https://www.mercedes-benz.com/en/mercedes-benz/next/connectivity/high-precision-maps-for-self-driving-cars/
Imagine you are the sole passenger in a sleek electric convertible as it speeds along Pattaya’s Sukhumvit Highway. Relaxing in the front seat, you flick through your emails on your mobile phone, sip a glass of wine and even doze off to sleep. Feeling drowsy, you recall the silly days of old when such a vehicle would have been equipped with old-fashioned gadgets such as a steering wheel, pedals and a gear stick. Of course, you won’t need a driving licence as you are not in charge – every traffic cop’s nightmare. You are now living the dream of the driverless car.
Google has invested heavily in developing the self-driving vehicle and believes the moment is fast approaching when it will become the norm in towns and cities. The company has been investing heavily in developing the self-driving vehicle in the United States for the past six years and says they have been involved in just 16 minor incidents over 700,000 miles of actual testing. Work is currently ongoing on sensors and software to detect road signs and other vehicles. Google has also confirmed that a Detroit-based company which designs and builds prototypes for the auto industry has agreed to build 150 Google prototypes.
There is no clear evidence of driverless cars on Thailand’s roads and the idea has met with laughter on motoring blog sites. “There can be no future for driverless cars here,” said one Pattaya-based correspondent, “unless it is programmed to drive away speedily without stopping after an accident.” There are other concerns that hackers could meddle with a car’s control mechanisms to create rather than avoid accidents. Not to mention the ethical question that a real-life driver might choose to swerve a car into a wall in order to avoid hitting a child. But how would a machine choose between two different actions that would impact human beings differently?
Moreover, the Department of Motor Vehicles in California, the main testing centre, has stated that fully autonomous vehicles will not be allowed on the roads anytime soon. The regulator says that a real human being with a real driving licence must always be present in the car and capable of taking control in the event of a technological failure or other emergency. Other concerns include the thought that an autonomous car might not be able to tell the difference between, say, a traffic cone and a dog. Although several leading car manufacturers are researching the self-driving revolution – including Ford, BMW and Mercedes-Benz – they are still unconvinced that the scope for human intervention can be eliminated altogether.
The Thai Transport Ministry has not commented on the whole issue, although a spokesperson for the Banglamung Traffic Office said that the whole subject was still very tentative. “In any case,” he said, “it would require a change in the law to do away with driving licences.” No doubt the police would oppose such a change in the law as handing over your driving licence is the very basis of much official action on the nation’s roads and thoroughfares, including the payment of fines bureaucracy.
But Google is not disillusioned by the opposition and the suspicions. It argues that human error is the cause of most accidents and should be eliminated from the driving process altogether. It emphasizes too that a “partial” self-driving capability, where control is handed back and forth between the car and the driver, is actually dangerous. In the opinion of Google, the whole point of a driverless car is that the human occupants will want to sit back and relax. They could not be trusted to take charge of the vehicle in an emergency.
In the decades ahead, the creation of increasingly advanced robots and the question of how far they should be permitted to conduct traditionally human tasks will be an immense challenge. After all, we already accept a world in which delicate operations on the human body can be performed elegantly without human hands and in which pilotless drones can conduct devastating warfare. The advent of the driverless car will be an early test for the brave new world, howbeit one still lacking human trust and confidence.
But, for the moment, those weary drivers waiting in traffic jams on Thailand’s crowded roads or trying to turn off after they notice a police road block ahead must continue to suffer in silence. Meanwhile, those action-packed days at the local traffic centre to renew your driving licence for another five years are not coming to an end any time soon.
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_29913207/thailand-bans-motorbike-hailing-services-uber-and-grab
http://pattayatoday.net/news/latest-edition/driverless-cars-in-thailand/
ถือเป็นบริษัทเทคโนโลยีล่าสุดที่กระโจนเข้ามาในด้านนี้ ต่อจาก Ford Volvo Lyft และ Google
บริษัทบริการรถยนต์โดยสารออนไลน์ Uber เริ่มการทดสอบรถยนต์ขับเคลื่อนด้วยตัวเอง ที่เมืองพิตต์สเบิร์ก รัฐเพนซิลเวเนีย
โดยในช่วงเริ่มต้นนี้จะมีคนนั่งไปในรถยนต์ด้วยเพื่อคอยควบคุมในกรณีเกิดเหตุฉุกเฉิน และตั้งเป้าว่าในที่สุดจะไม่จำเป็นต้องมีคนนั่งไปด้วย
แถลงการณ์ของ Uber ระบุว่า “หากคุณขับรถในเมืองพิตต์สเบิร์กในช่วงไม่กี่สัปดาห์ข้างหน้า คุณอาจเห็นรถแปลกๆ ติดตั้งอุปกรณ์เรดาห์และกล้องถ่ายรูป ดูแล้วคล้ายรถของซูเปอร์ฮีโร่ แต่ให้รู้ไว้ว่านั่นไม่ใช่รถที่ใช้ถ่ายหนัง แต่เป็นรถยนต์ทดสอบของศูนย์เทคโนโลยีของ Uber ในเมืองพิตต์สเบิร์ก"
Uber ร่วมมือกับมหาวิทยาลัย Carnegie Mellon ที่รัฐเพนซิลเวเนีย ในการพัฒนาเทคโนโลยีหุ่นยนต์ที่สามารถบังคับตัวเองได้ ถือเป็นบริษัทเทคโนโลยีล่าสุดที่กระโจนเข้ามาในด้านนี้ ต่อจาก Ford Volvo Lyft และ Google
