[AutoSphere]

Another area where this technology could be deployed is long-distance transportation by trucks. This was recently in the news as below:

Uber and Anheuser-Busch Make First Autonomous Trucking Beer Delivery

"Transportation experts predict the earliest applications of autonomous technology will be in self-driving trucks, not cars. The technology is best suited to the relative predictability of long hauls on highways, rather than busy city streets with many distractions."

http://fortune.com/2016/10/25/uber-a...beer-delivery/

[GTO]

RC Bhargava says:

Maruti Suzuki Chairman R C Bhargava says such autonomous vehicles will not work in India as "nobody obeys any of the driving rules".

"I think no technology will work here when nobody obeys any of the driving rules, no nobody obeys any of the systems which are there. How will you devise a technology that will predict customer behaviour, nobody can predict customer behaviour?" he said.

Full Economic Times Article

[ecenandu]

Tesla's self driving demo.

Its in an ideal situation, though.

Source

[condor]

BMW breaks up with it's research partner ..

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-bm...-idUSKBN13D1BR

[AutoSphere]

WHILE FORD TARGETS FULLY AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE FOR RIDE SHARING IN 2021; INVESTS IN NEW TECH COMPANIES, DOUBLES SILICON VALLEY TEAM.

https://media.ford.com/content/fordm...g-in-2021.html

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by AutoSphere

WHILE FORD TARGETS FULLY AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE FOR RIDE SHARING IN 2021; INVESTS IN NEW TECH COMPANIES, DOUBLES SILICON VALLEY TEAM.

Contrary to what some believe, I think we will see some form of autonomous cars introduced in various parts of the world in the next 5-10 years on a very large scale.

Jeroen

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Contrary to what some believe, I think we will see some form of autonomous cars introduced in various parts of the world in the next 5-10 years on a very large scale. -Jeroen

Well said Jeroen. I for one would be delighted if semi-autonomous cars came first followed by three quarters autonomous and then full state. The people who need them the most are the differently abled citizens and the elderly. For both, especially the differently abled, autonomous cars will make a significant difference to their lives.

When we look forward prediction is fraught with risk of mis-judgement but sometimes technology changes simply sweep away the past. A few in recent times have been - first the way the internet has changed the way we communicate, research, shop, bank, store data and what not and all this happened in a swoop between the mid-1990s and late 2000s. Second the way mobile telephony has changed the spread of telecommunications in India from waiting for a land line in the early 1990s to 600 million odd cell phones today. Long distance travel in 1950 was primarily by sea - intercontinental air travel was less than 0.3% of passenger traffic. By 1963 it was all over, literally, thanks to the iconic Boeing 707 and DC-8. As recently as 1983 you waited in queue in India to buy a Premier Padmini or the HM Ambassador....and today?

So electric cars and at least partly autonomous cars may be closer to us in time than we think.

[volkman10]

Tesla cars will autonomously drive themselves in for service -but Tesla isn’t quite ready to make that announcement just yet.

Link

[Mohan Mathew A]

We really need autonomous cars, and bikes and autos and trucks and buses in India.
The more i drive on our roads the more i am convinced thats the only solution to our traffic madness. I think it is impossible that we will learn and obey traffic rules (to a level which will become acceptable by most developed nations standard) anytime in the foreseeable future. So the only solution is to leapfrog that phase and directly invest in autonomous vehicles both from an infrastructure and legislation point of view.

As soon as the autonomous vehicle program becomes mature enough (or even maybe before to accelerate the process) to be commercially deployed on a wide scale, i think the Indian government should come out with a clear time plan and milestones (it should be a realistic but a not a long drawn one) to make it mandatory for all vehicles to have autonomous driving capability.

This will do for us what mobile telephony did, we leapfrogged the wired connectivity phase the developed world went through and provided cheap, fast, efficient and much more convenient connectivity to the whole nation at a fraction of the cost and effort.

A legal mandate and the scale that it brings especially from a populous country like india can do a lot to make the technology cheaper and economically viable to be implemented in cars of all segments and made accessible to common man.

It will address the needs of the vast majority of the population who use vehicles as just a means of transport from point A to point B without having to forego the convenience and freedom that personal mobility provides.

The transition is not going to be easy and there could be some major failures but i believe it will be because of co-existing of humans drivers and AI and will get eliminated once humans are taken off the equation.I am willing to bet that deaths and maiming caused by machine failure will be far far lesser than what is happening now.

There would a minority who would be deprived of the pleasure of driving and as someone who loves driving i abhor the thought of not being able to drive but there is no denying the fact that we will be a minority and the societal benefits far outweigh the feeble protests a small section might raise.

