Last week , President Obama announce plan to appropriate a whopping$4 billion for sovereign vehicle research . These funds will be dispersed to aviate programme all over the state during the next decade — but where and how the money is spent will determine just how heavy a step forward Obama ’s plan really is .
independent car have drive millions of miles in the US , but most of these miles have simply been devoted to improving the engineering enough to get the cars street - quick . Obama ’s funding plan is a probability for the US Department of Transportation ( USDOT ) to apportion funds to computer program with very specific end that will help regulate the hereafter of transportation in this state .
But there ’s another crucial part : This is a way to create extremely visible pilot programs which can help expose as many Americans as potential to autonomous tech — and help illustrate the many benefits of ego - driving vehicle to a potentially disbelieving populace . So what should the $ 4 billion monetary fund ? We ’ve bugger off some ideas .
Build more self-driving buses
blank out about single - passenger car completely for a minute . The most of import autonomous engineering for the US is the kind that can ship more the great unwashed at a time , coordinate with existing transit connectedness , and help get more cars off the route .
Self - drive buses are in so many European cities already
The first self - driving coach on US soil will bedeployed at a Northern California office parklater this year . The USDOT announced a partnership with Mobileye , the Jerusalem - based inauguration that power most of the autonomous bus topology worldwide . There areplenty of city in Europethat already have these thing on the road . Let ’s see an autonomous public transit prototype for a US city in 2017 .
Promote autonomous trucking, shipping, and deliveries
Here ’s the other big mind that ’s just not being championed enough : Why are we still rent human beings handle transport ?
succeeding Truck is a giant Mercedes that can beat back itself
Much has been made aboutDaimler ’s ego - drive tractor trailers , but there needs to be just as much tending pay to diminutive ego - take carts that can make local deliveries in a tight urban grid . Perhaps Amazon could propose a fleet of self - drive obstetrical delivery hand truck to run in a split up - score data track around Seattle . It ’s a lot more naturalistic than lagger .
Champion tech that’s based on machine vision
Most of the self - driving technical school out there right now uses a combining ofcameras , lasers , and GPS — which requires stringent training plus constant computer hardware and package upgrade . But there ’s a different autonomous vehicle that relies on machine visual modality and artificial tidings — essentially a robot with environmental knowingness . Carnegie Mellon roboticist Hans Moravec created this “ evidence grid ” technology in the 1990s , and a fellowship namedSeegridpaired it with substantial - metre stereo - perception to guide on self-directed forklifts and light-headed motortruck around storage warehouse .
Seegrid ’s Vision Guided Vehicle ( VGV ) technical school moves threatening materials in warehouse
Seegrid ’s CTO Mitchell Weiss told me that their technology extend a more flexible independent organization , and already has a turn up data track disc when it number to operate in closelipped proximity with humans . Seegrid has performed tests in open environments in partnership with the military — now it ’s sentence to get this alternate path to autonomy on the street .
Build a city without parking
When self-reliance arrives , city will necessitate about80 per centum less blank devoted to gondola . Mostly because they do n’t need as many places to park . In the newMother Jones , Clive Thompsonoffers a stunning vision of an self-reliant future , where neighborhood have handed some of that motorcar infrastructure back to the people , and erase the arcane parking minimums imposed by metropolis planner .
SFMTA ’s smart parking shows a pre - autonomy future with no circling cars , ever
What will this search like ? Thompson usesSan Francisco ’s high - tech parking metersas one example — no more cars circling looking for vacant spot , meaning less vehicular over-crowding and dramatically decreased emissions . Cities need to have a bench mark like this . One of the original programs needs to focus on how exactly a bustling urban district would convert itself into this post - parking reality . city like LA , which have about 3.3 quad for every car correctly now , will be almost unrecognizable .
Help on-demand ride apps eliminate car ownership
We knowUber has big autonomous tech plans . AndLyft is working with GMto acquire a new type of self-directed vehicle . But what this really means is that “ rideshare ” apps will eliminate driver — and no one will require to own the railcar anymore .
GM ’s Mary Barra announce the partnership with Lyft at atomic number 58
The future will see fleet of dedicated Uber and Lyft automobile — or autonomous ZipCars , or Waze - voyage cars — that you could mobilise . And the piloting system will be chic enough to pick the most effective routes and minimize travel multiplication . This is one of the most important pilot light programs to get good , because if masses feel confident in this kind of system , self-sufficiency is an easy sell . Which means car ownership ( and the number of cars on the road ) will go down .
Launch the self-driving car road show
One of the biggest job around independent tech is the silence . This mysterious vibe has been perpetuated by companies like Google , which only recentlystarted handing over information about crashes , for example . transparentness will let hoi polloi see what self - driving technical school is all about . We need to create a immense interactive experience that allows people to intrude around the engineering themselves . And who comfortably to do this but Google ?
It ’s meter for Google to take a prototype of its cable car out for public inspection
Google needs to not only take their cars to every State Department in the US , it needs to permit the mean American feel what it ’s like behind the wheel . Perhaps there ’s adetailed explanation of the refuge testingin the form of a giant interactional exhibit . Maybe there ’s a Google Cardboard VR experience . And when it derive to all that data point that these companies have been so fractious about giving to cities , let ’s just say this : For any entity trying to get funding from USDOT , you must give over your data . No exceptions .
Focus on safety innovations
Safety , safe , safety , guard , safety . Notice that I ’ve just mentioned any traditional auto manufacturer so far . That ’s because the only benefit to consumers that any auto manufacturer should be talking about in the context of autonomy is safety . If any auto maker gets any of this money for single passenger vehicles , it can only be in the name of safety .
Volvo ’s conception was create as part of its Vision Zero initiative to end all traffic death
Volvo ’s self - drive concept caris an example of how automakers can bridge over the gap between luxury and prophylactic . But until last week ’s promulgation , Volvo was forced to do its testing and maturation in Sweden . This is dependable for many automakers . But now that the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration can make immunity for rubber - focused innovations , these companies will hopefully take ideas stateside .
Illustration by Sam Woolley
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