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News Roundup: More Crashes For Google Driverless Cars, Michigan Driverless Car and Hacking Laws Move Forward, and More

Michigan laws that would allow driverless cars on public roads for any reason, address car hacking move forward in House

A law that recently passed unanimously in the Michigan state Senate has been allowed to move forward in the House. The law would allow driverless cars to be driven on public Michigan roads for any reason, not just while being tested. At the same time, another bill moved forward — one that would make hacking into the electronic systems of a vehicle a felony. The next step for the bills will be discussion on the House floor, before deciding if and when to vote. Read more about the two bills on Crain’s Detroit Business.

Google self-driving cars have three collisions in Arizona in August

Google has confirmed that its self-driving test cars were in three collisions in Chandler, Arizona, located in the Phoenix metro area, in August. In two of the accidents, the car was in manual mode, being controlled by a human driver at the time of the crash. One of those collisions involved a drunk driver who rear-ended the Google car, injuring one of its passengers and sending him or her to the hospital with a concussion, according to media reports. In the other, the Google driver was cited in the crash, though investigation suggests the driver of the other car actually ran a red light and hit the Google car while making a left turn. In the third accident, the car was in autonomous mode when it was rear-ended by a human-driven car that was stopped at an intersection. Read more about the collisions from the Associated Press on InsuranceJournal.com.

Utah State University team places in national Autonomous Vehicle Competition

A team of engineering students from Utah State University (USU) took second place in last week’s Autonomous Vehicle Competition (AVC) in Colorado. Their vehicle, called the “USU Cruiser,” was the only one that completed the test course and made it all the way to the end. The team said the secret to their success was a “slow but steady” approach, and how quickly their robotic car was able to course-correct if it lost its orientation or got confused. The team said they hope to improve upon the Cruiser and enter it again in next year’s AVC. Read more about the USU Cruiser on the College of Engineering’s website.

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U.S. Government Greenlights Self-Driving Vehicles, Issues Formal Regulations

Jennifer van der Kleut

The United States federal government essentially gave self-driving vehicles a green light on Tuesday, Sept. 20 by issuing formal regulations as to how they can be tested and eventually introduced to the mass market.

In a conference call hosted by the National Highway Transportation Safety Authority (NHTSA), followed by a formal statement, the government outlined a four-part policy that guides regulations at the federal level and makes recommendations for the states.

In essence, the policy says that any vehicle that can pass a 15-point safety inspection can move forward on the road to public adoption. The guidelines then outline how states can legally allow manufacturers to introduce the vehicle to the mass market.

The four main parts of the new policy are:

  • 15-Point Safety Assessment: “The Vehicle Performance Guidance for Automated Vehicles for manufacturers, developers and other organizations includes a 15-point Safety Assessment for the safe design, development, testing and deployment of automated vehicles.” The assessment examines several areas of performance, such as cybersecurity concerns, how the car reacts to and recovers from system failures, ethics dilemmas, post-crash sharing of data with the NHTSA, and much more.
  • Model State Policy: “Delineates the federal and state roles for the regulation of highly automated vehicle technologies as part of an effort to build a consistent national framework of laws to govern self-driving vehicles.”
  • Current NHTSA Regulations/Options for Expediting Introduction: “Outlines options for the further use of current federal authorities to expedite the safe introduction of highly automated vehicles into the marketplace.”
  • Modern Regulations/Identifying and Removing Obstacles: “Discusses new tools and authorities the federal government may need as the technology evolves and is deployed more widely.”

The statement points out that the new policies address both lower levels of automation, as well as vehicles capable of full automation.

The policy also addresses how recalls of automated vehicles should be handled, if they are ever necessary.

Of note is a section of the policy that appears to address a vehicle’s capability of taking evasive measures to avoid a collision if a driver is distracted or not paying attention and fails to take back control of the car.

The government’s statement appears to indicate a car’s failure to take evasive measures itself, without the assistance of the car’s main occupant (formally known as “the driver”) creates an “unreasonable risk.”

“In particular, [the policy] emphasizes that semi-autonomous driving systems that fail to adequately account for the possibility that a distracted or inattentive driver/occupant might fail to retake control of the vehicle in a safety-critical situation may be defined as an unreasonable risk to safety, and subject to recall,” the statement reads.

Both Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind praised the new guidelines, and said they look forward to the adoption of autonomous vehicles, particularly for their potential to save lives by lowering instances of collisions.

“Automated vehicles have the potential to save thousands of lives, driving the single biggest leap in road safety that our country has ever taken,” said Foxx. “This policy is an unprecedented step by the federal government to harness the benefits of transformative technology by providing a framework for how to do it safely.”

“Ninety-four percent of crashes on U.S. roadways are caused by a human choice or error,” said Rosekind. “We are moving forward on the safe deployment of automated technologies because of the enormous promise they hold to address the overwhelming majority of crashes and save lives.”

Foxx added that he understands many are still wary of the technology, but pointed out that long ago, citizens were similarly wary of innovations we all take for granted today.

