Autonomous Car Progress

[cwerdna]

One self-driving car program far exceeds the others at ... self-driving lists some stats from the 2017 CA DMV disengagement reports.

 

[SlicedBr3ad]

Could it be that we'll finally see an update that moves the needle in tesla direction in Feb?!
.A new Tesla Autopilot update is ‘in final testing phase’, says Elon Musk

 

[banned-66611]

Entry time he promises a big update it turns out to be some basic feature ou incremental improvement.

 

[SlicedBr3ad]

Entry time he promises a big update it turns out to be some basic feature ou incremental improvement.

I agree, it's been entirely underwhelming for over a year with huge promises.

In another thread about autonomous progress, vet verygreen commented that there were big developments that should please us if they get shipped. Repeater cameras being turned on and such. So very much hope to see actual new autonomous features and not easy entry bs.

 

[cwerdna]

Came across Hyundai's self-driving fuel cell cars complete a record highway trip which points to Hyundai Showcases World's First Self-driven Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle.

The latter claims

SEOUL, South Korea, Feb. 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- A fleet of Hyundai Motor Company's next generation fuel cell electric cars have succeeded in completing a self-driven 190 kilometers journey from Seoul to Pyeongchang. This is the first time in the world that level 4 autonomous driving has been achieved with fuel cell electric cars, the ultimate eco-friendly vehicles.

Until now, autonomous driving has been demonstrated at a limited speed on some sections of domestic roads, but this is the first time autonomous cars have driven such a long distance at 100 km/h-110 km/h, the maximum speed allowed by law on Korean highways.

Five Hyundai vehicles completed the journey. Three vehicles are based on Hyundai's next-generation fuel cell electric SUV NEXO, scheduled to be released in Korea next month, and the other two are Genesis G80 autonomous vehicles. All vehicles are equipped with level 4 self-driving technology, as defined by the SAE international standards, and 5G network technology.
...
The demonstration started in Seoul on Feb. 2 with the 'CRUISE' and 'SET' buttons being pressed on the autonomous-driving steering wheel of each vehicle, at which point the cars immediately switched to self-driving mode and began the 190 km journey to Pyeongchang. Entering the highway, the vehicles moved in response to the natural flow of traffic. They executed lane changes and overtaking maneuvers, and navigated toll gates using Hi-pass, South Korea's wireless expressway payment system.

Not sure if this has been posted yet:
Waymo makes history testing on public roads with no one at the wheel

 

[cwerdna]

A self-driving truck just drove from Los Angeles to Jacksonville - Company involved is Embark. I'd never heard of them before.

 

[R.S]

Came across Hyundai's self-driving fuel cell cars complete a record highway trip which points to Hyundai Showcases World's First Self-driven Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle.

The latter claims

SEOUL, South Korea, Feb. 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- A fleet of Hyundai Motor Company's next generation fuel cell electric cars have succeeded in completing a self-driven 190 kilometers journey from Seoul to Pyeongchang. This is the first time in the world that level 4 autonomous driving has been achieved with fuel cell electric cars, the ultimate eco-friendly vehicles.

Until now, autonomous driving has been demonstrated at a limited speed on some sections of domestic roads, but this is the first time autonomous cars have driven such a long distance at 100 km/h-110 km/h, the maximum speed allowed by law on Korean highways.

Five Hyundai vehicles completed the journey. Three vehicles are based on Hyundai's next-generation fuel cell electric SUV NEXO, scheduled to be released in Korea next month, and the other two are Genesis G80 autonomous vehicles. All vehicles are equipped with level 4 self-driving technology, as defined by the SAE international standards, and 5G network technology.
...
The demonstration started in Seoul on Feb. 2 with the 'CRUISE' and 'SET' buttons being pressed on the autonomous-driving steering wheel of each vehicle, at which point the cars immediately switched to self-driving mode and began the 190 km journey to Pyeongchang. Entering the highway, the vehicles moved in response to the natural flow of traffic. They executed lane changes and overtaking maneuvers, and navigated toll gates using Hi-pass, South Korea's wireless expressway payment system.

