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from the don't-forget-the-kill-switch dept.
Self-driving cars on Michigan's roads may not need human chaperones much longer. Or at least, there will be (tele)operators instead of drivers:
Michigan's Senate is considering a bill that would allow self-driving cars to be tested on public roads without a human driver inside the vehicle. However, a human would still be required to "promptly" take control of the vehicles movements.
Michigan is already a driving force when it comes to driver-less car technology and now the senate may green light a law taking it a step further. The state senate is expected act quickly on a package of bills to loosen rules governing autonomous vehicles. One would no longer require someone actually be inside a self-driving car while testing it on public roads. Right now, Michigan is home to 375 automotive research centers and houses the world's first controlled environment specifically designed to test the potential of the vehicles.
From Senate Bill 0995 (2016):
(4) Subsections (1), (2), and (3) do not apply to an individual who is using a device described in subsection (1) or (3) to do any of the following:
[...] (e) Operate or program the operation of an automated motor vehicle while testing OR OPERATING the automated motor vehicle
in compliance with section 665, if that automated motor vehicle displays a special plate issued under section 224(3) in the manner required under section 225.WITHOUT A HUMAN OPERATOR.[...] (b) An individual
is present in the vehicle while it is being operated on a highway or street of this state and that individualDESCRIBED IN SUBDIVISION (A) has the ability to monitor the vehicle's performance WHILE IT IS BEING OPERATED ON A HIGHWAY OR STREET IN THIS STATE and, if necessary, immediately take control of the vehicle's movements. IF THE INDIVIDUAL DOES NOT, OR IS UNABLE TO, TAKE CONTROL OF THE VEHICLE, THE VEHICLE SHALL BE CAPABLE OF ACHIEVING A MINIMAL RISK CONDITION.
(Score: 2) by Bobs on Thursday September 08 2016, @03:57PM
So the vehicle will immediately, safely pull over and auto stop if remote data connection signal is degraded or missing? When traveling at highway speeds? Or in congested traffic?
The signal drops while traveling at highway speeds, cars starts to pull over, then signal is back, then quality dropped 80%, and there is an intermittent 1-second lag round-trip? I am sure that everything will be just fine if a remote operator has to jump in and take over when signal quality is poor.
Seems ripe for error and accidents if you are requiring a high quality, uninterrupted signal to handle emergency conditions.
Also, the way things work there will not be a 1 remote operator for every car, right? You have like 1 emergency operator for every 10 or hundred or thousand vehicles. So what happens in a widespread event where you need to take over a bunch of cars at once, more than you have operators for?
Say, a large earthquake in the San Francisco Bay area, affecting thousands of cars at once? What happens?