RafaelLOJ wrote:Very cool...
I would like to see what "backup" systems it has...
So it's going down the road and the laser system stops functioning... how does it safely pull over, etc...
I was 11 when Knight Rider came out... I loved cars and electronics... I'm 43 now and building a replica... at the time, I was legally blind and the thought of a car that could drive itself.... well... enough said...
Not to end on a sour note... 5 years ago, at age 38, my vision improved and I was able to get my driver's license for the first time... Now I can drive my Kitt
I, too, have some grave concerns about real life auto piloting cars.
Exactly like you stated for
1) When something goes wrong with a sensor, how does the system react to make sure the situation avoids any incidents? (Well...besides the Human 'driver' with the big, red 'STOP' button...whom is now probably so per-occupied with something else that they have no reason to pay attention to the world around them.) In hopes, there should be enough sensors to insure that a failure can at least insure a safe pull over maneuver. (According to that one PBS I saw about self driving cars, such an issue did come up. The car had many sensor failures, being a prototype placed in rugged conditions. It's reaction was to slow down and compensate with what it had left to still make the journey.) Of course, Google has been privately testing their tech for quite a few months, now. I'm sure if their sensors were prone to easy failure, they would have found some solutions. Alas, the general public is nowhere near as attentive to the needs of the vehicle equipment. So, time shall tell. Let us hope no fatalities come of it.
Another concern is
2) Failure of the computer, itself. From what I'm seeing in their first prototype for mass consumption, the computer is practically invisible. And a simple fact of life is that all equipment will fail...
given enough time. Doesn't matter how great the software is to avoid any BSoD's. When circuits fail, they may do so within a second's passing. I've known for many upon many years what my solution to this problem would be. And that is to have two computers running the exact same program at the same time while monitoring each others 'health'. If one should show up with lag or start making errors or simply break down, the other can keep things safe while raising the red flag for immediate maintenance requirements. After all, two heads are better then one. Because, the very last thing you want happening when the car is the only thing doing the driving is to have it become overwhelmed or conduct a computer's version of a stroke and turn the vehicle into a mindless urban missile.
3) is another biggie.
Viral attack! It doesn't matter if the computer has no wireless communications for a virus to break in through. (Though, in this day and age, Google is, OF COURSE, going to have wireless built in for program updates.) When you bring your self driving car into the repair garage, the tech is going to link up the car's computer to the shop's computer. And, it's THAT computer that has a high percent chance of carrying the virus. Sadly, even our modern and slightly outdated vehicles with computers may be harboring a virus or two. It's just that most of those don't know what to do with a car computer, aside from treating it like a memory card or MP3 player...as in being a place to lay low and wait for another computer to be connected to infect. After all, a virus that finds a vulnerable self piloting computer can turn it into a ticking time bomb. As shown in this video, the computer is aware of Human interactions and plots detour routes. How easy would it be for a virus to patch an update that looks for
xx amount of Humans in a gathering, then plots to drive right through the middle of the gathering? Makes
Killer K.I.T.T. a kind of prediction warning. I have a partially functional solution to this. A) Make some repair places into official service stations for Google cars. B) Have unique connection ports that your average PC can't link into. C) Run an OS dedicated to the Self Piloting car that hackers really have to work at to reverse engineer. Don't just make it another Windows program. D) Allow only Google machines to plug into Google cars. I do say it's a partial solution. As hackers can and will try to reverse engineer the OS. Manufacturers will answer the call and produce cords/adapters that permit the special end to plug into a USB for PC use. Google probably will have wireless updates to permit another weak point of access. Bla, bla, bla. You can make things as secure as Humanly possible and someone else will counter it if there's profit to be had. Well...it's a brave, new world. And, I must say that I haven't witnessed an ATM making it rain cash in real life.