Not sure if this has been posted yet:
Waymo makes history testing on public roads with no one at the wheel

Highway driving is the easiest and calling FCVs the "ultimate eco-friendly vehicles" is really bold. But at least Hyundai can now do 190 km of Level 4 driving w/o issues, maybe they will beat Tesla on the totally useless autonomous cross country trip...

A self-driving truck just drove from Los Angeles to Jacksonville - Company involved is Embark. I'd never heard of them before.

And nope, sorry Hyundai and Tesla, game over, the coveted coast to coast award goes to something called Embark.


Seriously, coast to coast is not really hard to do. Highway driving is pretty easy, since there aren't too much variables. Just keep your lane and try not to hit the car in front of you and you will eventually make it.

 

[cwerdna]

There was this in 2015.
Delphi self-driving car goes coast-to-coast, autonomously - ExtremeTech
This Is Big: A Robo-Car Just Drove Across the Country

This time, it’s not just to make it cross-country by car, but to make the longest autonomous drive cross-country in car. A team of Delphi engineers covered 3,400 miles, San Francisco to New York City, over a span of nine days. The trip was accomplished with “99 percent of the drive in fully automated mode,” Delphi says, using an Audi Q5 SUV modified with all manner of cameras, radars, and laser scanners.

Somebody probably has pointers to more details. I remember hearing of it, at the time.

 

[scottf200]

And nope, sorry Hyundai and Tesla, game over, the coveted coast to coast award goes to something called Embark.

Just read about this semi-truck add on last night. It was highway only and appears to have disengaged a few times .... plus obviously exits, refueling, around the cities, etc.
Embark’s self-driving semi completes trip from California to Florida

Last year, autonomous trucking company Embark announced that it would begin using its Level 2 autonomous semis to deliver refrigerators from Texas to California. Now, TechCrunch reports, the company has taken it a step further as one of its trucks has now completed a 2,400 mile trip from Los Angeles to Jacksonville, Florida. The trip took five days, which included scheduled rest breaks for the driver that was on board, and TechCrunch says that Embark's team is now assessing all of the trip's data. While there's no word yet on just how often the system required the driver to step in, those on board said that the truck went "hours at a time with no disengagements, and when they did occur they were usually only a few seconds," according to Embark CEO Alex Rodrigues.

Embark's autonomous systems don't use high-resolution maps. They instead use sensor data and machine learning and the success of this long-distance trip demonstrates that this sort of setup is adequate for highway driving. Rodrigues told TechCrunch that the company plans to have 40 trucks in its fleet by the end of this year.

Embark says that its trucks aren't aimed at replacing human drivers but are instead a means of dealing with growing driver shortages. In a statement he made last year, Rodrigues said, "By allowing automation to work together with local drivers to handle less desirable long haul routes, we will be able to increase productivity to address the current 50,000 driver shortage while also creating new local driving jobs that attract younger drivers for the industry."

 

[SlicedBr3ad]

So there I was on the earnings call when all of a sudden:

he says "3"
I said to myself "definitely"
he says "6 months"


Tesla promises ‘series of new Autopilot features in 2018’, still plans coast-to-coast drive

 

[R.S]

Just read about this semi-truck add on last night. It was highway only and appears to have disengaged a few times .... plus obviously exits, refueling, around the cities, etc.
Embark’s self-driving semi completes trip from California to Florida

So the game is still on!

Please, Waymo/GM-Cruise take one of your cars, put some HW miles on it and put an end to this nonsense. This is the equivalent of bragging about doing a marathon on an e-bike.

But I would still be happy if someone else than Tesla employees would see the FSD system working. GM Cruise put a not perfect system on display and while it had (and probably still has) faults, it's cool to see some reporters telling how driving in an autonomous car really is.

So let's hope Tesla will put some reporters into their C to C cars. That would be cool, even though C to C isn't really the most impressive trick an autonomous car can do.

 

[googleiscoul]

So the game is still on!

