Self-Driving Cars Come to Ontario

Apparently since my last post a lot has happened. One of these being that the self-driving car project has come to Ontario. Our beautiful province will be the first to allow the testing of autonomous cars on Canadian roads. The man behind the approval is none other than Mr. Steven Del Duca, Ontario Trasnportation Minister. In a speech at Waterloo University he said: "In order to compete, Ontario needs to be consistent with the approach of U.S. jursidictions.". Mr. Del Duca would like to see the University, as well as businesses working together to make the autonomous project a reality.

Now who exactly are they gonna get to do the testing? People of the province that would like to volunteer. Who better than the people that would be using on a day to day basis. Then again, if you think for a second that they will let anyone do the project, you wrong. There are a ton of requirements , and not everyone is chosen. Some requirements include:

• This pilot is restricted to testing purposes only;
• The pilot will run for 10 years and include interim evaluations;
• Only vehicles manufactured and equipped by approved applicants are permitted;
• The driver must remain in the driver's seat of the vehicle at all times and monitor the vehicle's operation;
• The driver must hold a full class licence for the type of vehicle being operated;
• Eligible participants must have insurance of at least $5,000,000;
• All current Highway Traffic Act rules of the road and penalties will apply to the driver/vehicle owner; and,
• Vehicles must comply with SAE Standard J3016 and any requirements of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act (Canada) that apply to automated driving systems for the vehicle's year of manufacture.

(SAE) Society of Automotive Engineers 

Those eligible to participate in the pilot include auto manufacturers defined within the Motor Vehicle Safety Act (Canada), technology companies, academic and research institutions and a manufacturer of parts, systems, equipment or components for automated driving systems.

I`d like o briefly talk about the parts highlighted in red. Were not gonna be seeing any kids driving these. Basically were looking at someone between the ages of 20 and 45. I don`t think anyone in that age group will have time to "test cars". Then again there is no one who can afford a $5,000,000 insurance policy, even if they could that would mean ditching their other car for sure.

Hopefully the pilot can take off not only in Ontario but also in Windsor. Maybe even open a car plant for autonomous cars in Windsor

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/ontario-announcement-automated-cars-1.3268181
http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/vehicles/automated-vehicles.shtml

Road Testing

If you've been following my blog so far, you'd know that I`ve covered the topic of safety. We could talk about safety, what they are doing to make the car safe, in the case of autonomous car, the technology behind it but, none of it really mean anything without road testing and real world implications and use.

 Up to this point, I have only spoken about the Google Self-Driving Car project, but there are many companies who are creeping up behind Google, trying to take their spotlight. When I say this, I don`t necessarily mean literally taking their spotlight. Companies such as Audi, Toyota and Lexus have volunteered to work with Google to produce their idea. When I say taking their idea, I mean they want to take credit, if it even ends up happening, for the creation of the autonomous car.

"A Toyota Prius modified to operate as a Google driverless car, navigating a test course"

"In 2012, the test group of vehicles included six Toyota Prius, an Audi TT, and three Lexus RX450h, each accompanied...dozen drivers with unblemished driving records and...one of Google's engineers. By May 2015, that fleet consisted solely of 23 Lexus SUVs."

In 2012, Google posted a video of 95% blind man going for a ride in the autonomous car. Mister Steve Mahan, from Morgan Hill, California, when he went for the car ride he went to several different place around town, then back home. From what I can see, he is very happy to see that he can now take personal transport and not worry about it and he is also astonished that the car can do this all for him.

On the official website for the google car project, it says that Google has test-drived their car over a million miles so far. "We’ve self-driven over 1 million miles and are currently out on the streets of Mountain View, CA, Austin, TX and Kirkland, WA." 

Although that is much testing, they are determined to continue to testing the vehicle. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_self-driving_car
https://www.google.com/selfdrivingcar/where/

Safety Is Key

These new prototypes maybe be roaming around sooner then we think but, with no driver how safe is it really?

