Self Driving Car
GM Self Driving Car
| May 30th, 2018
As explored in previous entries, the rollout of self-driving vehicles has been, and will continue to be, an incremental one. The seemingly unstoppable introduction of these driverless drones will unfold slowly, one small step at a time. With over 260 million passenger vehicles on U.S. roadways, it is hard to execute a wholesale swap-out; there […]
Sensors and the Self Driving Car
| December 19th, 2017
According to a New York Times report, Delphi Automotive, an Israeli company known for producing the sensors that help cars recognize roadway obstacles, has partnered with Mobileye, a vendor of computer-vision technology. The collaboration, according to chairman and chief technology of Mobileye, “will accelerate the time to market” by enabling carmakers to produce autonomous vehicles […]
Self-Driving Cars and the Impact on Society
| December 6th, 2017
It is generally assumed that the advent of self-driving car technology will change the dynamic of society. One facet of this change will, of course, be economic. An article in CNN Money explored the anticipated consequences for car service Uber, the ubiquitous alternative to the fares of traditional taxi medallions that can be beckoned in […]
High Hopes for Self Driving Cars
| November 22nd, 2017
An interview of the technical leader of Ford’s autonomous car project reinforces that the American auto manufacturer has high hopes for self-driving cars. According to Jim McBride, “technical leader in Ford’s autonomous vehicles team,” Ford has “roughly ten [self-driving] cars driving right now” with plans to “triple that” by the end of the year. Its […]
New York State and the Self Driving Car
| November 10th, 2017
Governor Cuomo recently announced that, during a year-long pilot program, New York will allow testing of autonomous driving technology. Under the program, if the application of a manufacturer of “autonomous vehicle technology” — which queries “date and time”; “origin and destination”; “sequence of roads . . .”; and “total routing distance in miles to the […]
Behind the Wheel of a Self-Driving Car
| November 1st, 2017
An article in IEEE Spectrum, assuming that occupants of self-driving vehicles will retain some element of control over the box of steel transporting them, poses an interesting question: “How Should a Self-Driving Car Tell You to Take the Wheel?” The article contextualizes the question: Someday, the word driver will connote something completely different than it […]
When can I buy a self-driving car?
| October 19th, 2017
An article in USA Today cites, “Three stages before cars are fully self driving,” breaks the transition to autonomous cars down into three stages. While, according to the article, developers are “truly are on the cusp of the kind of automation that signals that the future has arrived, one in which a car actually makes […]
Will Self-Driving Cars Make Roads Safer?
| October 5th, 2017
As outlined in a number of previous entries, the proponents of self-driving cars argue that their widespread use will drastically reduce the number of collisions and, as a result, injuries and deaths resulting from such collisions. A recent study by the RAND organizations casts some doubt on this assumption—or at least posits that such an […]
Autonomous Autos to Navigate with ‘Lidar’
| September 21st, 2017
As examined in a previous blog entry, autonomous vehicle rely on an array of technologies—from cameras to sensors to more sophisticated “lidar”—to navigate roadways. An article in Fortune, “What Happened When Ford Tested Its Self-Driving Car in Total Darkness” explores just how advanced self-driving technologies have become. The article discusses a “recent test at Ford’s […]
Autonomous Car Liability
| September 21st, 2017
A law review article published in the Southern Methodist University Science and Technology Law Review makes the novel argument that “[l]aws governing canine ownership are a good model on which to base laws governing autonomous cars.” While it may seem implausible to compare a sentient animal—a dog—to the motions, sensors and axels of an autonomous […]