Startup of parallel autonomous/unmanned vehicle blog

I have created a parallel blog discussing my work in autonomous and unmanned vehicles/robots: Autonomous/Unmanned Vehicles and Robots in NH, and I invite to take a look.

Are AV laws needed?

The working group contacted the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (http://www.autoalliance.org/) on October 30th, and learned that their position on states involvement in AV legislation is "neither necessary or desired" because in any state without AV legislation, anybody wishing to test can simply go forth and test.

We are now considering what our options are, if any, that would improve New Hampshire's appeal to those companies wishing to test AVs.

Getting AVs on the road, why we need more test facilities and what to do about it

A disruptive force is transforming the automobile industry as Autonomous (Driverless) Vehicles (AVs) accelerate innovation and invention.  AVs are now mainstream: they are being developed, tested and analyzed on public roads, and news articles about them are published almost every day. They are no longer the subject of Hollywood fantasy: they are here now and they will become the new normal in a few years.

The reasons for the recent increase in AV innovation include:

1. removing human error that causes fatal car accidents. More than 30,000 deaths occur every year: approximately 93% are attributable to human error.
2. easing traffic jams and improving road capacity
3. providing mobility for the disabled/infirmed/elderly and those who must rely on others for transportation
4. reducing emissions and pollution and increasing fuel efficiency
5. decreasing parking space requirements.
6. increasing productivity for occupants
7. decreasing insurance costs

The technologies that make AVs feasible include:

1. GPS
2. cheap powerful sensors and computers
3. advances in machine vision and AI.
4. etc?

References

http://www.roboticscaucus.org/Schedule/2012/Automationforsafety-CongressionalroboticsCaucus-Maddox7-25-12.pdf

http://www.ieee.org/about/news/2012/5september_2_2012.html

http://www.kpmg.com/US/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Documents/self-driving-cars-next-revolution.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_car

http://funginstitute.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/Self_Driving_Cars.pdf

Besides the obvious benefits, there are market forces that make development of AVs necessary for the survival of the automobile manufacturers. A recent  ABC article states that the personal automotive market is poised to make dramatic shifts to follow changes in attitudes towards ownership: ‘Market researchers have observed a "trend toward de-emotionalizing automobility," in the words of Stefan Bratzel of the FHDW University of Applied Sciences, in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany. In one study, Bratzel found that fewer and fewer young people living in cities own their own car, and that many no longer even have a driver's license. How else can car manufacturers expect to reach these potential customers, if not with a car that takes care of the driving itself?’ http://abcnews.go.com/International/auto-revolution-promising-future-driving-cars/story?id=18378323

AVs are going to be a major part of our lives, soon, but before that can happen they must be thoroughly tested to ensure their safety and utility. The key issue to address before the technical work can begin is liability. Any legislation regarding AVs will need to liabilities regarding the automobile manufacturer, AV owner and the driver/operator. What Nevada has done is discussed in the following section. Discussion about the legalities of AVs on US roads has followed research by Stanford Law School Scholar Bryant Walker Smith. He suggests that without some legislation addressing AVs specifically, operating an AV in much of the US may actually be legal (except for those states that have passed AV laws and New York).

See: http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/publications/automated-vehicles-are-probably-legal-united-states

Nevertheless, the legal issues must be addressed before useful testing and operation can commence.

Where are AVs being tested?

Nevada is currently the only state that has a licensing/certification process for Autonomous Vehicles on its public roads. Florida, followed by California have passed laws addressing AVs but are awaiting rules from their respective DMVs.

