WEBVTT - An Update on Autonomous Vehicles 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:14.680 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:19.080 Jonathan Strickland and how the tech are you? Now? Before 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:21.640 we get started with today's episode, I wanted to let 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:24.200 y'all know about a new way to get in touch 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:27.240 with this podcast, and I figured it'd be best to 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:29.720 do it up front, because I suspect some of you 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:35.440 folks turn off the show when you hear me wrapping up. Shame, shame, Shane. 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Podcasting is a fun medium because listeners 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:30.760 can often feel like the host is talking directly to them. 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:33.400 I know a lot of people who listen with headphones 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:36.640 on and that's a very intimate experience, right, I'm speaking 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:39.640 directly into your ears in that case. I know I 0:02:39.720 --> 0:02:42.360 have experienced this in the past when I've listened to podcasts. 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:44.200 In fact, there are podcasts I listened to where I 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:47.119 do feel like I'm just a silent person in a room, 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:50.079 which honestly isn't very much like me. But you get 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:54.520 what I say. And now this tool lets you talk 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:58.600 back to me. And because it's just you on the microphone, 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:02.200 I'm not capable all of interrupting you, which is a 0:03:02.320 --> 0:03:07.440 big bonus over having a real life conversation with me. Anyway. 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:10.760 Once again, that is the I Heart radio app with 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:13.800 the talk back feature, that little microphone icon that you 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:18.279 can just tap. But let's get on with today's episode. 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:21.639 And I really wanted to cover this topic and give 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:23.600 a bit of an update because I feel it's one 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:30.600 that is often misunderstood and frequently misrepresented. Um and that 0:03:30.760 --> 0:03:34.440 is the different levels of autonomous driving and the state 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:37.360 of autonomous driving where we're at. I occasionally do these 0:03:37.480 --> 0:03:42.840 updates because I think it's very easy to get lost 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:47.320 in marketing and pr speak and even some you know, 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:52.040 political movements that suggests we might be further along than 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:54.920 where we really are now. First of all, let's get 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:59.240 this out of the way. Developing autonomous vehicle technology is 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:02.560 a good idea. Here in the United States, the National 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:06.320 Highway Traffic Safety Administration or n h t s A 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:11.480 tracks the number of motor vehicle traffic fatalities year over year. 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:15.960 The number of deaths due to vehicle accidents is always 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:20.080 in the thirty thousand range or higher. So that means 0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:23.400 more than thirty thousand people here in the United States 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:27.800 die every year due to traffic accidents, and if you 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:32.400 just skim recent figures, that really reveals something counterintuitive. The 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:36.080 year with the most traffic fatalities over the last decade 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:40.760 is twenty twenty. Now I should add that I could 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:44.520 not find an estimate for one, not for the full year, 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:48.080 only for part of the year, so one very well 0:04:48.200 --> 0:04:52.119 might have taken the title away from twenty twenty. But yeah, 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:57.040 the first year of the pandemic saw the most traffic 0:04:57.040 --> 0:05:00.719 fatalities in more than a decade. And you might imagine 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:04.000 that fatalities for that year would actually be down due 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:07.919 to more people staying at home, But you're wrong. The 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:11.159 total that year was thirty eight thousand, six hundred eighty 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:14.880 estimated deaths. The next highest year would be back in 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:19.000 sixteen that had thirty seven thousand, eight hundred six deaths, 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:22.560 almost a thousand fewer. The n h T s A 0:05:22.560 --> 0:05:25.680 also figures out that the fatality rate per one hundred 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:29.080 million vehicle miles traveled is a good metric. Uh. This 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:33.600 is v MT, which essentially tells you how frequent do 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:37.880 these accidents occur, how many millions of miles are are 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:42.440 happening in between these fatalities. Keeping in mind that's across 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:46.039 the entire United States, so it's taking into account all 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:51.640 the vehicles traveling across the country, and again had the 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:56.160 highest frequency over the last decade with an astonishing one 0:05:56.360 --> 0:06:01.320 point three seven fatalities per one hundred million vehicle miles traveled. 