Please, Waymo/GM-Cruise take one of your cars, put some HW miles on it and put an end to this nonsense. This is the equivalent of bragging about doing a marathon on an e-bike.

But I would still be happy if someone else than Tesla employees would see the FSD system working. GM Cruise put a not perfect system on display and while it had (and probably still has) faults, it's cool to see some reporters telling how driving in an autonomous car really is.

So let's hope Tesla will put some reporters into their C to C cars. That would be cool, even though C to C isn't really the most impressive trick an autonomous car can do.

They probably won't put any reporters in the c to c car though....

 

[cwerdna]

Not that I have any info about progress but Aurora is another one to keep an eye on. I'd never heard of them until I saw pieces like Aurora will power Byton EV’s autonomous driving features.

Aurora, the self-driving startup founded by Google self-driving car project alum Chris Urmson, along with Tesla Autopilot developer Sterling Anderson, CMU robotics expert and Uber vet Drew Bagnell, and a team of industry experts, will be making the autonomous smarts for Byton’s forthcoming electric vehicle. Byton, a startup that had a splashy debut at CES earlier this year.
...
Aurora, despite officially breaking cover only just last year, is already working with a range of automakers on their autonomous driving technology, including Volkswagen and Hyundai. Aurora CEO Chris Urmson explained that its goals mean it’s happy to work with companies at all stages of development and maturity to help make self-driving a practical reality.
...
For Byton and Aurora, this partnership will kick off with pilot test driving in California sometime soon, and Byton hopes to eventually tap Aurora with its goal of fielding premium electric consumer vehicles with SAE Level 4 and Level 5 autonomous capabilities.

 

[MarcusMaximus]

So the game is still on!

Please, Waymo/GM-Cruise take one of your cars, put some HW miles on it and put an end to this nonsense. This is the equivalent of bragging about doing a marathon on an e-bike.

But I would still be happy if someone else than Tesla employees would see the FSD system working. GM Cruise put a not perfect system on display and while it had (and probably still has) faults, it's cool to see some reporters telling how driving in an autonomous car really is.

So let's hope Tesla will put some reporters into their C to C cars. That would be cool, even though C to C isn't really the most impressive trick an autonomous car can do.

This seems to be mixing things up a bit. Coast to coast is extremely impressive, if it's actually coast to coast autonomously the entire way. The issue with what that company did is that only the straight highway bits were autonomous. Musk has always talked about the coast to coast trip being completely autonomous, including in any cities, for charging stops, etc(the original plan seemed to include using the snake chargers concept to make it so even charging was autonomous, though it's unclear if they're still planning on that).

 

[stopcrazypp]

This seems to be mixing things up a bit. Coast to coast is extremely impressive, if it's actually coast to coast autonomously the entire way. The issue with what that company did is that only the straight highway bits were autonomous. Musk has always talked about the coast to coast trip being completely autonomous, including in any cities, for charging stops, etc(the original plan seemed to include using the snake chargers concept to make it so even charging was autonomous, though it's unclear if they're still planning on that).

The difference actually isn't really the highway bit, but rather the company is doing level 2, where it is expected for driver to take over even when on the highway (which did happen on the trip according to the report). Such a level 2 trip had already been done in a Tesla in 2015:
https://jalopnik.com/we-set-a-cross-country-record-in-a-telsa-that-drove-its-1739410767

For Tesla's cross country trip to qualify for self-driving, it must at minimum be level 4 and there must not be any disengagements at all.

 

[Bladerskb]

The difference actually isn't really the highway bit, but rather the company is doing level 2, where it is expected for driver to take over even when on the highway (which did happen on the trip according to the report). Such a level 2 trip had already been done in a Tesla in 2015:
https://jalopnik.com/we-set-a-cross-country-record-in-a-telsa-that-drove-its-1739410767

For Tesla's cross country trip to qualify for self-driving, it must at minimum be level 4 and there must not be any disengagements at all.

This is incorrect. There is no difference.
Your car does not have to be level 4 to do a cross country completely with end to end no touching of controls and without any disengagement.