Nevada’s DMV AV website: http://www.dmvnv.com/autonomous.htm

Some points regarding Nevada’s AV rules:

1. Constrain testing to selected regions throughout the state
2. Establish insurance requirements ($5,000,000)
3. Require two occupants in the AV while testing (one operator, one monitors system/environment)
4. Set requirements for AV operator endorsement
5. Require that system data of the last 30 seconds of AV operation be recorded for analysis should an accident occur (This does not authorize or require the modification of any other mechanism to record data that is installed on the AV in compliance with federal law.)
6. Require the additional AV technology to be separate from the rest of the vehicle and can be disabled easily, must be able to alert an operator to take control, and must have a visual indicator showing the AV technology is engaged
7. Require the AV to meet all federal standards and regulations that are applicable to a motor vehicle (the autonomous technology does not adversely affect any other safety features of the vehicle which are subject to federal regulation)
8. Establish liability: from Nevada’s DB313  “the manufacturer of a motor vehicle that has been converted to be an autonomous vehicle by a third party is immune from liability for certain injuries in certain circumstances”
9. Direct the Nevada DMV to come up with rules within seven months

Definition of AV’s from Nevada’s rules (NAC 482A, NRS 482A, SB313)

http://www.leg.state.nv.us/NAC/NAC-482A.html

http://openstates.org/nv/bills/77/SB313/documents/NVD00011289/

 ’“Autonomous vehicle” defined.  ’“Autonomous vehicle” means a motor vehicle that uses artificial intelligence, sensors and global positioning system coordinates to drive itself without the active intervention of a human operator.’

More importantly, the Nevada’s AV definition excludes vehicles equipped with ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems)

‘the Department will interpret the term “autonomous vehicle” to exclude a vehicle enabled with a safety system or driver assistance system, including, without limitation, a system to provide electronic blind spot assistance, crash avoidance, emergency braking, parking assistance, adaptive cruise control, lane keep assistance, lane departure warnings and traffic jam and queuing assistance, unless the vehicle is also enabled with artificial intelligence and technology that allows the vehicle to carry out all the mechanical operations of driving without the active control or continuous monitoring of a natural person.’

A panel of Nevada’s legislators who played a key part in the development of the AV legislation was assembled by Bryant Walker Smith of Stanford’s Law School’s Center for Internet and Society. Their session was video taped and can be viewed here:

http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/multimedia/how-autonomous-driving-bill-becomes-law-video

What the Feds are saying

The NHTSA released a recommendation regarding AVs on May 30, 2013:

http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/rulemaking/pdf/Automated_Vehicles_Policy.pdf

where they give definitions for five levels of Autonomy (levels 0 - 4).

level 0 : No Automation

level 1 : Function-specific Automation; stability control, ABS, adaptive cruise control, etc

level 2 : Combined Function Automation: automation of at least two level 1 functions

level 3 : Limited Self-Driving Automation (think Google’s car)

level 4 : Full Self-Driving Automation (think Love Bug, KITT, Johnny Cab, etc)

The following two recommendations for states are from the NHTSA document addressing AV testing:

“Further research is needed to fully understand the technical and human factors issues implicated by self-driving vehicles. This guidance is therefore provisional and subject to reconsideration and revision as appropriate, especially before any potential regulatory action – which must appropriately balance the need to ensure motor vehicle safety with the flexibility to innovate”

“We offer these recommendations to state drafters of legislation and regulations governing the licensing, testing, and operation of self-driving vehicles on public roads in order to encourage the safe development and implementation of automated vehicle technology, which holds the potential for significant long-term safety benefits. In general, we believe that states are well suited to address issues such as licensing, driver training, and conditions for operation related to specific types of vehicles. NHTSA has considerable concerns however about detailed state regulation on safety of self-driving vehicles, and does not recommend at this time that states permit operation of self-driving vehicles for purposes other than testing”

Below, you’ll see that this is exactly what is being proposed here for New Hampshire; establish rules for safely testing AVs on New Hampshire roads.

Now on to the heart of the matter.

There are issues being experienced by testers at the moment. These deal with poor weather (mainly snow, ice, driving rain), variable road conditions (road work, detours/roads not mapped),  poorly marked roads (dirt, no signage), changing lighting conditions (twilight, dawn), human traffic control coordinate traffic with a series of confounding and sometimes conflicting hand gestures). And there are probably others. The limited availability of good testing environments and the expertise to handle them is hampering that effort.

