[msb-alumni] Getting There: Driverless technology is closer than you might think
- From: Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2018 13:59:40 -0400
BlankGetting There: Driverless technology is closer than you might think By
Nick Deshais The Spokesman-Review
In the campy horror film "Maximum Overdrive," big rig trucks spring to life and
rampage across the countryside homicidal and with no one behind the wheel. The
1986 Stephen King movie bombed at the box office, but it spoke to a fear that
has only grown since its time: When cars and trucks come to life, it won't be
good for us humans.
This fear is misplaced, with predictions that self-driving cars will
dramatically reduce the 1.3 million road fatalities occurring every year
worldwide.
Cars aren't distracted by smartphones, after all, and they don't get sleepy or
drunk.
If that does little to make you feel any better, motorists can look to
18-wheelers to see how the future is coming along. Those same trucks that had
it out for "Overdrive" star Emilio Estevez.
Driverless technology is already here. The
first sector to really use it is the shipping industry, with its American fleet
of 2 million tractor-trailers.
Last month, the Pacific Northwest Economic Region held its annual summit in
Spokane, and one session dealt with what are called "Automated Connected
Electric Shared Vehicles."
It's a bit of gobbledygook that contains a glimmer of the future: vehicles that
drive themselves, talk to each other and aren't powered by a gas engine. The
session featured Kyle Quinn, chief technology officer at PACCAR Inc., one of
the
largest manufacturers of heavy-duty commercial vehicles in the world. The
Bellevue-based company owns the Kenworth, Peterbilt and DAF brands.
In his talk, he described the autonomous elements currently being used in
trucks: auto-emergency braking and stop-and-go controls that guide trucks in
areas of traffic congestion. In 2019, Quinn said, PACCAR will implement an even
bigger leap in its technology. Its trucks will keep themselves within the lane
and allow something called "platooning."
Simply put, platooning allows for very close travel between trucks. Think
inches. Such proximity will increase the fuel efficiency for all the trucks in
the platoon, including the lead vehicle.
It's easy to see where all of this is headed: truck after truck in one long
line
on our nation's highways.
Right now, there has to be a driver in every vehicle, of course. But in
the future, they won't, and these lines of trucks will be without humans.
When that happens, our freeways will surely look similar to our railways, with
long lines of cars ferrying our freight.
PACCAR's laboratory for such futuristic technology is in Silicon Valley, at its
Innovation Center. There, scientists are working on driverless technology,
artificial intelligence, vehicle connectivity, augmented reality -- think
Google
Glass and electric and hydrogen fuel cell powertrains. All signs point to huge
trucks driving the latest technology.
Steve Marshall, the Transportation Technology Partnership manager for the city
of Bellevue who also spoke at the PNWER summit, applauded the work PACCAR is
doing.
People were fearful of the elevator at first, Marshall said, paranoia that only
continued when elevator operators were phased out. "It's an evolution. People
have to get used to what the advantages are," he said. In other
words, we may be fearful of autonomous cars, but we'll get used to it. Or at
least our kids and grandkids will.
Marshall said the technology could phase out all vehicle deaths by 2030, a
downward trend he predicted would begin years before.
"Even before they're fully self-driving, you can save lots of lives, lots of
injuries," he said. A big roadblock is us, the public, Marshall suggested.
"This
is not that far out," he said. "These vehicles are here. The question is how do
we introduce them to the public?"
Reema Griffith, executive director of Washington State Transportation
Commission, has already begun that introduction.
Earlier this year, the Legislature passed SHB 2970, which directed Griffith's
commission to look at the laws that will enable the implementation of
autonomous
vehicles in the state, work that must be complete by 2023 . At the summit,
Griffith said the group was trying to balance overregulation with public
safety.
"Protecting the public is the government's overriding role," she said.
Griffith's group is examining every facet that the fast-emerging technology may
affect. As she said, it's "one of those topics that touches and bleeds into
many
sectors.
The main areas of their concern are vehicle licensing, safety, infrastructure,
system technology, data security and liability. From these, the commission will
drill down even further into insurance, tort liability, criminal law, law
enforcement, transit systems, advertising, vehicle registration and the rules
of
the road, among many, many other things.
All of which is to say, our cars and trucks will soon be driving themselves.
Prepare yourself and remember: Emilio Estevez lives at the end.
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