Self-driving cars safer in sunlight, twilight another story
- Reference: 1718793128
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/06/19/autonomous_driving_dim_conditions/
- Source link:
A paper published in [1]Nature Communications this week found that autonomous vehicles are less likely to be involved in accidents than humans in everyday scenarios including keeping in the same lane and maintaining speed with the flow of traffic.
The study, which collected data from 2,100 autonomous vehicle and 35,133 human-driven vehicle accidents between 2016 and 2022, also found self-driving cars are likely to avoid rear-end and sideswipe accidents, which were 0.5 and 0.2 times less common respectively.
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Led by Shengxuan Ding, a PhD student at the University of Central Florida, the study found that autonomous vehicles could possibly improve road safety, but there are also areas that need improvement.
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[4]
For example, the research found self-driving vehicles were on average 5.25 times more likely to have accidents in low-light conditions – during the early morning or as the light was fading at dusk. They were also 1.98 times more likely to make a mistake than humans while executing turns. The researchers said their work used more data from both autonomous and human-driven vehicles than earlier studies.
[5]Waymo issues software fix after driverless taxi hits telephone pole
[6]Tesla's Autopilot false advertising tussle with California DMV must go to trial
[7]Chinese car brands hit accelerator on road tests for level three autonomous driving tech
[8]Researchers warn robot cars can be crashed with tinfoil and paint daubed on cardboard
It said the poor performance of autonomous vehicles in low light conditions might be attributed to "a lack of situational awareness in complex driving scenarios and limited driving experience."
Improving autonomous vehicle performance in such conditions might involve "advanced sensors, robust algorithms, and smart design considerations."
"Key strategies include enhancing weather and lighting sensors, implementing redundancy measures, and integrating sensor data effectively. By focusing on these aspects, the safety of [autonomous driving systems] can be significantly enhanced in challenging scenarios," the research said.
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One thing to note here is that the study covers data up to 2022. In the past two years, autonomous driver-less taxi cabs operated by Google-owned Waymo, at least, have ferried around more and more people, and can handle trips at night and during the day. They're not perfect, and are limited to a few cities, but it's safe to say there have been at least some improvement in the past 24 months or so.
Indeed, investors have made big bets on them.
Ark Investment Management said Tesla stock was its largest holding and suggested the value of the Musk-led biz could increase by $2,000 per share – or 1,022 percent by 2027 on the back of its potential developments in autonomous driving.
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CEO Cathie Wood recently said [11]Tesla stock was the greatest opportunity in AI and the automaker would build the most advanced autonomous driving software available. ®
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[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-48526-4
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZnMAnXqCXA7nJD2VbyE8VQAAAIk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[5] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/12/waymo_software_recall/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/12/teslas_autopilot_marketing_woes_continue/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/04/china_autonomous_driving_tests/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/03/baidu_robotaxi_attack/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZnMAnXqCXA7nJD2VbyE8VQAAAIk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
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[11] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cathie-wood-ark-invest-predicts-162937053.html
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Same problem for us meatbaga
Sorry, mate, didn't see you... Now, where have I heard that before?
"it's safe to say there have been at least some improvement in the past 24 months"
That is so reassuring.
It's almost as reassuring as hearing that the royal executioner has got marginally more effective at chopping heads off in one try.
Look, I'm the first one to realize that Real Life is a bitch for computers to handle, but we can try and not fill our roads with unreliable software-driven multi-ton chunks of metal added to unreliable multi-ton chunks of metal driven by wetware idiots ? Until the software-driven version is actually safe to let loose ?
Yes, I recognize that that increases the research costs exponentially.
I don't care.
Re: "it's safe to say there have been at least some improvement in the past 24 months"
Think of all of the people making money off of those "unreliable {meatbag,software}-driven multi-ton chunks of metal" the children!
Re: "it's safe to say there have been at least some improvement in the past 24 months"
Can we maybe stop the unreliable wetware until that's safe to let loose?
If I had any money to invest
It wouldn't be going to Ark Investment Management
Re: If I had any money to invest
Tesla stock was the greatest opportunity in AI and the automaker would build the most advanced autonomous driving software available
J Jonah Jameson laugh.jpg.
Cars can't safely drive themselves
Studies like this one have almost no value. The whole concept of self driving is fatally flawed. Driving requires a thinking driver and machines can't think. Human reflexes and attention span aren't sound enough to correct self driving errors when they inevitably happen.
Lower self driving accidents in some scenarios
Do we know if some of that is due to other road users clocking its a self driving car & keeping more clear of it than they would a human driver?
Many drivers behaviour alters based on (often seemingly stereotypical interpretations of) the vehicles & drivers they see *
* Assuming you drive a car that would be feasible for a newly qualified driver to have (i.e. not a high powered, expensive insurance thing) in the UK whack on some green "P" (probationary) plates.
Lots of other road users will assume you are a newly qualified driver and behave far more "aggressively" (in driving behaviour terms) to you than they would if you had no plates - that's the case even though you may have years of driving and so show no novice traits in how you are driving.
This depends entirely on the hardware
There's a quote in the paper which says "recent innovations in visual algorithms, coupled with the combined use of cameras, LIDAR, GNSS, and RADAR sensors" but it doesn't seem to take account of Tesla's hardware going backwards. Before they had lidar and radar, now they don't. They'd need to break the results down by hardware to be able to see which cards with which hardware don't work well in twilight.
Same problem for us meatbaga
Twilight has always been the killing hour on the roads. I have a large bump in my scapula courtesy of a man in a jaguar who didn’t see me as the sun was low behind me. To be fair he did spot me eventually, about the same time I snapped my motorbike in half on his car.