Page 23 - Aruba Today

TECHNOLOGY A23
TECH NOTES
Publisher planing
tech book series
for young people JUSTIN PRITCHARD
NEW YORK (AP) — Girls Who
Code is teaming with Vi-
king Children’s Books on a
line of at least 11 planned
works about computer sci-
ence and coding.
In a joint announcement
Wednesday, the tech or-
ganization and Viking
said the upcoming books
would include middle
grade fiction, doodles and
board books. The initial re-
leases, coming in the sum-
mer of 2017, will be “Girls
Who Code: Tips, Tricks, and
Inspiration for Taking Over
Tech” and the start of a fic- a growing number that as-
tional series billed as “The
Baby-Sitters Club” meets
coding.
Girls Who Code, founded
in 2012 by Reshma Saujani,
is a nonprofit with a mission matched. With some mod-
“to close the gender gap
in the technology and en-
gineering sectors.” Saujani
is an activist and former
deputy public advocate in
New York City. q
Zuckerberg now a
dad; to giving away
most of his money point for the technology.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) —
Facebook CEO Mark Zuck-
erberg and his wife an-
nounced the birth of their
daughter Max as well as
plans to donate most of
their wealth, or roughly $45
billion, to a new organiza-
tion that will tackle a broad when told to watch a video
range of the world’s ills.
Zuckerberg’s wife, Priscilla
Chan, gave birth last week
to a baby girl. The couple
didn’t put out the news
until Zuckerberg posted it
Tuesday on — of course —
Facebook.
In the same post, Zucker-
berg said he and Chan will
commit 99 percent of their
Facebook stock to such
causes as fighting disease,
improving education, har-
nessing clean energy, re-
ducing poverty and pro-
moting equal rights. They
are forming a new orga-
nization, called the Chan
Zuckerberg Initiative, to
pursue those goals.q
Real World Tech:
How can you take control from a self-driving car?
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — New
cars that can steer and
brake themselves risk lulling
people in the driver’s seat
into a false sense of security type with no steering wheel
— and even to sleep. One
way to keep people alert
may be providing distrac-
tions that are now illegal.
That was one surprising find-
ing when researchers put
Stanford University students
in a simulated self-driving
car to study how they re-
acted when their robo-
chauffer needed help.
The experiment was one in
sesses how cars can safely
hand control back to a
person when their self-driv-
ing software and sensors
are overwhelmed or over-
els already able to stay in
their lane or keep a safe
distance from other traffic,
and automakers pushing
for more automation, the
car-to-driver handoff is a
big open question.
The elimination of distract-
ed driving is a major selling
But in the Stanford experi-
ment, reading or watching
a movie helped keep par-
ticipants awake.
Among the 48 students put
in the driver’s seat, 13 who
were instructed to monitor
the car and road began to
nod off. Only three did so
or read from a tablet.
Alertness mattered when
students needed to grab
the wheel because a simu-
lated car or pedestrian got
in the way.
There’s no consensus on the
right car-to-driver handoff
approach: the Stanford re-
search suggests engaging
people with media could
help, while some automak-
ers are marketing vehicles
with limited self-driving fea-
tures that will slow the car
if they detect a person has
stopped paying attention
to the road.
Though research is ongo-
ing, it appears that people
need at least 5 seconds to
take over — if they’re not
totally checked out.
Self-driving car experts at
Google, which is pursu-
Thursday 3 December 2015

ing the technology more the driver can check out,” “If it is done courteously
aggressively than any au- General Motors spokesman and subtle and not an-
tomaker, concluded that Dan Flores said. “You can noying, it could be missed
involving humans would relax, glance away, but you by someone that is dis-
make its cars less safe. still have to be aware be- tracted,” said Greg Fitch,
Google’s solution is a proto- cause you know the tech- a research scientist at the
nology’s not foolproof.” Virginia Tech Transportation
or pedals — human control One riddle automakers Institute. Then again, the
would be limited to go and must solve: How to get way the car interacts with
This photo shows Virginia Tech Center for Technology Development Program Administration
Specialist Greg Brown behind the wheel of a driverless car during a test ride showing the alert
system handing over automation to the driver while traveling street in Blacksburg, Va.
(Associated Press)
stop buttons. owners to trust the technol- people will be one way au-
Meanwhile, traditional au- ogy so they’ll use it — but tomakers differentiate their
tomakers are phasing in not trust it so much that product — and overbear-
the technology. Mercedes they’ll be lulled into a false ing warnings may sour po-
and Toyota sell cars that sense of security and there- tential buyers.
can hit the brakes and stay fore slower to react when Other issues Fitch cites in-
in their lane. By adding new the car needs them. clude “mode confusion”
features each year, they Trust was on the mind of (making sure the car clearly
might produce a truly self- researchers who in August informs the person whether
driving car in about a de- published an extensive re- or not it is driving itself) and
cade. port on self-driving cars clear explanations to driv-
One potential hazard of this funded by the National ers of what the car can —
gradualist approach be- Highway Traffic Safety Ad- and cannot — handle.
came clear this fall, when ministration. “Although this Cars with the right sensors
Tesla Motors had to explain trust is essential for wide- are becoming really good
that its “auto pilot” feature spread adoption, partici- at monitoring the outside
did not mean drivers could pants were also observed world and have quicker re-
stop paying attention. Sev- prioritizing non-driving ac- sponse times than humans.
eral videos posted online tivities over the operation People are much better at
showed people recording of the vehicle,” the authors making decisions during
the novelty — then seizing wrote. uncertain circumstances.
the wheel when the car Another wide-open ques- One lesson from the Stan-
made a startling move. tion: How to alert the per- ford study may be that
Starting late next year, the son in the driver’s seat of master and machine are
Cadillac CTS will get a Su- the need to take over. better viewed as collabo-
per Cruise system, which It appears that the car rators.
will allow semi-autonomous should appeal to several “There’s really a relation-
highway driving. If the driv- senses. Visual warnings ship between drivers and
er’s eyes are off the road, alone may not suffice. But cars,” said David Sirkin, who
and they don’t respond to combine a light with spo- helped run the experiment
repeated prodding, the car ken instructions or physical at Stanford’s Center for De-
slows. stimulation such as a vibrat- sign Research, “and that re-
“We are in no way selling ing seat, and people react lationship is becoming more
this as a technology where more quickly. a peer relationship.”q