Future of Autonomous Vehicles Is Bright With Uber, Toyota Collaboration
Future
of Autonomous Vehicles Is Bright With Uber, Toyota Collaboration
by Lindsey Slusher Monday, 08 October 2018 21:10
An Uber self-driving Ford Fusion sits at a traffic light on
Beechwood Boulevard and waits to turn onto Fifth Avenue in Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette / Tribune News Service
Uber badly needed a pick-me-up.
After a successful start, the ride-hailing service has recently
encountered numerous issues while trying to stay ahead of the curve---most
notably, deadly driverless car crashes. After failing to adjust previous
issues, Uber now must accept its faults and seek help or else face an
inevitable downturn in business.
The driverless car trend came after the development of the Tesla
by Elon Musk, which supposedly has full self-driving capability at a safety
level substantially greater than that of a human driver. Of course, other
companies---like Volvo, Audi, Toyota and even Uber---want to be able to compete
at the same level and have developed their own autonomous models.
However, these developments do not come without consequences,
especially for Uber. The cars were having trouble driving through construction
zones and next to tall vehicles---like tractor trailers. In addition, Uber’s
human drivers had to intervene much more frequently than the drivers of
competing autonomous cars. To compare, Google’s self-driving car project went
on average 5,600 miles before the driver had to take control, while Uber
drivers were barely going 13 miles without having to take over. Obviously, Uber
was encountering engineering obstacles, but not a lot seemed to be happening in
the way of fixing the issues before they became serious.
Unfortunately, Uber didn’t heed the warnings. The straw that
ultimately broke Uber’s back was the fatal crash of one of its autonomous cars
in March 2018. A Volvo traveling in autonomous mode struck a woman walking her
bicycle across the street outside of the crosswalk. Although the car system
detected the woman about six seconds before the vehicle struck her, it failed
to take any corrective action. After seemingly brushing over previous issues,
this was Uber’s much-needed wake-up call.
The first question that comes to anyone’s mind: How do these
things keep happening? Strangely enough, before the fatal crash in March, Uber
engineers had intentionally disabled the Volvo’s emergency braking system to
reduce the potential for erratic behavior, but did not program the system to
alert the human driver to manually brake. Such glaring negligence on the part
of Uber engineers demonstrates a potentially life-threatening shortfall in
their technological knowledge. To avoid possible crippling of its widely used
service, Uber desperately needed the guidance and expertise of a true car
manufacturer.
Toyota could provide this guidance. As of August 2018,
Toyota is investing about $500 million in Uber Technologies Inc. as part of an
agreement by the companies to work jointly on autonomous vehicles aimed at
improving safety and lowering transportation costs. Per their agreement, Uber
will integrate self-driving technology into Toyota Sienna minivans for use in
Uber’s network, which will begin testing in the next few years.
This partnership is much needed for both parties
involved, especially Uber. For the ride-sharing service, the expertise of an
actual car company will likely improve the engineering of its obviously flawed
driverless technology. Hopefully, Toyota will be able to assist Uber in the
engineering upkeep and regulatory compliance it so horribly lacked in its
autonomous vehicles.
For a company like Toyota, hesitant at first to enter
into the autonomous vehicle race, the potential of having self-driving cars in
a service like Uber represents a challenge to an industry that is dominated by
individual car ownership. Additionally, this move by Toyota marks a trend in
partnerships between car manufacturers and tech companies to further autonomous
technology. A successful collaboration can only aid both brands in their
respective markets.
With the collaboration of Toyota and Uber, it won’t be
much longer before the autonomous vehicle and subsequent autonomous ride
sharing are, as Tesla suggests, capable of a safety level higher than that of a
human driver.
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