“New technologies developed in the 20th century, like seat belts and air bags, were once controversial but have now saved hundreds of thousands of American lives,” Foxx said. “This is the first in a series of proactive approaches, including the release of a rule on vehicle-to-vehicle communications, which will bring life-saving technologies to the roads safely and quickly while leaving innovators to dream up new safety solutions.”

The government’s statement says the formal policies issued Tuesday were the result of “significant public input and stakeholder discussions, including two open public meetings this year and an open public docket for comments.”

The Department of Transportation indicated it is also soliciting additional public comments for the next 60 days on the policy, which can be read in its entirety online.

“Through a series of next steps and in response to public comments, DOT intends to update the policy annually,” the statement indicated.

Image: Rendering of people in a self-driving car, by Rinspeed.

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Wyoming, Home of America’s Deadliest Highway, Hopes Connected Vehicle Pilot Will Reduce Crashes

Jennifer van der Kleut

One state’s Department of Transportation thinks connected vehicle technology could be the solution to solving the problem of one of the country’s deadliest highways.

Officials say Wyoming’s I-80 is one of the most dangerous highways in America. According to the Wyoming Business Report,  there were 50 injuries and one death on I-80 in April 2015 alone. In June, a family of three was killed on the same road.

Therefore, Wyoming’s DOT (WYDOT) announced this month it is turning to connected vehicle technology to try and improve safety on the highway.

The state is currently preparing for tests of a connected vehicle pilot program, in connection with USDOT. Test cars will be outfitted with technology that will allow the cars to communicate with each other, as well as with state infrastructure.

The Business Report says WYDOT is partnering with the University of Wyoming, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the University of Maryland Center for Advanced Transportation Technology, and Trihydro, an environmental engineering and consulting firm.

Part of the project will consist of installing short-wave communication devices in test vehicles that will allow them to send and receive safety messages.

The second phase of the program will involve installing technology in commercial trucks.

The information they can transmit will include the direction of travel, how fast it is traveling, and whether the vehicle is approaching a dangerous situation, explained WYDOT project manager Ali Ragan.

Though officials say the technology may not be able to eliminate all crashes on I-80 or other similar roads, it may at least help reduce the severity of crashes.

The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports the technology will also be added to WYDOT’s mobile app, so that even if certain vehicles don’t have the special technology installed, they can view the safety messages through the app.

The first phase of the project is already underway and will continue through September, when the second phase will begin and is expected to last around 20 months. Then a third phase will begin, which will mostly involve analysis of the testing and evaluation of data collected.

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California DMV Will Now Include Reports of All Autonomous Vehicle Accidents On Its Website

Jennifer van der Kleut

It has been said over and over again that autonomous vehicles will reduce the number of traffic accidents each year by as much as 80 to 90 percent, depending on who you ask.

Therefore, it is not surprising that when one of the foremost companies working on driverless car production, Google, has more than 10 accidents involving their driverless test cars in the past year, people are going to want to know what happened.

Earlier this year, when Google’s koala cars got into a few fender-benders - including the first to involve minor injuries to the passengers - the news media flew into an uproar. Reporters and news outlets demanded that California’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) should disclose details of the accidents, if for no other reason than the public has a right to know if Google’s test cars are going to share the road with human-driven cars in the Bay Area.

The DMV appears to have heard the call, loud and clear. The department recently created a dedicated page on its website linking to reports of accidents involving autonomous cars.

Nine reports are up on the site this week, spanning October 2014 to August 2015. Of those, eight are linked to a Google car and one is linked to Delphi Automotive. All personal information such as insurance companies and names of passengers are redacted, but details of the accidents and company names are visible.

The report of the Delphi accident, which occurred in October last year, involved one of its Audi test vehicles traveling in the Mountain View/Los Altos area of California’s Bay Area.

The report indicates the test car was waiting for traffic to clear so that it could merge onto a multi-lane road when a Honda attempted a dangerous turn and accidentally came up over the center median, crashing into the Audi test car.

The reports indicate the Audi’s right front bumper was damaged. The driver of the Honda was found to be at fault and given a citation “for making an unsafe turning movement.”

ACCIDENT WITH INJURY

In the only reported autonomous car accident thus far to involve any injuries, a Google Lexus AV was involved in a minor accident with a Tesla Model S on Aug. 20 when it slowed to yield to a pedestrian, the DMV’s report indicates.

The Google test car was traveling down Shoreline Boulevard in Mountain View when it slowed. Meanwhile, the Tesla was changing lanes into the one the Google car was in, and the Tesla rear-ended the Google car at approximately 10 miles per hour, according to the report.

One of the Google employees in the car felt back pain and was taken to the hospital, where he was evaluated and released. The Google car sustained minor damage to its rear bumper. The Tesla car sustained more serious damage and was towed from the scene.

As these reports indicate, one problem that occurs when autonomous cars share the same roads with human-driven cars is that the autonomous car operates almost too safely. Human drivers - even at 10 miles per hour - can be more aggressive and do not anticipate the autonomous car to be so “by-the-book.” Further, it’s probably a safe bet that few human drivers know that current Google test cars have a maximum speed of 25 miles per hour, regardless of whether they’re traveling on a road with a higher speed limit.

Visit the California DMV’s page for autonomous vehicle accident reports.