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TECHNOLOGY A23
Saturday 9 April 2016
Self-driving cars not ready for U.S. roads, experts warn
JOAN LOWY In this May 13, 2015, file photo, Google’s self-driving Lexus drives along a street during a demon- sus lateral traffic lights, for
Associated Press stration at Google campus in Mountain View, Calif. While the Boston region is a center for robot- example — adds further
WASHINGTON (AP) — Self- ics and artificial intelligence research, none of the Northeast states allows self-driving cars to be complications.
driving cars are more likely driven or tested on public roads. But Massachusetts officials are looking in 2016 at turning part of Until the technology has
to be a threat than a bene- the former Devens military base into a self-driving testing ground. advanced beyond the
fit to public safety because point where ordinary con-
of unresolved technical is- Associated Press ditions are problematic, “it
sues, engineers and safety is dangerous, impractical
advocates told the U.S. a pioneer in the develop- But many of the people roads may be beyond the and a major threat to the
government Friday, coun- ment of self-driving cars, is who addressed the meet- abilities of self-driving cars. public health, safety and
tering a push by innovators pushing Congress to give ing pointed to a number Also, weather can interfere welfare to deploy them,”
for expedited government NHTSA new powers so that of situations that self-driv- with the vehicle sensors. said Mark Golden, execu-
approval. the agency can give the ing cars are still unable to Self-driving cars can’t take tive director of the Nation-
Even a trade association tech giant special, expe- handle. The technology re- directions from a police- al Society of Professional
for automakers cautioned dited permission to bring to lies on clear lane markings, man. And the lack of con- Engineers.
the National Highway Traf- market cars with no steer- and the poor condition of sistency in traffic control There have been thou-
fic Safety Administration at ing wheel or pedals. more than half the nation’s devices — horizontal ver- sands of “disengage-
a public meeting that a ments” reported in road
slower approach may be tests of self-driving cars in
needed than the agency’s which the vehicles auto-
plan to provide guidance matically turned control
in six months for deploying over to a human being,
the vehicles on roadways. said John Simpson, privacy
There are risks to deviating project director of Con-
from the government’s tra- sumer Watchdog.
ditional process of issuing James Niles, president of
regulations and standards, Orbit City Lab, a New York
Paul Scullion, safety man- think tank, told the meeting
ager at the Association of that there is a complete
Global Automakers, said. absence of federal regula-
Issuing new regulations tions to prevent self-driving
takes an average of eight cars from being turned into
years, NHTSA has said. weapons by “bad actors.”
Mark Rosekind, NHTSA’s ad- “The concern that an au-
ministrator, said the agen- tonomous vehicle could
cy can’t wait because self- be used as a weapon has
driving technologies are al- gone unnoticed by the
ready in cars on the road. general public and prob-
He pointed to automatic ably by the majority of
emergency braking that government officials,” he
can stop or reduce speed said.q
to avoid or mitigate a colli-
sion. Another safety option Drone company demos how blood air-drops will work in Rwanda
on some vehicles automat-
ically steers vehicles back RYAN NAKASHIMA used compressed air. Company executives said announced its deal with
into their lane if they start AP Business Writer Electric-powered propel- Zipline in February.
to drift into another lane LOS ANGELES (AP) — Drone lers took it the rest of the the cost of each flight was It plans to operate in other
without the driver turning delivery might be years way, on a flight that could countries later this year if it
on a turn signal. away in the U.S., but it’s be- extend to 75 miles round about the same as a mo- proves it can operate suc-
Rosekind emphasized that coming a reality in Rwanda trip, using military-grade cessfully in Rwanda.
he sees self-driving cars as this summer. GPS and software to navi- torcycle trip, but far more Rinaudo says the compa-
potentially game-chang- A San Francisco-based gate. ny for now is focused on
ing technology that can drone delivery company As it dipped low before the reliable. medical supply delivery
someday save the lives says it’ll start making its first drop-off area, the bottom in emerging economies
of many of the more than deliveries of blood and popped open, and a card- And because deliveries of where there is less air traffic
30,000 people killed each medicine in Rwanda in board box with a para- and regulations are easier
year on the nation’s roads. July. chute made of butcher packages up to 3.5 pounds to deal with than in the U.S.
President Obama has pro- Zipline International Inc., paper and biodegradable or Europe.
posed a 10-year, $3.9 bil- backed by tech heavy- tape burst out, plopping could be completed in 15- “The U.S. has one of the
lion automated technolo- weights like Sequoia Capi- to the ground a few steps most complicated airspac-
gies program, including tal and Google Ventures, away from CEO Keller Rin- 30 minutes, es in the world and for that
large-scale pilot deploy- demonstrated its technol- audo, who walked over to reason the (Federal Avia-
ments of self-driving cars ogy for journalists last week retrieve it. modest packaging elimi- tion Administration) is even
around the country. in an open field in the San “You have a database of more risk-averse than most
A General Motors Co. offi- Francisco Bay area. people. You know their lives nated the need for refriger- regulators,” he said. “So I
cial recently told a Senate In a demo broadcast on are in danger,” he said. think where this will start is
committee that the auto- Periscope on Friday, a “Can you get them what ation along the way, which in environments where the
maker expects to deploy staffer launched a fixed- they need fast enough? need is incredibly high and
self-driving cars within a wing plane weighing just 22 That’s been the mission saves on wasted supplies the airspace is relatively
few years through a part- pounds off a launcher that from the start.” empty.”q
nership with the car-shar- such as blood.
ing service Lyft. Google,
“We leapfrog broken re-
frigerators, we leapfrog the
lack of roads,” said Keenan
Wyrobek, Zipline’s head of
product and engineering.
Two hubs contained in
modified shipping contain-
ers with 10 to 15 planes
each are all that’s required
to serve all of Rwanda,
the company says. The
Rwandan government