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:04.440 The next highest on that goes all the way back 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:07.440 to two thousand eight with one point to six. So 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:10.080 keep in mind like that means more than a decade 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:15.560 of innovation and improvements in driver assist features and things 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:19.039 of that nature ended up not making a difference because 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:25.280 we saw more fatalities per miles traveled than ever well 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:28.280 at least since two thousand eight, Because that's as far 0:06:28.360 --> 0:06:30.840 back as as the the sheet I was looking at 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:37.039 wind So people were driving less in but they were 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:41.679 dying in accidents more frequently. And it didn't get better 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:45.960 in one either. During the first nine months of one, 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:50.400 traffic fatalities rose by twelve percent. So within those first 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:53.599 nine months there were an estimated thirty one thou seven 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:58.360 twenty deaths. Again just nine months, not a full year. Now, 0:06:58.400 --> 0:07:01.400 I do not have more recent data to pull from, 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:04.240 so I'm not certain how the year ended out, but 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:10.120 that statistic is terrible and sobering. Here's another bad statistic. 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:14.280 The c d C says that road traffic crashes are 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:17.360 a leading cause of death here in the United States 0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:21.720 for people aged one to fifty four. Now, these deaths 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:27.840 clearly have a massive impact. Beyond the obvious tragedy of 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:33.160 losing someone or multiple someone's in a crash. There's the 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:36.720 impact on that person's family and friends. That's an incredible 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:42.120 emotional impact on them. If that someone who died in 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:46.160 the crash were employed, well, there's an impact on their 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:50.640 job and on the economy as well. There's this overall 0:07:50.680 --> 0:07:56.160 economic impact due to fatalities and accidents in general. The 0:07:56.280 --> 0:08:00.280 National Safety Council estimates that the average economic cost of 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:05.960 a traffic fatality is one point seven five million dollars 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:12.040 per incident. Now, this takes into account everything from medical expenses, 0:08:12.120 --> 0:08:16.760 to motor vehicle damage, to insurance costs, to wage and 0:08:16.840 --> 0:08:21.600 productivity losses, and more. So, if we take this average 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:24.720 figure of one point seven five million dollars and we 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:28.320 multiply it by the thirty eight thousand, six eight estimated 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:32.440 deaths in twenty twenty, we get an economic impact of 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:37.360 sixty seven point seven billion dollars. That's the cost of 0:08:37.400 --> 0:08:41.000 those fatal traffic accidents. When you take in all traffic accidents, 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:45.040 by the way, the amount gets over two billion dollars. 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:47.720 So there are a lot of reasons we would want 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:51.160 to reduce or eliminate those traffic fatalities. I mean, first 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:55.840 and foremost, obviously, we don't want people to die. We 0:08:55.880 --> 0:08:59.160 would rather not see that happen. We would rather those 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:03.959 people go on to lead healthy, productive lives, surrounded by 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:06.640 friends and family, and we would not want to see 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:10.120 that end. Less importantly, we would not want to see 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:14.280 that negative economic impact. And we also would rather not 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:18.079 have the thousand other problems that come with traffic accidents, 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:21.840 such as the effect on traffic congestion and that sort 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:24.760 of thing. And there's one more important fact to consider. 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:31.520 According to research, at least of all traffic accidents are 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:35.080 caused primarily by human error. In other words, it's not 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:38.800 a mechanical failure. It's not that a vehicle suddenly lost 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:43.080 functionality in some way and that that led to the accident. 