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Robocar year in review for 2018
Brad Templeton, Robocars.com
07 Jan 2019
In spite of what most are writing, it was a year of much progress.
A number of other summaries of 2018 in robocars have called it a bad year, the year it all went south, even the year the public re...
The metaphysical impact of automation
Oliver Mitchell
16 Dec 2018
Earlier this month, I crawled into Dr. Wendy Ju‘s autonomous car simulator to explore the future of human-machine interfaces at CornellTech’s Tata Innovation Center. Dr. Ju recently moved ...
The Montréal Declaration: Why we must develop AI responsibly
The Conversation
09 Dec 2018
Yoshua Bengio, Université de Montréal
I have been doing research on intelligence for 30 years. Like most of my colleagues, I did not get involved in the field with the aim of producing technologi...
Waymo soft launches in Phoenix, but…
Brad Templeton, Robocars.com
09 Dec 2018
Waymo announced today they will begin commercial operations in the Phoenix area under the name "Waymo One." Waymo has promised that it would happen this year, and it is a huge milestone, but I can't a...
The end of parking as we know it
Oliver Mitchell
02 Dec 2018
A day before snow hindered New York commuters, researchers at the University of Iowa and Princeton identified the growth of urbanization as the leading cause for catastrophic storm damage. Wednesday&#...
Accessing the power of quantum computing, today
Oliver Mitchell
25 Nov 2018
Two weeks ago, I participated on a panel at the BCI Summit exploring the impact of quantum computing. As a neophyte to the subject, I marveled at the riddle posed by Grover’s Algorithm. Imagine...
Worried about AI taking over the world? You may be making some rather unscientific assumptions
The Conversation
10 Nov 2018
Eleni Vasilaki, Professor of Computational Neuroscience, University of Sheffield
Phonlamai Photo/Shutterstock
Should we be afraid of artificial ...
The race for robot clairvoyance
Oliver Mitchell
09 Nov 2018
This week a Harvard Business School student challenged me to name a startup capable of producing an intelligent robot – TODAY! At first I did not understand the question, as artificial intellige...
Waymo is first, but is Cruise second, and how can you tell?
Brad Templeton, Robocars.com
03 Nov 2018
A recent Reuters story suggests Cruise is well behind schedule with one insider saying "nothing is on schedule" and various reports of problems not yet handled. This puts doubt into GM's announced ...
Educating the workforce of the future, in the age of accelerations
Oliver Mitchell
24 Oct 2018
I have two kids in college and one of my biggest concerns is their knowledge that what they have labored hard to acquire will become obsolete by the time of graduation. Our age is driven by the hypers...
What happens to human driven cars in the robocar world?
Brad Templeton, Robocars.com
18 Oct 2018
I love to talk about the coming robocar world. Over the next few decades, more and more trips will be made in robocars, and more and more people will reduce or give up car ownership to live the robota...
New York: The gateway to industry 4.0
Oliver Mitchell
06 Oct 2018
As Hurricane Florence raged across the coastline of Northern Carolina, 600 miles north the 174th Attack Wing Nation Guard base in Syracuse, New York was on full alert. Governor Cuomo just hung up with...
The pedestrian experiment
Alan Winfield
10 Sep 2018
Followers of this blog will know that I have been working for some years on simulation-based internal models - demonstrating their potential for ethical robots, safer robots and imitati...
Robots and jobs
SPARC
29 Aug 2018
Will a robot take my job?
Media headlines often speculate about robots taking our jobs. We’re told robots will replace swaths of workers from taxi drivers to caregivers. While some believe this wi...
Waymo’s left turns frustrate other drivers
Brad Templeton, Robocars.com
29 Aug 2018
This week's hot story was again from Amir at The Information and there is even more detail in the author's Twitter thread....
Uber might sell its robocar division, Nuro opens first delivery pilot in Scottsdale
Brad Templeton, Robocars.com
23 Aug 2018
The newsletter The Information reports Uber's investors are pushing Uber to sell its self-drive division to some other large player. The division has, of course, been nothing but trouble for Uber, an...
Ice-bot cometh: Building self-reliant unmanned systems
Oliver Mitchell
23 Aug 2018
Last June, a massive dust storm engulfed Mars and immobilized the most famous robots in the galaxy, Opportunity and Curiosity. This is not the first time that Martian dirt has prevented Opportunity fr...
Recent Waymo announcements are slightly underwhelming
Brad Templeton, Robocars.com
09 Aug 2018
Waymo recently announced two new partnerships for their fleet of robotaxis....
