The Offline Report

It's been a few months since driverless cars or "autonomous vehicles" (AVs) have made headlines, but some developments since then provide context and give the public some terms to use as we share roads with these heavy fast-moving machines in the future. One development is a broadcast of an interview with Duke University's robotics lab director advocating driverless cars should pass a vision test. Up to 50 separate AV manufacturing companies are creating driverless cars. An autonomous vehicle "sees" the terrain with a combination 1) radar, 2) lidar (Light Detection And Ranging), and 3) ultrasound. A "complex data fusion" technology is required to tie all three components together, but that fusion technology isn't subject to vision tests in California the way human drivers are. In May, tech reporter Molly Wood interviewed former Navy Pilot, and current Duke University HAL Director (HAL stands for Humans and Autonomy Lab, the former MIT lab tha...

Experienced drivers know "cruise control" has been a setting offered in various cars beginning in the 1980's, that drivers use on long stretches of straight highways or roads. Cruise control is a primitive form of autopilot , and today with both the Tesla Model X and self-driving cars on California roads , it's a reasonable time to review and extend common usability terms. I. Cruise Control II. Tesla's Autopilot Crash A. Steering Autopilot B. Chain of Command - Passive or Active Autopilot Deactivation C. Communicating Chain of Command D. Communicating Chain of Command - Speed & Steering "My Landcraft" "Your Landcraft" E. Ghost Cars I. Cruise Control The usability is incredibly simple . To set it, you keep your foot on the gas until the speedometer shows the speed you want the car to sustain, then you manually press that car's "cruise control" activation button on the car's dashboard or steering mount. W...

Of the 50 companies testing driverless car technology right now, the subset that applied -- and it's unclear from news reports how many did apply -- for a California permit may be able to legally "test" cars with no backup driver  in the car on all California roads beginning today April 2. These companies have been testing driverless cars by allowing them on roads with backup drivers. Starting today, they could "test" the cars without the backup driver in the car. The process of getting a permit includes few requirements, but two are  agreeing to notify "cities" before driving the cars within their bounds, and "providing a plan to interact with law enforcement" in case of an accident? It's not clear from news reports what the plan to interact with law enforcement must specify. Not required to get a permit to release a car with no driver onto public roads, is a plan to exchange phone numbers with another car's driver in the cas...