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:48.040 More than are caused by someone making a mistake. And 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:51.520 that's at least Some research pushes that even higher. The 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:57.120 highest I have seen suggests that eight per cent of 0:09:57.200 --> 0:10:02.520 all accidents are call by human error. Um, so somewhere 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:07.840 in that range is probably the truth. Right, That's still enormous, 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:11.160 and that's where the sales pitch for autonomous vehicles comes in. 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:15.199 Because what if you had a computer controlled vehicle capable 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:18.720 of traveling at a safe speed and a safe distance 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:21.600 from other vehicles. It would be able to pay equal 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:24.559 amounts of attention to all areas around the vehicle. It 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:27.720 wouldn't just be paying attention to wherever its eyes were, 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:30.640 because it would have eyes all over. They could react 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:33.960 much more quickly than any human could, and it could 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:37.920 take action that could avoid an accident. You would remove 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:41.400 human error as a contributing factor for accidents, and since 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:45.840 we know human error accounts for more than of accidents, 0:10:46.320 --> 0:10:50.720 that would, by extension, eliminate the vast majority of accidents 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:53.920 on the road. If you had enough of these vehicles 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:56.720 on the road, perhaps not replacing all of them, but 0:10:56.840 --> 0:11:00.560 having a significant percentage of vehicles being autonomous, you would 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:07.000 virtually eliminate traffic fatalities. That is the dream scenario. But 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:10.640 there are a lot of things standing between us and 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:14.240 that vision. I will go into that after we take 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:25.079 this quick break. Okay. To get to that vision of 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:29.000 the future where autonomous vehicles are taking us everywhere we 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:32.560 need to go and traffic fatalities are a distant memory, 0:11:33.240 --> 0:11:35.840 we have to get the tech right first, and we 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:37.960 also have to get enough vehicles out on the road 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:40.960 to make a difference. One autonomous vehicle isn't going to 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:43.640 change the world. And I've seen a lot of different 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:46.400 research about this as well, some researchers saying that we 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:49.240 might need to reach a saturation point of about one 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:52.920 third autonomous vehicles to two thirds human driven vehicles to 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:57.560 start seeing massive changes and things like accidents and traffic congestion. 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:01.800 And then, of course, beyond that, we'd see even more improvements, 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:04.840 not necessarily at the same dramatic pace, like it might 0:12:04.960 --> 0:12:08.000 level off more where we get sort of a diminishing 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:12.600 return situation. But when you're talking about saving lives, diminishing 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:16.040 return doesn't really have the same meaning, right, Every life 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:21.160 saved is significant. Now, when it comes to autonomy, at 0:12:21.200 --> 0:12:26.160 least for vehicles, there is a spectrum, you know. There. 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:29.080 Autonomy is more like guidelines, as the pirates would say. 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:33.559 The Society of Automotive Engineers, which is a quote globally 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:38.760 active professional association and standards developing organization end quote, has 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:44.480 identified six levels of autonomy, ranging from zero to five, 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:48.240 and it is ascending in autonomy. So let's go through 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:53.800 those now. At levels zero, you have no driving automation 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:58.040 really of any significance. I used to think that level 0:12:58.160 --> 0:13:02.720 zero just meant that you had complete manual control of 0:13:02.760 --> 0:13:06.480 the vehicle and there were no driver assist features at all. 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:10.000 That's not the case. That was my mistake. That was 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:15.160 my misunderstanding of this designation. Uh, you could have cruise 0:13:15.200 --> 0:13:19.800 control and it could still fall into a level zero category. 