The human race has been imagining a world where one day, all of he things we do on a daily basis will be done for us, and it will all be automatic, and I for one can wait till that day comes. Data and the principle of AI (Artificial Intelligence) is simply years of coding, almost like recreating a human by using the theory that states, for every action, there is a reaction. If this is true, could we possibly think and code for every little thing that may happen and cause a chain reaction? 

I cant believe that so much time has been put in to making this type of car. The first prototypes shown here, only released last year, have come a long way from what we have seen in the 1950`s. Of course, we have been trying to make autonomous cars for a long time. Back the in the 50`s they thought they could use radio communications between vehicles themselves to make these cars. From what technology has shown us, that dose not make any sense. That would have to mean that the technology would have to be all internal. We were proved wrong again when Google said, why not have he best of both worlds?

Safety is paramount to the manufacturer, to the buyers and to the DMV (Department of Transportation). Realistically, the Google Car is safer then I had ever imagined. From three reports filed by Google, in every case, the accident was caused by other motorists, in their own cars and the Google Car had no real involvement in the accident occurring.

In the video below, they demonstrate how the Google Autonomous System works.

By using 7 different types of sensors the car can safely navigate around town. Although, the technology alone costs only about $150,000 by itself. That`s a big price to pay for not having to drive yourself. With the possibilities of this new technology, it might be worth the heavy price tag.

This photo here demonstrates the technologies used.

New systems such as the Lidar, which sends and receives lasers detects proximity of objects. I asked myself though, how in the world does it know where it is? It turns out that Google is using Google Maps, to help tell the where it is.

The company likes to have the car ask itself 4 questions constantly, to make sure that safet standards are always met:

- Where Am I?
- What`s Around Me?
- What Will Happen Next?
- What Should I Do?


I do think that Google wants the self- driving car project to really take flight and there is nothing in their way of doing it. Business Insider says: "10 million self-driving cars will be on the road by 2020". I`d say that Google has a lot work ahead of them and a lot of expectations to meet. Can they do it? I think they can.





http://fortune.com/2015/10/09/self-driving-cars-crashing/
http://techcrunch.com/2015/10/09/dont-blame-the-robot-drivers/
http://googlesautonomousvehicle.weebly.com/technology-and-costs.html
https://www.google.com/selfdrivingcar/how/

The Google self driving car

Should some of the most iconic companies such as Chrysler or Ford be worried by the new innovations of the self-driving car? Of course. The makers of these new milestone vehicles are the same companies who make the cars we drive today, with some help from companies you would not be expecting to be trying break into the automotive market.

We know Google as the magic cloud that knows all, where you live, where you are, what you do, what if they were the one`s who are trying to make cars, taking you from point A to point B all automatically. Google is now trying to make the thing since sliced bread. At the moment Google is testing their new autonomous cars in several cities including Mountain View, CA; Austin, TX and Kirkland,WA. Although, in an official email from a Google spokesman, they say
"doesn't comment on rumor or speculation.".

They wont be hiding everything though. Google has posted an official webpage explaining their autonomous car project.

What do people think about this new car? They love it. The interactability of people who participated in some of Google`s demo all agreed, Google car is amazing. From safety to comfort, they thought of it all. In one review they say "during a crash, 40% of drivers never even hit the brakes.", a car which brain is all computers, computers that process and execute actions faster then the human, is it it really safer? Many things that you do in your car, the car itself can do for you but, it wont forget to do it, it`ll do it faster and quite frankly it`ll do it better. 

Can you imagine yourself, getting into a car one day, in which you have no control over. Since the 1930`s they hoped by the 1960`s that we would`nt have to ever touch the steering wheel again. They were only off by about 50 years but, even to this day we`ve only started developing these wonders.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/21/10641600/ces-2016-google-ford-autonomous-cars

http://theoatmeal.com/blog/google_self_driving_car

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftouPdU1-Bo