As a nation, we stand to gain the maximum from this. We can avoid the absurd number of deaths and maiming that happen on our roads, the stress and other related health hazards of driving in our maddening traffic, the loss of time and productivity caused by the constant grid lock, the severe issues the aged and the differently abled face as far as mobility is concerned and much more. In all these parameters we stand to gain much more than the west and if done properly can really transform our society.

[teemus]

Originally Posted by Mohan Mathew A

As soon as the autonomous vehicle program becomes mature enough (or even maybe before to accelerate the process) to be commercially deployed on a wide scale, i think the Indian government should come out with a clear time plan and milestones (it should be a realistic but a not a long drawn one) to make it mandatory for all vehicles to have autonomous driving capability.

I agree to a certain extent that autonomous vehicles will solve some problems, but I don't think it can cure all of them for multiple reasons.

- 2-wheelers will continue to be human-driven and the way majority of riders drive they will present a mammoth challenge to the self-drive algorithm for a way to tackle them
- What happens to someone who just loves to drive, which I dare say won't be a small number.
- while fast-tracking the process of making autonomous vehicles mandatory, there will be a major socio-economic conundrum of drivers (professional drivers) getting out of business. The sheer number of drivers on road is huge and there will be a backlash.
- To add to the above point what about cabs and cabbies.
- On a not so serious note: what happens to the RTO and traffic police mama!

The transition is not going to be easy and there could be some major failures but i believe it will be because of co-existing of humans drivers and AI and will get eliminated once humans are taken off the equation.

There would a minority who would be deprived of the pleasure of driving and as someone who loves driving i abhor the thought of not being able to drive but there is no denying the fact that we will be a minority and the societal benefits far outweigh the feeble protests a small section might raise.

Yeah, those who WILL drive will feel like Will Smith from I, Robot.

As a nation, we stand to gain the maximum from this. We can avoid the absurd number of deaths and maiming that happen on our roads, the stress and other related health hazards of driving in our maddening traffic, the loss of time and productivity caused by the constant grid lock, the severe issues the aged and the differently abled face as far as mobility is concerned and much more. In all these parameters we stand to gain much more than the west and if done properly can really transform our society.

Hypothetically yes! But I really feel there will be considerable time from it's full-fledged implemetation in US or EU (if at all) before reaching our shores.

For God's sake we still could not get our rear seat drivers to buckle up, drive with a lane discipline or respect the traffic signals. The mere thought of a transition where AI cars and human drivers sharing the same road space is unimaginable.

[Mohan Mathew A]

Originally Posted by teemus

I agree to a certain extent that autonomous vehicles will solve some problems, but I don't think it can cure all of them for multiple reasons.

- 2-wheelers will continue to be human-driven and the way majority of riders drive they will present a mammoth challenge to the self-drive algorithm for a way to tackle them
- What happens to someone who just loves to drive, which I dare say won't be a small number.
- while fast-tracking the process of making autonomous vehicles mandatory, there will be a major socio-economic conundrum of drivers (professional drivers) getting out of business. The sheer number of drivers on road is huge and there will be a backlash.
- To add to the above point what about cabs and cabbies.
- On a not so serious note: what happens to the RTO and traffic police mama!

Yes, 2 wheelers will be a challenge as the progress in automation of these seems to be rather slow but there are some developments in this aspect. Also it is entirely possible that with autonomous vehicles becoming efficient ( economically, in space consumption and time) the need for 2 wheelers could be eliminated or come down drastically. Another possibility is that it could be eliminated by fiat or impose a huge tax on them to make it unviable. I know it might be rather extreme but entirely doable

Professional drivers going jobless will happen and as has been proved time and again it is difficult to stop the advent of technology. with the large scale use of computers and mobile phones the same fears were there. The huge economic and societal gain will far outweigh the narrow interest of a relatively small group

Originally Posted by teemus

For God's sake we still could not get our rear seat drivers to buckle up, drive with a lane discipline or respect the traffic signals. The mere thought of a transition where AI cars and human drivers sharing the same road space is unimaginable.

It is exactly for these reasons that i argue autonomous driving vehicles are the solution as it will be really difficult to rectify the current crop of drivers or even the immediate next generation. So taking humans out of the equation is the only solution.

[myavu]

Was going through this article http://www.livemint.com/Industry/FiK...ford-stud.html

As per the attached report RethinkX+Report_051517.pdf the adaption of AVs in US will be more aggressive than initially thought. They are moving forward with TaaS (transport as a service) concept above Individually Owned vehicles.

They are also talking about end of IC Engines in next 8 to 10 years..

Like the digital cameras and smartphones exploded into the market worldwide, AVs based on EVs could be the next big thing to happen on the earth.

Anyway nice reading.

Cheers!

Vinu

[yogesh.8984]

Have you watched this video where Hormazd Sorabjee from Autocar shows an autonomous Celerio developed by a small start up in Kolkata.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3aFLbM-ojE