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:24.560 So basic cruise control would not be enough to move 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:27.560 a vehicle out of level zero designation to level one 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:31.720 because basic cruise control will maintain a set speed, but 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:35.880 it won't change it. Right, if there is a vehicle 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:40.680 that's ahead of you, the standard cruise control isn't enough 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:44.200 to detect that vehicle and change the speed. That would 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:48.560 have to be adaptive cruise control. That's different basic cruise control. 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:51.439 You're still at level zero. Back in the day, I 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:53.160 used to think that that would at least push you 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:55.800 to level one. No, not, according to the s A 0:13:56.760 --> 0:13:59.880 The s A E says that any driver assist features 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:03.280 are in a level zero car are limited to quote 0:14:03.400 --> 0:14:07.480 providing warnings and momentary assistance end quote. So you can 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:10.920 have like a lane correct feature, but if it's just 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:15.520 momentarily shifting the car, that still is considered a level 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:21.360 zero autonomous vehicle. Automatic emergency braking, lane departure warnings, all 0:14:21.360 --> 0:14:24.160 that kind of stuff I'll just count as minimal driver assist. 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:27.600 So any vehicle having those features but nothing more extensive 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:31.160 than that, would still be level zero. So that's a 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:33.560 lot of the vehicles that are on the road today, 0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:37.440 the vast majority of them, in fact. But let's go 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:39.720 on to level one, because we do have level one 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:43.840 and even level two autonomous vehicles on the road. So 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:47.080 a level one autonomous vehicle has the ability to take 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:51.680 over some duty that the driver would normally do, but 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:55.200 only one of those duties, and the human driver would 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:57.840 have to handle everything else. So, in other words, the 0:14:57.880 --> 0:15:01.400 feature might be able to handle something like acceleration and braking, 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:04.960 or it might be able to handle steering, but it 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:07.960 would not be able to handle both of those, So 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:10.760 whichever one it handles, the human driver would have to 0:15:11.240 --> 0:15:15.200 deal with the other. One adaptive cruise control that I 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:18.240 mentioned earlier, in which a vehicle handles acceleration and it 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:20.920 will ease off if it detects that it's approaching the 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:23.520 rear of a vehicle in front of it. That's an 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:27.280 example of a level one autonomous vehicle feature. It's handling 0:15:27.280 --> 0:15:30.160 acceleration and braking, but it's not handling steering. The human 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:35.520 driver still still has to steer the vehicle in that scenario. Now, 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:39.400 if we move up to level to autonomy, we're now 0:15:39.480 --> 0:15:42.240 at a phase where the vehicle can handle both the 0:15:42.280 --> 0:15:46.600 acceleration and breaking activities as well as steering the vehicle 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:50.760 at the same time. However, a human driver must supervise 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:55.600 these and also intervene when necessary, as the vehicle will 0:15:55.640 --> 0:15:59.560 not always be capable of avoiding an accident when something 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:06.480 out of the ordinary happens, or even something remotely unexpected happens. 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:09.000 So this would be a vehicle that can do both 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:14.480 adaptive cruise control and lane centering operations at the same time. 0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:17.520 And honestly, this is where we're at with most of 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:20.960 the really sophisticated passenger vehicles that are on the market 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:25.640 right now. Tesla, even with its so called full self 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:30.280 driving feature, which is not full self driving, and Tesla 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:34.960 darnwell knows it. I have a longstanding issue with Tesla 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:39.760 and it's naming conventions. Calling its first driver assist support 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:44.960 sweet as autopilot when it's not really autopilot really upset me. 0:16:45.280 --> 0:16:49.240 Full self driving is even worse because it the name 0:16:49.600 --> 0:16:53.720 implies that the car just completely drives itself. That is 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:56.880 not the case. It still requires human supervision, and Tesla 0:16:56.920 --> 0:16:59.280 says this to drivers. It says that you still have 0:16:59.360 --> 0:17:02.800 to supervised the vehicle, that you can't just take your 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:05.239 hands off and go to sleep behind the wheel. You 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:09.160 have to maintain supervision and be ready to intervene. But 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:14.160 yet they insist on calling their features full self driving. 