By some estimates, we should have been relaxing in our autonomous cars by now. But that dream keeps getting pushed back, and Fast Company says they know why: Basic human nature.
Developers tend to assume that people can “partially” pay attention while using a “semiautonomous” car. Levels 2-4 describe certain amounts of autonomy that the vehicles can achieve, but always with the caveat that the driver needs to be ready to take control.
But people don’t behave that way in the car. They either they pay attention, or they don’t. In fact, test drivers of various autonomous vehicles have told me that it’s actually harder for a human to remain ready to take control than it is for them to fully control the vehicle.
The article explains that human reaction time isn’t good enough to wrest control away from a computer quickly enough to avoid accidents, which has made almost-autonomous vehicles–an anticipated stepping stone to full autonomous driving–nearly impossible.
Twelve-passenger, driverless buses will hit real roads in Gainesville, Fla., later this year, marking the first time autonomous shuttles travel among other traffic in the U.S.
Fleets of self-driving vehicles are about to become the norm. What does that mean for the parking and mobility industry? We’ll give you a hint: They’re driverless. Autonomous vehicles will change the fundamentals of the entire transportation landscape, and that includes fleets–and the way they interact with parking and mobility facilities and infrastructure.
By David M. Feehan
Signs that change messages as curb demand flexes, autonomous school buses that also deliver packages, car-free downtown cores, and friendly delivery robots are among the revelations a prominent futurist predicts for urban mobility in the not-too-distant future.
Driverless shuttles are on the road in Reston, Va., a suburb of Washington, D.C., and while things are going pretty well so far, the pilot has also highlighted why driverless cars may still be some time away.
We’ve all heard about the LIDAR and sensor and road-following technology in development so cars can learn to drive themselves. As it turns out, that might include new lane-marking tape, and a Canadian company is already on top of it.
In what many believe is a step toward a greater role in mobility, automaker Ford this week acquired Journey Holding Corporation, which develops intelligent transportation software, and Quantum Signal AI, which develops robotics–notably a testing simulator for artificial intelligence (AI) systems; it develops systems for the U.S. military. Ford said the buys will help advance its Transportation as a Service (TaaS) platform.
Autonomous vehicles (AVs) will reduce the demand for parking in cities. Or they might increase it, depending. Same for the need for driving lanes, which affect the availability of bike lanes and pedestrian pathways. They might make cities more–or less–walkable, too.