EuroWire January 2016

Transatlantic cable

through construction work and potholes. But a bigger challenge came from the absence of lane markings along lengthy stretches of highway due to repaving work over the summer. Dr Rojas and his colleagues have out tted Autonomos as a “driving laboratory” with seven laser scanners, nine video cameras, seven radars and a GPS roof antenna. They previously tested the same car in autonomous driving mode in Germany, on a 190-mile round trip from Berlin to Leipzig. † As noted by Jeremy Hsu of the IEEE Spectrum , Dr Rojas hopes eventually to improve the ability of Autonomos to predict the behaviour of other drivers and also pedestrians. “If a human can drive with two eyes,” Dr Rojas said, “I am sure that we will be able to drive autonomously with a computer the size of a notebook and just a handful of video cameras in a few more years.” † Mr Hsu also observed that semi-autonomous features have been “creeping into” existing cars. Tesla Motors recently uploaded new Autopilot software to its Tesla Model S vehicles. And the Mercedes-Benz S Class has since 2014 o ered adaptive cruise control and automatic collision prevention. As Volkswagen presents its remediation plan, the diesel-emissions scandal continues to widen around the company On 20 th November, a little more than two months after the company’s cheating on diesel emissions tests was revealed, Volkswagen AG submitted its recall plan to regulators with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The German automaker had been negotiating with the authorities on details of a plan to deal with 482,000 2.0-litre diesel vehicles sold in the USA that used deceptive software to evade emissions requirements. Having met California’s deadline for submitting a plan, VW awaited the CARB and EPA response. In the interim, the automaker said, it continued to work with both sets of regulators toward an approved remedy. Focusing on California, Dana Hull and Je Plungis of Bloomberg News noted that – beyond developing an e ective x for each of three types of non-compliant four-cylinder engines – VW must document any adverse impacts on vehicles and consumers. And, since the emissions scandal centres on Volkswagen’s use of a sophisticated defeat device, “Any proposed remedy – whether that’s retro tting cars with new parts or revising software codes – will need to be tested by California technicians before the plan is rolled out to consumers.” The Bloomberg reporters reviewed the three categories of cars that are problematic for Volkswagen. The older cars – known as Gen I – will be the hardest to x, as they lack the Selective Catalytic Reduction device that, starting in 2012, VW added to models like its Passat. Retro ts are often di cult and expensive. So-called Gen 2s may need additional hardware as well as software alterations, while Gen 3s may require just a software x. (“Volkswagen Submits Recall Plan to California Air Regulators,” 20 th November) Advocacy groups weigh in on mitigation But the xes are not the whole of Volkswagen’s problems. California Attorney General Kamala Harris as well as several attorneys general of other states are conducting criminal

According to the TelecomTV editor, the density of the commuter population of Silicon Valley increases by the day and is putting immense strain on already creaking transport infrastructure and housing stocks. He wrote: “From San Francisco all the way down some 45 miles to the back end of San Jose the roads are almost continually full to choking point – as are the trains and buses – and the constraints of physical geography mean there is no easy way (or perhaps no way at all) to bring relief.” † But despite the “nightmare tra c” and associated air pollution, the “ludicrous expense” of living and working in the area, the persistent drought in the USA far West, and the prospect of water rationing in California, Mr Warwick observes that more companies all the time are drawn to Silicon Valley. The crowded conditions apparently agree with the AI and robotics people who throng the area. The Toyota lab is to be led by Dr Gill Pratt, formerly of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), who oversaw the recent DARPA Robotics Challenge – a bruising competition among 25 advanced automata. Dr Pratt told Mr Warwick: “The density of people doing this kind of work [AI and robotics] in Silicon Valley is higher than any other place in the world.” † For his part, Mr Warwick noted that Silicon Valley’s main artery is Route 84 – El Camino Real, there since California was an outpost of Spain and donkeys were the fastest things on the road. He wrote: “Were there any donkeys on the Royal Road today they’d probably still be the fastest things on it.” Covering 250 to 300 incident-free miles a day, researchers along for the ride set a 1,500-mile record for a self-driving car While tech companies and auto makers have been testing self-driving cars on the roads of North America for some time now, few accounts have emerged of the passenger experience on such a ride. Recently the IEEE Spectrum , published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (New York), carried a report from one member of the four-person crew aboard an experimental car that set a record for a “no hands” road trip from the USA to Mexico border south to Mexico City. The self-driving car was a 2010 Volkswagen Passat Variant known as Autonomos. The modi ed vehicle can automatically control speed, direction and braking without human intervention, but it also relies upon the US Global Positioning System (GPS) to safely follow preset routes. The researchers also prepared customised maps containing terabytes of data detailing the number of lanes, highway markings, exits, intersections and tra c lights. (“Autonomous Car Sets Record in Mexico,” 26 th October) “We covered 250 to 300 miles daily, so it took a week to arrive in Mexico City,” said Raúl Rojas, a professor of computer science and mathematics at the Free University of Berlin and a visiting professor at the University of Nevada (Reno), in a press release. “Some parts of the highway were scary, but we had no important safety incidents.” “We” were Dr Rojas and three colleagues from Germany. Taking it in turns, one person kept an eye on the road from the driver’s seat and one person watched the computer and navigation systems to learn what moves the autonomous car planned next. The other two followed in a support vehicle. The 1,500-mile road trip, the rst leg of a planned 4,000-mile trip from Reno to Mexico City, kept to Mexico’s north-south Highway 15. About ve per cent of the route took the self-driving car

38

www.read-eurowire.com

January 2016