Self-Driving Cars May Require Human Help
2022-09-18
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1Makers of self driving, or autonomous, vehicles called have raised tens of billions of dollars based on promises to develop the fully robotic product.
2However, industry leaders and experts say the technology may forever require human supervision.
3Supporters of autonomous vehicles, or AVs, say that computers and robotic technology will reduce the number of traffic accidents.
4But in reality, making self-driving cars safer than human-operated is complex.
5Self-driving programming lacks the human ability to predict and recognize risk quickly.
6Kyle Vogt is the head of Cruise, a unit of American car company General Motors (GM).
7When asked if he believed humans could ever be completely free of vehicle operation, Vogt questioned the worthiness of such a goal.
8"I can provide my customers peace of mind knowing there is always a human there to help if needed," he said.
9"I don't know why I'd ever want to get rid of that."
10GM recalled and updated software in 80 Cruise self-driving vehicles this month after a crash in June.
11Two people were injured in the accident in San Francisco, California.
12U.S. safety officials said the recalled software could "incorrectly predict" an oncoming vehicle's path.
13Cruise said its vehicles would not make the same mistake again after the update.
14For some, the need for human supervision increases doubt about the technology.
15And entirely self-driving vehicles are far behind in development that industry leaders have promised.
16In 2018, GM sought U.S. government approval for a fully autonomous car.
17It had no steering wheel or brake or gas pedals.
18It was to be marketed in 2019.
19But that vehicle, the Cruise Origin, now is not expected to begin production until spring 2023, Vogt said.
20In 2019, Tesla head Elon Musk promised 1 million robotaxis would be in place by 2020.
21His company's "Full Self Driving" feature has been criticized because its cars use human operators.
22In June, Musk said that building self-driving cars had been far more difficult than he had expected.
23Mike Wagner is with Edge Case Research, which helps AV companies analyze risk.
24He said: "If these companies don't succeed over the next two years, they're not going to exist anymore."
25Many AV companies today use humans as remote piloting supervisors.
26They support self-driving cars in dealing with unexpected events on the road. The industry calls these "edge cases."
27Edge cases could include street closures for roadwork, or unpredictable actions by a human driver or walker.
28When a self-driving car experiences an edge case, "it puts its hands up and says, 'I don't know what's going on,'" said Koosha Kaveh.
29He is with Imperium Drive, which is using humans as remote operators for cars in the British city of Milton Keynes.
30Kaveh said their work is similar to air traffic controllers but for autonomous cars instead of planes.
31Cruise's Vogt says the company's AVs on the roads in San Francisco currently depend on humans less than one percent of the time.
32But across thousands or even millions of AVs, that would add up to a large amount of time stopped on the road waiting for human guidance.
33Autonomous systems are not as effective as people because their "perception and prediction algorithms are not as good as how a human brain processes and decides," said expert Chris Borroni-Bird.
34He has worked with self-driving vehicles with GM and Waymo.
35For example, Borroni-Bird said a human seeing a ball roll into a road is likely to immediately recognize that a child might be chasing that ball.
36AVs will not. So, a human driver will reduce speed far more quickly than an AV in such an edge case.
37That worries Borroni-Bird.
38"I am concerned that AV companies will rush to market without proving the safety is better than human-driven vehicles," he said.
39I'm Dan Novak.
1Makers of self driving, or autonomous, vehicles called have raised tens of billions of dollars based on promises to develop the fully robotic product. However, industry leaders and experts say the technology may forever require human supervision. 2Supporters of autonomous vehicles, or AVs, say that computers and robotic technology will reduce the number of traffic accidents. But in reality, making self-driving cars safer than human-operated is complex. Self-driving programming lacks the human ability to predict and recognize risk quickly. 3Kyle Vogt is the head of Cruise, a unit of American car company General Motors (GM). When asked if he believed humans could ever be completely free of vehicle operation, Vogt questioned the worthiness of such a goal. 4"I can provide my customers peace of mind knowing there is always a human there to help if needed," he said. "I don't know why I'd ever want to get rid of that." 5GM recalled and updated software in 80 Cruise self-driving vehicles this month after a crash in June. Two people were injured in the accident in San Francisco, California. U.S. safety officials said the recalled software could "incorrectly predict" an oncoming vehicle's path. Cruise said its vehicles would not make the same mistake again after the update. 6For some, the need for human supervision increases doubt about the technology. And entirely self-driving vehicles are far behind in development that industry leaders have promised. 7In 2018, GM sought U.S. government approval for a fully autonomous car. It had no steering wheel or brake or gas pedals. It was to be marketed in 2019. But that vehicle, the Cruise Origin, now is not expected to begin production until spring 2023, Vogt said. 8In 2019, Tesla head Elon Musk promised 1 million robotaxis would be in place by 2020. His company's "Full Self Driving" feature has been criticized because its cars use human operators. 9In June, Musk said that building self-driving cars had been far more difficult than he had expected. 10Mike Wagner is with Edge Case Research, which helps AV companies analyze risk. 11He said: "If these companies don't succeed over the next two years, they're not going to exist anymore." 12A human eye is watching 13Many AV companies today use humans as remote piloting supervisors. They support self-driving cars in dealing with unexpected events on the road. The industry calls these "edge cases." 14Edge cases could include street closures for roadwork, or unpredictable actions by a human driver or walker. 15When a self-driving car experiences an edge case, "it puts its hands up and says, 'I don't know what's going on,'" said Koosha Kaveh. He is with Imperium Drive, which is using humans as remote operators for cars in the British city of Milton Keynes. Kaveh said their work is similar to air traffic controllers but for autonomous cars instead of planes. 16Cruise's Vogt says the company's AVs on the roads in San Francisco currently depend on humans less than one percent of the time. But across thousands or even millions of AVs, that would add up to a large amount of time stopped on the road waiting for human guidance. 17'Rush to market' 18Autonomous systems are not as effective as people because their "perception and prediction algorithms are not as good as how a human brain processes and decides," said expert Chris Borroni-Bird. He has worked with self-driving vehicles with GM and Waymo. 19For example, Borroni-Bird said a human seeing a ball roll into a road is likely to immediately recognize that a child might be chasing that ball. AVs will not. So, a human driver will reduce speed far more quickly than an AV in such an edge case. 20That worries Borroni-Bird. 21"I am concerned that AV companies will rush to market without proving the safety is better than human-driven vehicles," he said. 22I'm Dan Novak. 23Reuters reported this story. Dan Novak adapted it for VOA Learning English. 24_________________________________________________________________ 25Words in This Story 26get rid of - v. to do something so that you no longer have or are affected or bothered by 27recall - n. an official order for someone or something to return 28pedal - n. a flat piece of metal, rubber, etc., that you push with your foot to make a machine move, work, or stop 29remote - adj. connected to a computer system from another place 30perception - n. the way you think about or understand someone or something 31algorithm - n. a set of steps that are followed in order to solve a mathematical problem or to complete a computer process