Friday September 9th, 2022 - Jeff Hecht - Self Driving Cars

Jeff Hecht will speak on "Challenges of Self-Driving Cars, or it seemed like a good idea at the time," and it is a deliberately tongue in cheek title. The current wave of interest grew from DARPA challenges in the 2000s, and early successes stimulated interest from both startups and the rather beleaguered auto companies. The early demonstrations by Google's Waymo division and others showed that cars equipped with sensors and artificial intelligence software could drive themselves on clear, well-marked and well-maintained roads. Two visions emerged: self-driving robo-taxies by the likes of Waymo, Uber, and Ford, and high-tech electric cars for affluent suburbanites by Tesla and others. Urban environmentalists saw a path to a future of all-electric zero-emission cars. The past few years have shown it wasn't as easy as it looked. Teslas and Ubers caused fatal accidents and crashed into stopped fire trucks with lights flashing. Worries about safety grew, as did questions about what kind of environments were needed. How well could robo-cars drive in heavy rain or on icy roads? How well can they drive on busy city streets shared with cyclists, pedestrians, and delivery trucks? So far, we're learning that the best place for self-driving cars may be modern, well-marked divided highways -- but maybe not with motorcycles. And public acceptance remains unclear.

Jeff Hecht writes about science and technology for magazines including New Scientist, IEEE Spectrum, Laser Focus World, Optics & Technology News, Photonics Focus, and Nature. He also has written books including City of Light: The Story of Fiber Optics, and Lasers, Death Rays, and the Long, Strange Quest for the Ultimate Weapon. His interest in autonomous cars started with their use of laser radars for mapping the world around them, but he now follows the development of the technology and its limits.