Why test AVs in New Hampshire

Here in New Hampshire there exists an important set of environmental scenarios and a wealth of technical talent that are important to that endeavour. New Hampshire possesses world famous extreme weather, often for extended periods of time. Roads, especially in the North Country, remain poorly marked and mapped. And due to the weather conditions, road work is a constant theme for many of the roads which would give ample real world testing of human traffic control.

There was an attempt to pass legislation to create a committee to study autonomous vehicles that did not succeed in the NH State Senate:

http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2013/HB0444.html

audio of the Senate debate can be heard here:

http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/senateaudio/committees/2013/Transportation/HB444.asx

I find it kind of ironic that Google was present and stated they had concerns about AVs testing here because of snow/ice conditions. The is precisely why I feel testing should be conducted here so as to get a handle on some of the real environmental problems that AVs are going to face before they are accepted.

The work proposed here will, similar to Nevada’s legislation and following the recommendations from the NHTSA, direct the NH DMV (http://www.nh.gov/safety/divisions/dmv/) to establish rules for the testing of Autonomous Vehicles on New Hampshire’s roads. As done in Nevada, it is suggested that the following be considered.

1. Setup geographic regions for testing

start with the region that is called the North Country - many miles of poorly marked/mapped roads, numerous road work conditions and some of the worst weather in the country -- lightly populated; maybe include the White Mountain region -- more poor weather with some closed for the winter

2. Establish timeframes for reports and reviews of testing progress
3. Allow testing at private raceways

New Hampshire has a good selection of small private race tracks that could be used as test tracks when not is use. Allows extensive testing of prototype technology near where live testing can be done

4. Establish insurance requirements and address liability concerns (at a minimum, Nevada requires $5000000 coverage)
5. Set requirements for an AV operator license endorsement and establish mode of operation (Nevada requires two operators - I recommend the same - one licensed to operate an AV and one for monitoring)
6. Within six months, allow the NH DMV to adopt regulations authorizing the operation of AVs on roads within the State of New Hampshire

There are a number of states considering AV legislation, some of them would offer similar testing environments as New Hampshire. Which states are considering AV legislation and how far along their legislation is can be seen here:

http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/wiki/index.php/Automated_Driving:_Legislative_and_Regulatory_Action

We don't see any reason why New Hampshire shouldn't lead that effort.

Time for a kick-off meeting

Tuesday October 15, 6-7pm

Bedford Public Library

McAllaster room

http://www.bedford.lib.nh.us/direct.html

This meeting is being held to generate awareness of the large economic impact for the state of New Hampshire that could be generated by Autonomous Vehicle (AV) testing.  We will explain how it can generate high-paying long-term jobs, and what needs to be done at the grass-roots level to make this happen.

A short presentation will be given followed by a discussion regarding the preparation of legislation for New Hampshire that will allow the testing of Autonomous Vehicles on New Hampshire roads, similar to what is being done in Nevada.

The only state in the nation that currently allows AV testing is Nevada. New Hampshire is a much more realistic location for this activity because we have more challenging driving conditions due to our extreme weather variations and our vast range of road types, traffic patterns, etc. We also have a much larger pool of highly skilled technical talent and our location is very attractive to industry because of our proximity to the Boston area.

RSVP to confirm your attendance.

ps: I will attend the New Hampshire TechFest (Saturday, October 12, 2013). If you would like to meet-up there, let me know, I'd be glad to chat.

NHTechFest http://www.nhtechfest.org/

 

pps: Notes will be posted here prior to the meeting

The NH IEEE Working Group for the advancement of Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) in New Hampshire will be meeting soon to begin the process of getting AVs tested on NH roads. The reasons for this and the how the process is progressing will be posted here. A pre-kickoff rant will arrive soon...