[AutonomousVehicles] hello from a very interested and excitednfbmember

Wed Jun 6 14:25:44 UTC 2018

As a faculty member in a College of Engineering, my primary
responsibilities are in the areas of ethics and morality in engineering.
Autonomous vehicles are a principal interest of mine.

All of the crashes of autonomous vehicles that have been publicized, have
been as a result of failures not of single systems, but in the intersection
of systems in the vehicles. In the case of the Uber crash in Arizona that
killed a cyclist/pedestrian, the LIDAR (laser radar) 'saw' the person early
enough to brake and to steer around her.  However, the system that 'makes
sense of' what the LIDAR detects, was switched to a mode that delayed such
a reaction -- it was in a very conservative mode where the car's systems
would have had to be closer to 100% certain of what was being detected by
the LIDAR before automatically responding.

In the TESLA crashes, early analysis of the cars' black-boxes indicates
that systems were attempting to alert the drivers to take control because
the cars' systems were detecting situations that they were not designed to
handle. In these cases, the handoff of control from car to human driver was
missed.

Looking outside the cars and their technology, Arizona has established the
most lax regulation on testing of autonomous vehicles, of any state that
allows such testing. It was as a side-effect of this lax regulation that
Uber was able to get away with only one safety-driver in the vehicle.
Other states that allow testing of autonomous vehicles on public roadways
require two safety-drivers (one behind the wheel ready to take control, and
one who monitors the car's systems in real time). Uber's history of
business practices that take large risks may have been a contributing
factor somehow.

In the cases of Tesla crashes, we know that marketing information has
heavily hyped what Tesla calls its 'auto pilot' autonomous driving mode.
There have even been television commercials with Elon Musk driving/riding a
car with his hands out the window, yelling and boasting of its autonomous
capabilities. Compare this with the safety information that comes with the
cars that cautions drivers to not treat 'auto pilot' as a safe autonomous
mode.

A lot of what we are seeing with autonomous vehicles has to do with the
fact that the companies and consumers are not necessarily prepared to deal
with the intersection of so many technical and social systems that we are
suddenly faced with.  In fact, no engineering innovation is ever 'only
technical'. Every engineering innovation pushes small or large impacts on
us in terms of how we know and behave in the world.  Those who adapt to the
new limits of technologies are able to benefit, but those who do not
understand those limits will run the risk of the failure of these multiple
systems.

There is absolutely no question in my mind that successful development in
the technologies of autonomous vehicles will occur.  However, successful
social adaptation may not be so clearly possible for everyone. This is why
every stakeholder group -- including and perhaps especially those with
visual impairments that prevent them from getting a driver's license
currently -- has to be active in the latter.  This listserv is a touchpoint
for all of us who are stakeholders in this particular way.  Your
involvement locally, in your State policy-making branches, and even more
broadly, is very needed!

_don

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don Winiecki, Ed.D., Ph.D.
*Professor of Ethics & Morality in Professional Practice*
Boise State University, College of Engineering
Dept of Organizational Performance & Workplace Learning (OPWL)
1910 University Drive, Mail Stop 2070
Boise, Idaho 83725-2070 USA
E-mail: dwiniecki at boisestate.edu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~d

On Wed, Jun 6, 2018 at 7:50 AM Ali via AutonomousVehicles <
autonomousvehicles at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Probably just because I'm extremely afraid of accidents LOL.
>
>  ----- Original Message -----
> From: Daniel Perry via AutonomousVehicles
> <autonomousvehicles at nfbnet.org
> To: "autonomous Vehicles Discussion"
> <autonomousvehicles at nfbnet.org
> Date sent: Wed, 6 Jun 2018 08:18:18 -0400
> Subject: Re: [AutonomousVehicles] hello from a very interested
> and excitednfbmember
>
> me too, but I've been told not to wurry since everyone seems to
> be behind
> them. I think the crashes are all just a part of the process
> morbid as that
> sounds.
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Ali via AutonomousVehicles" <autonomousvehicles at nfbnet.org
> Sent: Tuesday, June 5, 2018 11:13 PM
> To: "autonomous Vehicles Discussion"
> <autonomousvehicles at nfbnet.org
> Cc: "Ali" <aliherky at gmail.com
> Subject: Re: [AutonomousVehicles] hello from a very interested
> and excited
> nfbmember
>
>  I have high hopes for the future, but right now am too worried
> about the
>  multiple crashes that have been had.
>
>  Ali
>
>  ----- Original Message -----
>  From: Daniel Perry via AutonomousVehicles
> <autonomousvehicles at nfbnet.org
>  To: <autonomousvehicles at nfbnet.org
>  Date sent: Tue, 5 Jun 2018 14:59:30 -0400
>  Subject: [AutonomousVehicles] hello from a very interested and
> excited
>  nfbmember
>
>  Hello everyone, my name is Daniel Perry and I found this list
> and
>  immediately signed up because I'm extremely excited about the
> prospect of
>  autonomous vehicles being a reality as well as we the totally
> blind being
>  able to use them. I can't wait to own one as soon as they're
> afordable
>  enough for your average blind person to purchase and own. I'll
> be very
>  excited to see how Waymo progresses after its launch later on
> this year.
>  What's the latest in our efforts to make these vehicles
> accessible to the
>  blind? have a wonderful day and I look forward to hearing from
> you soon.
>
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