If Tesla were to accomplish a cross country, it doesnt make its cars self driving or level 4.

An actual level 4 sdc is a car that have reached a satisfactory rate of safety disengagement aka failure for its specified set of features.

Most industry experts and car companies put the requirement at 1 safety failure (disengagement) in 250,000 to 400,000 miles for level 4 highway autonomy.

Doing a single 1,000 mile cross country means nothing. Doing it 400 straight times in different conditions/situations/routes without any problems, then we are talking.


Lastly what happened in 2015 with a tesla is nothing like what that company embark is doing as it is automatically changing lanes and handling highway interchanges (on/off ramps).

Its not compareable.

 

[stopcrazypp]

This is incorrect. There is no difference.
Your car does not have to be level 4 to do a cross country completely with end to end no touching of controls and without any disengagement.

If Tesla were to accomplish a cross country, it doesnt make its cars self driving or level 4.

An actual level 4 sdc is a car that have reached a satisfactory rate of safety disengagement aka failure for its specified set of features.

What I mean is that for their trip to qualify for "self driving" it must be done in at minimum level 4 mode. Level 4 mode means the car expects the driver to take over under any circumstances (even if it fails, it will fail safely without needing driver intervention).

Completing a trip in level 2 mode with no touching of controls or disengagement would not qualify.

Most industry experts and car companies put the requirement at 1 safety failure (disengagement) in 250,000 to 400,000 miles for level 4 highway autonomy.

Doing a single 1,000 mile cross country means nothing. Doing it 400 straight times in different conditions/situations/routes without any problems, then we are talking.

That is a completely arbitrary definition. I remember we had this discussion. SAE does not have such a requirement in their definition. I started a thread with the SAE terminology document previously just for reference (a link which you provided yourself):
SAE Driving Automation Levels Terminology

Lastly what happened in 2015 with a tesla is nothing like what that company embark is doing as it is automatically changing lanes and handling highway interchanges (on/off ramps).

Its not compareable.

In SAE terms, it's the same: a level 2 cross country trip.

 

[banned-66611]

Remember that they already sold the ability to summon from the other side of the country, and take your kids to school for you.

Level 4 on all roads and in car parks is the absolute minimum required to have any credibility.

 

[cwerdna]

I watched Yandex shows off the first tests of self-driving cars on Moscow roads.

The vehicle in the 1st video is definitely a Toyota Prius v wagon along w/the the vehicle they follow in the 2nd. Odd that they've blurred out their large LCD.

 

[Reciprocity]

It really doesn't matter who goes cross country with no disengagements with level 4 or 3 or what ever. What matters is that whatever tech accomplishes the goals of level 3 or 4 are is in a package that is appropriate for consumers. If all the lidar's and sensors and computers cost more then a fully loaded P100D then it's an all but pointless milestone. The reason why it's more interesting if Tesla does it is because it means it's just a firmware update away from being in customers hands. I contend that waymo and Delhi and all the rest have a very rough road ahead to commercialize all that hardware into a package that is cost effective. Tesla has a rough road ahead as well, but its most likely a case of better software and not needing to make major changes to the hardware, outside of upgrading the computer which they have already acknowledged.

If you see a self driving demo car with chunks of hardware sticking out of it, it's not something that is commercially viable, yet.

Thinking a bit more about Apple. You always think software, but Apple is a hardware company and a pretty good one based on the hardware for the iPhone which always dominates the benchmarks. This might be where Apple can make up ground, by doing a better job of shrinking and packaging the hardware required to commercialize self driving tech. I don't know what Google is great at this though they are not novices either. Delhi and the other OEMs certainly have this capability but at what level. It's not like they have been making cutting edge chips and powerful computers with 3D facial recognition VR features that fit in your pocket and run for a full day on a charge. It will be interesting what Apple delivers. I highly doubt they would just jump into self driving without a very good idea of how they would turn it into large profit margins. Because Apple doesn't bother with anything that isn't massively profitable.