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:19.080 I just feel like that's misleading. Anyway, that is still 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:24.320 a level to autonomous feature. It means Tesla is on 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:27.640 the level two on the autonomous scale. It hasn't hit 0:17:27.720 --> 0:17:31.280 level three yet. And from levels zero to two, the 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:34.879 job of monitoring the driving environment falls on the human 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:39.119 in the car. They are responsible for making sure that 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:43.359 the environment is safe. Uh that for at least whatever 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:47.000 operation the car is in at that time, and you 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:49.879 cannot offload that to the vehicle. The vehicle is not 0:17:50.080 --> 0:17:54.800 capable of shouldering that accountability. So ultimately the person behind 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:57.680 the wheel is still responsible for their own safety and 0:17:57.760 --> 0:18:01.760 for avoiding accidents. But now let's talk about levels three 0:18:01.800 --> 0:18:05.879 through five, in which the vehicle's automated system is in 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:09.760 charge of monitoring the driving environment. So in this case, 0:18:09.800 --> 0:18:13.440 the car is responsible or the vehicle I should say 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:17.479 not just car is responsible for monitoring what's going on 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:22.639 around it and then using that information to make important decisions. 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:27.600 So level three is called conditional automation, and that kind 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:31.000 of clues you into what's going on. So the vehicle 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:36.480 is capable of operating autonomously under certain conditions, but not 0:18:36.840 --> 0:18:41.960 all conditions. So unless all autonomous conditions are met, the 0:18:42.040 --> 0:18:45.800 vehicle will not operate an autonomous mode. A level three 0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:49.440 autonomous vehicle will be able to make certain environmental decisions, 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:53.800 such as accelerating past a slower moving vehicle or maneuvering 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:57.000 through a traffic jam, which typically involves lots of starts 0:18:57.000 --> 0:19:01.119 and stops and potentially lane changes. There are a couple 0:19:01.160 --> 0:19:05.439 of vehicles that have received international acknowledgement as attaining level 0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:10.000 three autonomy. There's a car called the Honda Legend, which 0:19:10.040 --> 0:19:13.119 is only available as a least vehicle in Japan, so 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:16.920 unless you're in Japan, you're not likely to see one 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:22.000 or experience it. Mercedes Benz has received a regulatory approval 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:25.920 to manufacture level three autonomous vehicles that have its drive 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:30.280 pilot system installed. It's recently been updated and has met 0:19:30.320 --> 0:19:35.800 international standards to be considered a level three autonomous system. 0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:39.840 So with a level three vehicle, human intervention isn't needed 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:43.680 for most situations. It may still be required in edge 0:19:43.760 --> 0:19:48.719 cases where things are unusual. Now, at level four autonomy, 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:52.359 an autonomous vehicle would in theory be able to react 0:19:52.400 --> 0:19:56.320 to most circumstances without the need for human intervention. It 0:19:56.359 --> 0:20:00.720 would not ask for human intervention, it would just react. 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:04.720 The vehicle would respond properly, able to discern what was 0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:08.920 happening and then take the appropriate response. For example, such 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:11.960 a car would presumably be able to distinguish between a 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:16.040 trail of gosling's attempting to cross the road versus some 0:20:16.240 --> 0:20:19.320 leaves being blown by the wind, and either it would 0:20:19.320 --> 0:20:22.560 slow down to let the little goslings get across, or 0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:25.560 it would just continue without worry because it's just some leaves. 0:20:26.080 --> 0:20:29.560 And yeah, just saying that filled me with anxiety because 0:20:29.560 --> 0:20:31.840 I think goslings are cute and the thought of a 0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:39.240 car just driving through a crossing animal really really upsets 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:43.200 me on a deep level. However, a level for autonomous 0:20:43.280 --> 0:20:47.920 vehicle would still be a conditionally autonomous vehicle, so there 0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:50.680 would still be some conditions under which this vehicle would 0:20:50.680 --> 0:20:54.480 not operate autonomously. And because this is the level that 0:20:54.520 --> 0:20:58.080 the s a E considers to be appropriate for robo taxis, 0:20:58.520 --> 0:21:00.840 it would mean that under a certain con asitions you 0:21:00.840 --> 0:21:03.920 wouldn't be able to get a ride in a robotaxi. 