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Toyota will offer rides in self-driving cars at the Tokyo Olympics
Testing will take place in the Odaiba district between July and September.
https://www.engadget.com/2019/10/24/toyota-self-driving-car-test-tokyo-olympics/

Hyundai will offer free self-driving rides in Irvine, California
https://www.engadget.com/2019/10/25/hyundai-botride-launches-in-irvine-november-4/
BotRide debuts in the city on November 4th.

Renault is testing an autonomous shared car service that can be hailed using a smartphone
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/14/renault-is-testing-an-autonomous-shared-car-service.html
The trial will last until November 8, with roughly 100 people using the service.

Renault, Waymo partner on potential self-driving route from Paris airport
https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/renault-waymo-partner-potential-self-driving-route-paris-airport
 
Waymo’s fully-automated shuttles are picking up riders around Phoenix
The company is offering 'rider only' trips to a few hundred users.
https://www.engadget.com/2019/10/28/waymo-rider-only-autonomous-taxis-phoenix/
 
As I wrote at https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=571854#p571854, I was something I saw at Tokyo Motor Show 2019 that was almost the opposite of current driver assist/"self driving" features.

-- begin quote --
One thing that surprised me was at Hino's booth, they showed a concept for an automated version of EDDS: https://www.hino-global.com/corp/news/2018/20180521.html. They want to detect via cameras if the driver of a bus becomes incapacitated (falls asleep or has some medical emergency) like if he's leaning heavily over to the side, has his head back, is slumped over the steering wheel, etc. You could get on a simulator there to try those things. If it detects one of these conditions, it puts the flashers on, I think makes noises and tries to find a safe place for the vehicle to automatically pull itself over to the side. I see that https://www.hino-global.com/products/safety/safety_system/ briefly touches on this.

I guess they figure this is a stepping stone to level 4 or 5 driving without needing a system like that to be ready.
-- end quote --

OT:
Uber self-driving vehicles involved in 37 crashes before fatal accident
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/05/uber-self-driving-vehicles-involved-in-37-crashes-before-fatal-crash.html
Uber Technologies’ autonomous test vehicles were involved in 37 crashes in the 18 months before a fatal March 2018 self-driving car incident, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Tuesday.
Of those crashes, 33 involved another vehicle striking test vehicles.
The NTSB will hold a probable cause hearing on the crash Nov. 19.


Uber self-driving car involved in fatal crash couldn't detect jaywalkers
The system had several serious software flaws, the NTSB said.
https://www.engadget.com/2019/11/06/uber-self-driving-car-fatal-accident-ntsb/
 
cwerdna said:
Waymo’s fully-automated shuttles are picking up riders around Phoenix
The company is offering 'rider only' trips to a few hundred users.
https://www.engadget.com/2019/10/28/waymo-rider-only-autonomous-taxis-phoenix/
There is a big lie here. You won't find any rider only trips for a few people. There is still an employee in the car. What Waymo did say was that there is no safety driver.
 
GCC:
NTSB calls for federal review process for automated vehicle testing on public roads after Uber investigation; “inadequate safety culture”
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/11/20191120-ntsb.html

. . . During a board meeting held to determine the probable cause of the 18 March 2018, Tempe, Arizona crash, the NTSB said an Uber Technologies Inc. division’s “inadequate safety culture” contributed to the nighttime fatal collision between an Uber automated test vehicle and a pedestrian. The vehicle operator was uninjured in the crash, the pedestrian died.

Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group had modified the striking vehicle, a 2017 Volvo XC90, with a proprietary developmental automated driving system. The vehicle’s factory-installed forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking systems were deactivated during the operation of the automated system. An Uber ATG operator was in the driver’s seat, but the automated system was controlling the vehicle when it struck the pedestrian at 39 mph (62.8 km/h).

The NTSB determined that the immediate cause of the collision was the failure of the Uber ATG operator closely to monitor the road and the operation of the automated driving system because the operator was visually distracted throughout the trip by a personal cell phone. Contributing to the crash was Uber ATG’s inadequate safety risk assessment procedures, ineffective oversight of the vehicle operators and a lack of adequate mechanisms for addressing operators’ automation complacency —all consequences of the division’s inadequate safety culture.


  • Safety starts at the top. The collision was the last link of a long chain of actions and decisions made by an organization that unfortunately did not make safety the top priority.

    —NTSB Chairman Robert L. Sumwalt

The pedestrian’s impairment at the time of the crash (toxicological tests on the pedestrian’s blood were positive for drugs that can impair perception and judgment), coupled with crossing outside a crosswalk, contributed to the crash, as did the Arizona Department of Transportation’s insufficient oversight of automated vehicle testing, the NTSB found.

Among the investigation’s findings:

The Uber ATG automated driving system detected the pedestrian 5.6 seconds before impact. Although the system continued to track the pedestrian until the crash, it never accurately identified the object crossing the road as a pedestrian, or predicted its path.

Had the vehicle operator been attentive, the operator would likely have had enough time to detect and react to the crossing pedestrian to avoid the crash or mitigate the impact.

