The future of driving with an automatic pilot system
Things having not been going well for autonomous automobiles recently. A Tesla Model X was involved in a crash while on autopilot. A Uber self-driving vehicle struck and killed a pedestrian walking her bicycle, Then, there was a driver whose Model S drove him right into a truck. All of this is causing an amount of serious anxiety. There are many questions, for example; How safe are they at the moment? Will they be safer than human drivers? And finally, what are various safety agencies doing about the problem?
In the U.S., it has been calculated that there were 1.18 fatalities per 100 million miles driven by all automobiles in 2016. This is a clever statistic by the Administration to try to show less than those who were killed by handguns. Google started testing autonomous automobiles in 2009 and there still needs to be greater attention given to the problems.
The problem, if it is ever to be resolved, is to test these cars in real-world conditions with mandatory ‘safety drivers’ behind the wheel at all times. But that is easier said than done.
In the early days of aviation, aircraft required the continuous attention of a pilot to fly safely. The first aircraft autopilot was developed in 1912. It permitted the aircraft to fly straight and level on a compass course without a pilot's attention, greatly reducing the pilot's workload. This was more than 100 years ago. Today, we still have a problem. Although some aircraft can fly autonomously, including the takeoff and landing, it seems that an autonomously enabled car may still crash into something.
Thus, at the moment, they are not safe, they may never be more safe than skilled drivers, and safety agencies need to do more.
If an aircraft can land in the exact center of a runway at 150 knots, and taxi to the gate on autopilot, even with both a first and a second pilot in place, what is next? Aircraft are using a basic form of artificial intelligence (A.I.). That’s next.
Aircraft in the air, travelling at 300 knots, are still monitored and controlled from the ground (A.T.C.) by highly trained humans. Therefore, for many more decades, even with A.I., automobiles will require safety drivers … just in case.
Do you agree?
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ReplyDeleteDo I agree to what, Bernie? As a senior citizen I would not be comfortable in an autonomous automobile. Of course, the term automobile implies autonomous but we know the only autonomous function in a normal automobile is NONE. Tesla demonstrated remote controlled boats over one hundred years ago but could not commercialize them. I think the US Navy has an autonomous warship under test. They need a war soon. Commercial aircraft may be autonomous but as you stated they are continuously monitored both on board and externally by ATC. PS, why did the AC flight nearly land on the wrong runway in LAX earlier this year? Was it autonomous or under control of a pilot?
Excellent comments John. It has been a long-time habit for us to have our hands on a steering wheel (For me; more than 60 years) and, any other situation would be quite uncomfortable. As a reminder, I would like to note that for autonomous I do not mean electric-drive.
ReplyDeleteI could be quite happy with an electrically-driven car, after all, F1 motor racing is experimenting with concept vehicles at the moment ... and many, short-range, electrically-driven aircraft are flying. Nevertheless, should that I would build my own, I would integrate a small gas engine to maintain battery charge.
The word automobile came from the French language meaning self-mobility, i.e., no longer necessary to feed a horse ... or something like that.
But an autonomous automobile? Forget it! Just like autonomous medical doctors. Do dogs like autonomous vacuum carpet cleaners? Of course not, they know some things that we do not know. Remember the movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Thank you.
Incidentally, the air Canada flight that attempted to land on a parallel taxiway at LAX was not on autopilot, and I can personally attest to a similar experience ... this is why, I suspect, knowledgeable people clamp the hands when the wheels touchdown.
You appear to agree with me. Thank you.