0:21:04.000 --> 0:21:08.560 Because if if conditions are wrong for autonomous operation, then 0:21:08.600 --> 0:21:11.679 they won't they won't pick you up, right, They won't work. 0:21:12.320 --> 0:21:15.840 Those conditions could include things like weather events like let's 0:21:15.880 --> 0:21:20.639 say it's really pouring down rain and because of the 0:21:20.760 --> 0:21:25.280 heavy precipitation, there's a fear that the vehicle's sensors won't 0:21:25.320 --> 0:21:31.000 operate properly so it's unavailable. Or it could involve things 0:21:31.080 --> 0:21:34.399 like geo fencing. That is, the vehicles can only operate 0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:38.240 within a certain geographic area. Typically we're talking about a 0:21:38.280 --> 0:21:43.440 specific town or specific city, or specific lane between two cities, 0:21:43.960 --> 0:21:47.000 and the cars systems will not allow the vehicle to 0:21:47.080 --> 0:21:51.240 venture beyond certain borders. In fact, we're gonna talk about 0:21:51.240 --> 0:21:53.760 how geo fencing is one way that companies are looking 0:21:53.760 --> 0:21:57.720 to tackle very tough engineering challenges in an effort to 0:21:57.720 --> 0:22:02.200 bring robotaxis to various places. Also, at this level, things 0:22:02.240 --> 0:22:06.240 like a steering wheel and or pedals like an acceleration 0:22:06.280 --> 0:22:09.359 and brake pedal. Those might not even be installed in 0:22:09.400 --> 0:22:12.520 a level for autonomous vehicle, so there would be no 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:15.320 controls for you to take over should you feel the 0:22:15.359 --> 0:22:17.560 need to intervene. You would not have that option. You 0:22:17.640 --> 0:22:20.560 might have a button to press that was like an 0:22:20.560 --> 0:22:23.400 emergency stop feature where the car would then pull off 0:22:23.400 --> 0:22:26.080 to the side and come to a halt, but that 0:22:26.200 --> 0:22:29.400 might be it. So a level for autonomous vehicle should 0:22:29.400 --> 0:22:32.600 be able to handle pretty much any situation that could 0:22:32.640 --> 0:22:37.879 pop up under its operational conditions. And finally, we have 0:22:38.040 --> 0:22:41.639 level five autonomy. Now at this level of vehicle under 0:22:41.680 --> 0:22:45.600 any conditions would be able to operate autonomously. So this 0:22:45.720 --> 0:22:48.760 is the level where a vehicle could go anywhere and 0:22:48.800 --> 0:22:52.640 operate safely no matter what conditions might be present. Such 0:22:52.680 --> 0:22:55.680 a vehicle might have no other controls in it and 0:22:55.760 --> 0:22:59.840 handle absolutely everything by itself. We are nowhere close to 0:23:00.080 --> 0:23:05.080 achieving level five autonomy right now. So when we come back, 0:23:05.240 --> 0:23:07.119 we'll talk about some of the things that are holding 0:23:07.200 --> 0:23:10.479 us back from full autonomy, and some of them are 0:23:10.480 --> 0:23:14.520 technical and some of them are social and political. But 0:23:14.600 --> 0:23:26.840 first let's take a quick break. Okay, let's talk limitations, 0:23:26.880 --> 0:23:30.439 and we'll start with the technical. We've seen some pretty 0:23:30.560 --> 0:23:34.919 dramatic improvements in sensor technology over the years, but the 0:23:34.960 --> 0:23:38.240 fact is that under some conditions sensors can have trouble 0:23:38.280 --> 0:23:42.480 detecting the environment effectively, particularly when you're talking about the 0:23:42.560 --> 0:23:46.359 sensors being mounted to a platform that's moving at several 0:23:46.520 --> 0:23:50.119 dozen miles per hour or kilometers per hour. So this 0:23:50.200 --> 0:23:54.359 can include conditions like dense fog or heavy precipitation. Like 0:23:54.400 --> 0:23:57.879 I mentioned earlier, it would be pretty dangerous to ride 0:23:57.960 --> 0:24:02.080 in an autonomous vehicle that ends up mistaking fog for 0:24:02.200 --> 0:24:06.199 a solid surface. For example, let's say that whatever technology 0:24:06.280 --> 0:24:09.520 the sensors are using, the signals are bouncing back because 0:24:09.520 --> 0:24:13.159 it's hitting the fog or the precipitation. A car like 0:24:13.200 --> 0:24:17.240 that might start breaking suddenly, like applying the brakes suddenly, 0:24:17.400 --> 0:24:19.600 and that could pose a hazard for vehicles that are 0:24:19.600 --> 0:24:23.840 behind you. And since their limitations aren't a hypothetical either, 0:24:24.000 --> 0:24:28.399 we've seen some tragic cases in which driver assist systems 0:24:28.600 --> 0:24:32.439 failed to detect a danger and that led to loss 0:24:32.440 --> 0:24:38.120 of life fatalities. I mean back in famously, a Tesler 0:24:38.280 --> 0:24:42.840 driver named Joshua Brown was on a Florida divided highway. 0:24:43.000 --> 0:24:45.520 So that's a highway that has a couple of lanes 0:24:45.520 --> 0:24:48.440 going in one direction. Then you typically have a divider, 0:24:48.520 --> 0:24:51.800 a median of some sort, and lanes going in another direction. 0:24:52.480 --> 0:24:56.400 Uh and back in ten, Joshua Brown's on a Florida 0:24:56.480 --> 0:25:01.920 divided highway. He had autopilot in his test engaged and 0:25:02.080 --> 0:25:04.480 as he was traveling down there was a semi truck 0:25:04.920 --> 0:25:08.080 that was pulling out of a driveway that was perpendicular 0:25:08.119 --> 0:25:12.679 to the highway. The semi truck was crossing Brown's lanes 0:25:12.720 --> 0:25:15.760 of traffic in an effort to make a left hand 0:25:15.840 --> 0:25:19.920 turn to go the opposite direction down the highway, so 0:25:20.280 --> 0:25:24.679 it was pulling across the lanes that Brown's vehicle was in, 0:25:26.040 --> 0:25:31.000 uh the Tesla. Brown's Tesla failed to detect that there 0:25:31.119 --> 0:25:33.920 was an obstacle in the way, so the Tesla did 0:25:33.960 --> 0:25:36.879 not slow down and ended up colliding with the truck 0:25:36.960 --> 0:25:40.800 and Brown died in that car accident. Now, back then, 0:25:41.359 --> 0:25:43.960 Tesla was relying on systems that were provided by a 0:25:44.000 --> 0:25:49.320 company called Mobile I, but Tesla subsequently ended that partnership 0:25:49.760 --> 0:25:53.959 and then began to develop new sensor technology in house. 0:25:54.480 --> 0:25:59.280 So the autopilot of today's Tesla's works on a totally 0:25:59.320 --> 0:26:02.960 different techno logical platform then the one back in two 0:26:02.960 --> 0:26:07.000 thousand sixteen. Because Tesla recognize that this is not something 0:26:07.000 --> 0:26:10.760 that it can it can support and still expect to 0:26:10.760 --> 0:26:14.040 be able to sell vehicles that have this autopilot feature 0:26:14.040 --> 0:26:17.359 in them. Now that being said, we saw a near 0:26:17.520 --> 0:26:22.480 identical tragedy occur in two thousand nineteen when Jeremy Banner, 0:26:22.880 --> 0:26:27.479