Autonomous robot evolution: from cradle to grave
Alan Winfield
31 Jul 2018
A few weeks ago we had the kick-off meeting, in York, of our new 4 year EPSRC funded project Autonomous Robot Evolution (ARE): cradle to grave. We - Andy Tyrrell and Jon Timmis (York), Emma Hart ...
Robots may say NO to war
Andreagiovanni Reina
31 Jul 2018
Robots become every day more 'intelligent'. What if robots were intelligent enough to say NO to war? This would be a happier future.
This short film is a light-hearted comedy that aims to launch an...
Will you need geeky glasses to avoid motion sickness in your robocar?
Brad Templeton, Robocars.com
31 Jul 2018
For a lot of people, being a passenger in a car can easily lead to motion sickness, particularly if they try to do something like looking down to read a book or stare at a phone. Not everybody gets th...
Disney launches new era of autonomy with gravity defying stickmen and more
Oliver Mitchell
25 Jul 2018
Ever since the première of “Steamboat Willie” in 1928, The Walt Disney Company has pushed the envelope of imagination. Mickey Mouse is still more popular worldwide than any single human a...
How do we get robotaxi rides down to 30 cents/mile while Uber/Lyft charge 50 cents/mile to just connect you?
Brad Templeton, Robocars.com
25 Jul 2018
In discussion of the eventual cost of a robotaxi ride, I and others have forecast costs similar to the all-in cost of car ownership. Today that's 40 to 60 cents/mile (plus parking) and for a one pers...
Simulation-based internal models for safer robots
Alan Winfield
16 Jul 2018
Readers of this blog will know that I've become very excited by the potential of robots with simulation-based internal models in recent years. So far we've demonstrated their potential in simple ethic...
Don’t watch TV while safety driving
Brad Templeton, Robocars.com
29 Jun 2018
The Tempe police released a detailed report on their investigation of Uber's fatality. I am on the road and have not had time to read it, but the big point, reported in many press was that the safety ...
What is artificial intelligence? (Or, can machines think?)
Alan Winfield
21 Jun 2018
Here are the slides from my York Festival of Ideas keynote yesterday, which introduced the festival focus day Artificial Intelligence: Promises and Perils....
WAZE for drones: expanding the national airspace
Oliver Mitchell
14 Jun 2018
Sitting in New York City, looking up at the clear June skies, I wonder if I am staring at an endangered phenomena. According to many in the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) industry, skylines across th...
New battery technology is accelerating autonomy and saving the environment
Oliver Mitchell
07 Jun 2018
If the robotics world had a celebrity it would be Spot Mini of Boston Dynamics. Last month at the Robotics Summit in Boston the mechanical dog strutted onto the floor of the Westin Hotel trailed by hu...
Automating window washing
Oliver Mitchell
01 Jun 2018
Three and half years ago, I stood on the corner of West Street and gasped as two window washers clung to life at the end of a rope a thousand feet above. By the time rescue crews reached the men on th...
Tesla’s fatal crash
Bryant Walker Smith
26 Apr 2018
Tesla can do better than its current public response to the recent fatal crash involving one of its vehicles. I would like to see more introspection, credibility, and nuance....
NHTSA/SAE’s “levels” of robocars may be contributing to highway deaths
Brad Templeton, Robocars.com
11 Apr 2018
The NHTSA/SAE "levels" of robocars are not just incorrect. I now believe they are contributing to an attitude towards their "level 2" autopilots that plays a small, but real role in the recent Tesla f...
Comparing the Uber and Tesla fatalities with a table
Brad Templeton, Robocars.com
04 Apr 2018
The Uber car and Tesla's autopilot, both in the news for fatalities are really two very different things. This table outlines the difference. Also, see below for some new details on why the Tesla c...
3 initial thoughts on Ready Player One
Michael Szollosy
04 Apr 2018
The long-anticipated, Steven Spielberg-helmed Ready Player One has just been released in UK cinemas this week, and as a film of obvious interest to DreamingRobots and Cyberselves everywhere, we went ...
Arizona bans Uber self-driving cars
Brad Templeton, Robocars.com
27 Mar 2018
The governor of Arizona has told Uber to "get an Uber" and stop testing in the state. With no instructions on how to come back....
Almost every thing that went wrong in the Uber fatality is both terrible and expected
Brad Templeton, Robocars.com
26 Mar 2018
Today I'm going to examine how you attain safety in a robocar, and outline a contradiction in the things that went wrong for Uber and their victim. Each thing that went wrong is both important and wor...
The paradox on robocar accidents
Brad Templeton, Robocars.com
14 Mar 2018
I have written a few times about the unusual nature of robocar accidents. Recently I was discussing this with a former student who is doing some research on the area. As a first step, she began lookin...