While Uber ATG managers had the ability retroactively to monitor the behavior of vehicle operators, they rarely did so. The company’s ineffective oversight was exacerbated by its decision to remove a second operator from the vehicle during testing of the automated driving system.

Uber ATG made several changes to address the deficiencies identified, including implementation of a safety management system.

The NTSB issued a total of six recommendations to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the state of Arizona, the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators and Uber ATG. . . .*


NTSB has released an executive summary; the full report is expected to be released within the next few weeks.

Consumer Reports (CR), which has been campaigning for some time on the issue of autonomous driving safety, said the full NTSB findings and recommendations underscore critical lessons not just for Uber, but also for the full auto industry, and for the federal and state regulators that are supposed to protect the public’s safety.


  • The NTSB’s hearing made it clear that the US Department of Transportation and many state governments are utterly failing to make sure self-driving car testing is being done safely. It’s the Wild West right now, and it puts the public at risk.

    DOT and states should require self-driving car developers to prove their test vehicles’ safety before using them on public roads, based on rigorous evidence shared publicly and validated by independent third parties. If companies don’t put safety first, they’ll be risking people’s lives—not to mention their own viability—and should be held accountable under the law for the consequences.


    —William Wallace, manager of safety policy for Consumer Reports


Direct link to the NTSB executive summary: https://www.ntsb.gov/news/events/Documents/2019-HWY18MH010-BMG-abstract.pdf


*NTSB recommendations were as follows:

Recommendations

To the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:

1. Require entities who are testing or who intend to test a developmental
automated driving system on public roads to submit a safety self-assessment
report to your agency.

2. Establish a process for the ongoing evaluation of the safety self-assessment
reports as required in Safety Recommendation 1 and determine whether the
plans include appropriate safeguards for testing a developmental automated
driving system on public roads, including adequate monitoring of vehicle
operator engagement, if applicable.


To the state of Arizona:

3. Require developers to submit an application for testing automated driving
system (ADS)-equipped vehicles that, at a minimum, details a plan to manage
the risk associated with crashes and operator inattentiveness and establishes
countermeasures to prevent crashes or mitigate crash severity within the ADS
testing parameters. 5

4. Establish a task group of experts to evaluate applications for testing vehicles
equipped with automated driving systems, as described in Safety
Recommendation 3, before granting a testing permit.


To the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators:

5. Inform the states about the circumstances of the Tempe crash and encourage
them to (1) require developers to submit an application for testing automated
driving system (ADS)-equipped vehicles that, at a minimum, details a plan to
manage the risk associated with crashes and operator inattentiveness and
establishes countermeasures to prevent crashes or mitigate crash severity within
the ADS testing parameters, and (2) establish a task group of experts to evaluate
the application before granting a testing permit.


To the Uber Technologies, Inc., Advanced Technologies Group:

6. Complete the implementation of a safety management system for automated
driving system testing that, at a minimum, includes safety policy, safety risk
management, safety assurance, and safety promotion.


In sum, the NTSB's recommendations as well as CR's comments were what was expected (and necessary for ensuring safe development and deployment of AVs).
 
A self-driving truck delivered butter from California to Pennsylvania in three days
Cupertino-based Plus.ai announces what’s believed to be an industry first
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/12/10/a-self-driving-truck-delivered-butter-from-california-to-pennsylvania-in-three-days/
A Silicon Valley startup has completed what appears to be the first commercial freight cross-country trip by an autonomous truck, which finished a 2,800-mile-run from Tulare, California to Quakertown, Pennsylvania for Land O’Lakes in under three days. The trip was smooth like butter, 40,000 pounds of it.
...
About 10 to 15 companies nationwide are working on autonomous freight delivery, Ives said. That includes San Francisco-based self-driving truck startup Embark Trucks, which last year completed a five-day, 2,400-mile cross-country trip. But that truck carried no freight.
 
This was posted Dec 9, 2019. There was no "safety" driver or any person in the driver's seat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__EoOvVkEMo
Waymo’s fully driverless vehicles are doing passenger trips in the suburbs outside Phoenix, Arizona. We got to experience it first hand, and our ride included a close brush with a construction site, a wrong turn, and a flock of pigeons. But more importantly, it got us thinking about what it means when Waymo says the future is driverless, and what we lose when we eliminate human driving.

This one did have a safety driver in front.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXqUl7JnY6w
The car appears to be a Nissan Sylphy Electric.
https://global.nissannews.com/en/releases/nissan-sylphy-zero-emission-now-on-sale-in-china?lang=en-US
https://www.dongfeng-nissan.com.cn/car/sylphy-zero-emission - scroll down to about 2/3 of the way down to see the dash. The dash in the video caught my eye given it looks like gen 2 Leaf's. Also, notice the shifter at the 1:00 mark.
 
GCC:
Volkswagen and Qatar to put autonomous electric vehicles on Doha roads in 2022
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/12/20191217-vwqatar.html


Volkswagen AG and the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) are partnering in Project Qatar Mobility, which will put a fleet of self-driving Level 4 electric shuttles into operation in the Qatar capital Doha in 2022. The goal is to develop a ground-breaking autonomous transport project and transform the future of urban mobility to a sustainable and commercial deployment of AD shuttles and bus services. . . .

