Page 24 - aruba-today-20190425

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Thursday 25 april 2019

5 reasons experts think autonomous cars are many years away

By TOM KRISHER vehicles should stop for
AP Auto Writer stop signs. Sometimes the
PITTSBURGH (AP) — In the lines are so far back and
world of autonomous ve- buildings are so close to
hicles, Pittsburgh, Phoenix the street that autonomous
and Silicon Valley are bus- cars can’t see traffic on the
tling hubs of development cross street if they stop at
and testing. But ask those the line. One workaround is
involved in self-driving ve- to program vehicles to stop
hicles when we might ac- for the line and creep for-
tually see them carrying ward.
passengers in every city, “Is it better to do a double
and you’ll get an almost stop?” asked Pete Rander,
universal answer: Not any- president of Argo AI, an
time soon. autonomous vehicle com-
An optimistic assessment is pany in which Ford has in-
10 years. Many others say vested heavily. “Since inter-
decades as researchers try sections vary, it’s not that
to conquer a number of easy.”
obstacles. ___
That makes Tesla’s decla- DEALING WITH HUMAN
rations that it will offer fully DRIVERS
autonomous vehicles by For many years, autono-
the second quarter of next In this Dec. 18, 2018, photo, one of the test vehicles from Argo AI, Ford’s autonomous vehicle unit, mous vehicles will have
year all the more striking. navigates through the strip district near the company offices in Pittsburgh. to deal with humans who
The company announced Associated Press don’t always play by the
its ambitious plans during Heavy snow, rain, fog and autonomous vehicle test- have been mapped in rules. They double-park or
an investor conference sandstorms can obstruct ing lab at the University of three dimensions, the cars walk in front of cars. Re-
on Monday. But skeptics the view of cameras. Light Michigan. Software also is can function in light snow cently in Pittsburgh, an
doubt that Tesla can pull it beams sent out by laser being developed so ve- and rain. Argo backup driver had
off. sensors can bounce off hicles can differentiate be- ___ to take over when his car
Here are the problems that snowflakes and think they tween real obstacles and PAVEMENT LINES AND stopped during a right turn,
researchers must over- are obstacles. Radar can snowflakes, rain, fog, and CURBS blocking an intersection
come to start giving rides see through the weather, other conditions. Across the globe, roadway when it couldn’t immedi-
without humans behind the but it doesn’t show the But many companies are marking lines are different, ately decide whether to go
wheel: shape of an object need- still trying to master the dif- or they may not even exist. around a double-parked
___ ed for computers to figure ficult task of driving on a Lane lines aren’t standard- delivery truck.
SNOW AND WEATHER out what it is. clear day with steady trac- ized, so vehicles have to “Even if the car might even-
When it’s heavy enough to “It’s like losing part of your tion. learn how to drive different- tually figure something out,
cover the pavement, snow vision,” says Raj Rajkumar, “Once we are able to have ly in each city. Sometimes it’s shared space, and it’s
blocks the view of lane lines an electrical and comput- a system reliably perform there aren’t any curbs to socially unacceptable” to
that vehicle cameras use to er engineering professor at in those, then we’ll start help vehicles judge lane block traffic, Rander said.
find their way. Researchers Carnegie Mellon University. working toward expanding width. Humans also make eye
so far haven’t figured out Researchers are work- to those more challeng- For instance, in Pittsburgh’s contact with other drivers
a way around this. That’s ing on laser sensors that ing conditions,” said Noah industrial “Strip District,” to make sure they’re look-
why much of the testing is use a different light beam Zych, Uber’s head of sys- where many self-driving ve- ing in the right direction,
done in warm-weather cli- wavelength to see through tem safety for self-driving hicles are tested, the city something still being de-
mates such as Arizona and snowflakes, said Greg Mc- cars. draws lines across the nar- veloped for autonomous
California. Guire, director of the MCity In some limited areas that row lanes to mark where vehicles.q

UN: No screen time for babies;

only 1 hour for kids under 5

LONDON (AP) — The World ommends children young- “overly focuses on quan-
Health Organization has is- er than 18 months should tity of screen time and fails
sued its first-ever guidance avoid screens other than to consider the content
for how much screen time video chats. It says parents and context of use,” said
children under 5 should get: of young children under Andrew Przybylski, direc-
not very much, and none two should choose “high- tor of research at the Ox-
at all for those under 1. The quality programming” with ford Internet Institute at the
U.N. health agency said educational value and University of Oxford. “Not
Wednesday that kids under that can be watched with all screen time is created
5 should not spend more a parent to help kids under- equal.”
than one hour watching stand what they’re seeing. Britain’s Royal College
screens every day — and Some groups said WHO’s of Paediatrics and Child
that less is better. screen time guidelines Health said the data avail-
The guidelines are some- failed to consider the po- able were too weak to al-
what similar to advice from tential benefits of digital low its experts to set any
In this Sept. 25, 2015, file photo, a child holds an Apple iPhone
6S at an Apple store on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile in Chicago. the American Academy of media. thresholds for the appropri-
Associated Press Pediatrics. That group rec- WHO’s screen time advice ate level of screen time. q