incomplete data. The car hasn't got time to process, cross-check and verify data. Thats why the classic dog/child running out on the road is used as an example, its something that is unpredictable but also needs to be fully expected to happen in real life.

      Computers, AI in particular is very good at handling great volumes of predictable data, a car with it's steeringwheel attendant glued to its phone is going to need to deal with unpredictable data. So by the time AI is advanced enough to let dopey Doris have an autonomus car, a great many other changes will have occurred first. The autonomous car is a long way off, in fact it may end up being this generations "flying car", however AI is far more likely to take over jobs that are based solely in applying rules to data, like legal and accounting services long before then. In fact we're going to see robot doctors long before robot cars.

      Now finally, there's a reason that these cars haven't been tested here in sunny Berkshire (that's in England), its because it rains for half the year, roads are narrow and overhanging branches are common. For your average Skinny Latte sipping California hipster marveling at how close autonomous cars are... this environment is unimaginable, they would describe it as hostile to life and wonder how anyone survives in such a cold and rainy environment (and for those Cali hipsters, this is sarcasm, Berkshire is tame to anything north of the Tyne... and we are nae even in Scotland yet).

      To those of you think driverless cars are too hard, and they can't possibly work, just watch,

      I will, I'll watch you become more and more disappointed that your fabled self-driving car remains "just a few years away".

      Now Volvo, they're some smart cookies, I'm sure they've gotten a contract where they don't actually have to deliver a level 5 car... or even a level 4 one and would even have crunched the numbers on Uber not even existing by then (so why not grab a slice of that sweet, sweet VC cash before the VC's realise they've been had).

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  3. so many problems by ixidor · · Score: 3, Insightful

    oh man so many problems with this. i drove uber "part time" 20-40 hours a week for 3 years, and with over 2500 rides, i have seen some shit. Like the drunk guy who got in, did not put in a home address, mumbled something that sounded like the name of a neighborhood, and passed out. when i got to what i thought was his neighborhood, woke him up for directions, how is an AI car going to do that. Had 3 people vomit in back seat, how do you monitor that? several times a group would get in, argue over where to go for dinner, and wound our way to what seemed like 3rd or 4th possible destination. or the times the passenger is 50-100 ft down the wrong way on a 1 way street, trying to get them to walk to the car could be comical, when they have absolutely no idea where they are or sense of direction. Will this new system have something to guide the cars on where to go when have downtime, to try to be in best spot for a pickup, or will system strive for a coverage map. or just knowing the city, and which way is best, even when gps says go another way. so much human element trying to get people places when they have no idea where to go. will need at a minimum live voice chat to a human to help running 24/7.