During the 2022 FIFA World Cup—the largest sporting event in the world—Qatar will thus be the venue for the world’s first emission-free, electric and autonomous public transport system.

QIA and Volkswagen will work together to develop the required physical and digital infrastructure to seamlessly integrate a fleet of self-driving vehicles into Doha’s existing public transport network. Thirty-five autonomous, electric ID. BUZZ AD from Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles will shuttle up to four passengers in Westbay area on semi-fixed routes, while ten high-tech Scania buses pick up larger groups. . . .

The landmark project will create a holistic ecosystem for autonomous driving, including the creation of an appropriate legal framework, smart city infrastructure and transfer of knowledge, which can be used as a blueprint to transform urban mobility, both in Qatar and beyond.

Closed testing of the shuttle vehicles and buses is expected to begin in 2020 and trials will start as early as 2021. The project will go live by the end of 2022, providing a technical showcase of future autonomous driving. . . .
 
ABG:
California allows 'light-duty' self-driving delivery vehicles
Expect to see a flood of autonomous grocery and cargo vehicles
https://www.autoblog.com/2019/12/18/california-light-duty-autonomous-delivery-vehicles/


Self-driving delivery vehicles could soon become a relatively common sight on California streets. The state's Department of Motor Vehicles will allow "light-duty" autonomous delivery vehicles under 10,001 pounds for testing and commercial uses. Companies will need permits that vary depending on whether or not a backup driver is involved, but this will allow everything from modified passenger cars to purpose-built vans to carry groceries, pizza orders and other forms of cargo.

Tests with backup drivers will require proof of relevant testing under controlled conditions, trained drivers with clean records and timely reports for collisions and human interventions. Completely driverless tests, meanwhile, will also require notifying authorities, a certified link to a remote operator, a police "interaction plan" and verification that the cars meet federal safety standards as well as truly autonomous (Level 4 or 5) capabilities. Full-fledged public use will require still more, including vehicle data recorders, certified resistance to cyberattacks, assurances that it's safe to deploy and the ability to share vehicle owner and operator info in the event of a crash.

The DMV can start approving permits in 30 days, or around January 17th, 2020. . . .
 
Stanford upgrades its driverless DeLorean for better drifting
https://www.engadget.com/2019/12/20/stanford-upgrades-its-driverless-delorean-for-better-drifting/

https://news.stanford.edu/2019/12/20/autonomous-delorean-drives-sideways-move-forward/ has a video. Haven't had a chance to look at any of this in detail yet. I'd seen some clips of their autonomous drifting before.
 
I wonder how long until a computer controlled car starts winning races against human drivers. If computers can outperform chess grandmasters I have to think they could win in NASCAR as well.
 
TIL of this that was apparently published in Oct 2018. Hope it's not a dupe.

Waymo’s self-driving car crashed because its human driver fell asleep at the wheel
https://qz.com/1410928/waymos-self-driving-car-crashed-because-its-human-driver-fell-asleep/
 
GaleHawkins said:
These videos of Autonomous vehicles are exciting. I did not know they could do real time drifting.

Not particularly harder to program than normal driving. Controlling the car is the easy part. Understanding and reacting to dynamic and unexpected road conditions is the tough nut.
 
cwerdna said:
TIL of this that was apparently published in Oct 2018. Hope it's not a dupe.

Waymo’s self-driving car crashed because its human driver fell asleep at the wheel
https://qz.com/1410928/waymos-self-driving-car-crashed-because-its-human-driver-fell-asleep/

Nice. Fire the driver, then correct your protocols.
 
cwerdna said:
Stanford upgrades its driverless DeLorean for better drifting
https://www.engadget.com/2019/12/20/stanford-upgrades-its-driverless-delorean-for-better-drifting/

And it's an electric DeLorean with separate motors on each rear wheel. The skid marks in overhead camera shot show how it consistently follows the same path. An autox driver who doesn't spin the tires will get a faster time thru the course, but the drama of skidding is fun to watch.
 
cwerdna said:
Waymo self-driving cars rack up 20 million miles on public roads
https://www.autoblog.com/2020/01/07/waymo-self-driving-20-million-miles/

While they a billion miles behind Tesla that is still impressive. Which companies are shipping vehicles using Waymo today? How much extra is the Waymo option?
 
GaleHawkins said:
cwerdna said:
Waymo self-driving cars rack up 20 million miles on public roads
https://www.autoblog.com/2020/01/07/waymo-self-driving-20-million-miles/

While they a billion miles behind Tesla that is still impressive. Which companies are shipping vehicles using Waymo today? How much extra is the Waymo option?
LOL! What Tesla bills as "autopilot" and currently has "working" as part of "full self driving" available to customers is a joke in terms of functionality compared to what Waymo has been testing for years and has deployed to the public as robotaxis in some places (e.g. Phoenix area).
 
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