Troy Bynoe Blog

Executive Summary

I believe that history and present day innovations and events have made a significant progression towards a future that will usher in a new mode of transportation. Automotive and IT companies all over the world are collaborating to develop programs that will produce or already have produced self-driving cars also known as autonomous cars or automated vehicles.

Vehicle automation involves the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) which controls the guidance system of the car. AI in itself is a captivating science that has had and continues to have an enormous impact on human imagination, ranging from Egyptian mythology to Science Fiction. The philosophy behind the creating of a human likeness to possess the ability to think and reason is at the heart of artificial intelligence and is exemplified both by popular 19^th century fictional characters like Frankenstein and current scientific developments like IBM’s Watson.

Vehicles that drive themselves will become a common place in the world of transportation and IT will be the driving force that makes this seemingly bizarre science experiment a reality. It is because of our desire to fulfill our human indulgence to design intelligence and essentially create human likenesses that makes vehicle automation by far one of the most significant developments in human history.

IT: The Driving Force behind the Autonomous Car

The application of information technology to automobiles is a process that has been in play for quite some time now and has utilized artificial intelligence to assist in its control of the vehicle. Some examples of this technology range from a variety of ground, air and submersible vehicles that are either fully autonomous or semi-autonomous. An example of a semi-autonomous ground vehicle would be the Free-ranging on grid (FROG) system that was designed in 1999 to operate as a public transport to connect the Rivium business park in Capelle aan den IJssel with the neighboring city of Rotterdam [1]. This system consists of a magnetic track and a computer guidance system that controls the transport vehicle. An example of a submersible autonomous vehicle would be an Autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) which is basically a robot that is used to explore underwater without the input from a human operator. These vehicles have many uses in marine biology and assist scientists in a variety of their research tasks. An example of an automated aircraft is of course the one with the most familiarity to everyone and that is autopilot which is especially noted for its navigational capabilities. But the most interesting applications of information technology to vehicles in recent times have been put towards the autonomous car. Auto makers from all over the world seem to be betting on the autonomous car to be the car of the future.

The big negative, as it goes for any new information systems integration, are the significant development cost factors coupled with the tentative or slow public acceptance of the new technology. A new societally accepted autonomous car system would also result in fewer jobs for public sector workers such as taxi drivers, parking attendants, meter maids and bus drivers because an autonomous car could essentially circle a block after dropping its owner off or be scheduled to return to a drop off point as needed.

However the pros far outweigh the cons in the autonomous car design. Overall the advantages that societies can benefit from are enormous; among which are guaranteed fewer crashes due to the automated design factor compared to human error; reduction in fuel and resulting pollutants; reduction in required parking space; better managed flow of traffic which reduces road congestion; increased freedom of movement for the disabled and minors and autonomous cars would also have the ability to electronically communicate with other autonomous cars on the road and therefore reduce the need for road signage.

In 1939 the world saw the first inkling of the autonomous car by Norman Bel Geddes at the Futurama exhibit sponsored by General Motors where electric cars were guided by circuit embedded roadways and radio control[2]. Then from 1980 to 1996 saw an increased interest and development of the technology from U.S. and European Universities and governments including; a vision-guided Mercedes-Benz robotic van, designed by Ernst Dickmanns and his team at the Bundeswehr University Munich in Munich, Germany that achieved 100 km/h on streets without traffic and later received funding from the European Commission of €800 million. HRL Laboratories (formerly Hughes Research Labs) demonstrated the first off-road map and sensor-based autonomous navigation on the ALV. The vehicle travelled over 600m at 3 km/h on complex terrain with steep slopes, ravines, large rocks, and vegetation. Autonomous driving was then demonstrated in free lane testing by Daimler-Benz and Ernst Dickmanns who drove more than one thousand kilometers on a Paris three-lane highway in standard heavy traffic at speeds up to 130 km/h. A year later Dickmanns´ re-engineered autonomous S-Class Mercedes-Benz later topped speeds of up to 175km/h. The U.S. military has also been involved in developments that have produced autonomous vehicles that can navigate over rugged terrain. Rio Tino Alcan has been developing and testing autonomous haulage system and promises to produce an entire fleet of driverless trucks in the coming years. In 2008, General Motors has stated that they will begin testing driverless cars by 2015, and they could be on the road by 2018[3]. However Audi and Mercedes could beat GM to the punch with their 2013 models which will feature moderate speed autonomous driving systems that will drive themselves through slow-moving traffic jams[4][5].

In February of 2012, the procedure for licensing autonomous cars was approved by the State of Nevada; and it was Google who received the first license of its kind in May of 2012[6]. Google wasted no time in testing its laser turret equipped Toyota Prius on the busy highways and rural areas of Carson City and Las Vegas strip[7] and proved to the Autonomous Review Committee and the world that the vehicle was safe and that the driver-less technology was rapidly progressing in the right direction. It has not just been Nevada who has been lobbying for the licensing of the self-driving technology but other U.S. States like California and countries all over the world. The overwhelming demand and adoption of this new technological application by governments and society marks a significant turning point in how we as human beings will perceive our relationship with automotive vehicles in the future.

Even though the autonomous or self-driving car may sound very intriguing many countries are focusing on the lesser of the research intensive designs and developing projects focused on semi-autonomous car systems. RUF which stands for Rapid Urban Flexible is a Denmark project development that seeks to revolutionize a personalized light rapid transit system. In this clever design scenario the driver first programs the RUF to know its destination. The information is then transferred to the system as the vehicle approaches the monorail. The system guides the vehicle to enter the guiderail at 30km/h[8]. Then the system takes over completely and allows the driver to relax until it gets close to the driver’s destination and from there the driver can take over control again and continue on manually to his destination. This is a brilliant design because it solves many problems that any typical urban environment contends with every day. One – unlike traditional subway or Light Rail systems the RUF can cover widespread cities making transportation more efficient for commuters. Two – commuters do not have to squeeze into large trains but instead can travel in their own private car. Three – due to the close coupling of vehicles, energy consumption can be reduced to less than one-third at 100km/h from individual traffic[9]. Four – since RUF is an electrical system, windmill and other forms of renewable energy can be used to power it, therefore creating a greener more sustainable system for the future. Five – RUF systems are very efficient on space and therefore make it easier to integrate alongside existing railways and highways. Other countries have adopted concepts of similar autonomous systems to the RUF like the BiWay (UK), ATN (New Zealand) and TriTrack (USA)[10] but have yet to gain enough private and government support to get their projects off the ground.

Governments and countries are faced with the legal conflicts posed by the driver-less car technology. If state laws presume to have a human being driving the vehicle[11] how does the law govern an artificial intelligent car? Governing bodies will have to write new laws to include these new vehicles into society. In Nevada, Google lobbied for two bills that allowed for self-driving vehicles to be driven on public roads. The first bill amended the electric vehicle bill and allows for the licensing and testing of autonomous vehicles. The second bill provides an exemption from the ban on cell phone use while sitting behind the wheel.

Google’s tenacity is a testament to how public and private business can influence such laws and begin to impose laws that support their own development, as long as those developments are in line with societal interests. As a society, what we need now is increased influence from other big business IT companies to follow the example set by Google; to have the courage to fulfill their role as the key developers of our “human likeness” in the future.