Baidu crashes the cost of robo-taxis by 75 percent Chinese tech giant Baidu has revealed a self-driving car it claims can be produced for ¥250,000 ($37,000) – a quarter of the cost to manufacture comparable vehicles. The Apollo RT6 is slated to roll on Chinese roads in 2023 and was designed from the ground up as an autonomous car, meaning its sensors are embedded around its …
I have no idea whether Baidu can pull this off or not, but apparently they think they can. And it's certainly possible that after a few years and a bit of collateral damage, (i.e. a number of injuries/fatalities both in and near the vehicle) they can make it work acceptably. At any rate, it seems a lot more plausible than Elon Musk's unending promises of full autonomy OTA Thursday next using a probably entirely inadequate (but real cheap) sensor array and liberal amounts of fairy dust.
There's also the fact that Chinese drivers in general are reputed to be less than great. An erratic robot vehicle may fit right in. I don't know if this is true, but it sounds plausible In Lanzhou a retired school teacher decided to teach bad drivers a lesson and threw bricks at cars that did not yield to pedestrians. Apparently a few other elderly men joined him, while onlookers rushed to get them more bricks and food (to keep up their throwing strength). The men damaged 30 cars before police stopped them. They have become internet heroes here. Source https://chinachange.org/2011/02/21/why-are-chinese-such-bad-drivers/
Note that the steering wheel is "detachable", not "optional". One suspects the authorities will quickly label it to be "essential safety equipment" and require it to be in the car at some handy location. They'll presumably need it for police/bystanders get the vehicle out of the way if (when) it breaks down.
I think Baidu is considered to have the best facial recognition systems in the world
One key thing is that the Chinese authorities will be able to adjust traffic regulations, presumably prioritising robocars, quickly and easily. Meatware drivers around the world are bad in high traffic situations but we just refuse to accept this. They may also profit from the more predictable street layouts: Shanghai isn't Siena or Pamplona.
Autonomous cars could be used everywhere already if there were no (unpredictable) humans on the roads.
>I think Baidu is considered to have the best facial recognition systems in the world
Indeed, but it will be trained mainly on the occupants of the driverless vehicle. No neer-do-wells allowed in the vehicle. Unpersons may enter the vehicle but the doors will be locked and the destination will be locked to 'Gulag', and collision-avoidance systems may be silently deactivated. Bad luck if you get in the car and only then realise that you are an unperson.
It could be used to identify pedestrians, but I think even Baidu would struggle to identify someone in another car who is wearing a Covid Mask & Sunglasses. Then again it only needs to read the license plate if it were illegal to get in a car that isn't registered to you & doesn't have internal facial recognition.
The biggest problem in the west, meanwhile, will be the insurance industry. Who pays for the insurance on a driverless car? How do we adjust the premiums? whose fault was it? What do we do about that little toddler who was misclassified as a piece of litter?
Whereas in China, presumably there is no need for mandatory insurance - if two cars collide, the driver/occupant with the lowest social-standing with the police pays up or goes to jail. Much easier.
And if it doesn't work, well, we can just ban the humans from driving in the big cities at all. If you're too poor to own an autonomous car, take a taxi, or a bus, or get on your bicycle. And "poor" in China means you don't have any favour with the authorities.
"threw bricks at cars that did not yield to pedestrians. .... They have become internet heroes "
I would certainly cheer on anyone throwing bricks at cars not yielding to pedestrians.
Local main road that kids have to cross to get to school was turned from 50kmh to 30kmh limit. This means that pedestrians (in theory) can cross anywhere, not only on zebra crossings (and therefore existing zebra crossings were removed).
But in practice a lot of cars just breeze through at 50+ even when they can see kids waiting to cross, possibly because their GPS tells them the limit is 50 (at least mine still does, even with an update from 2 weeks ago, more than a year since the speed limit change).
In case of emergency or autonomous failure, follow these steps.
1) Locate steering wheel.
2) Remove coffee machine / additional passenger / dog bed / tuba.
3) Attach steering wheel to column. Orientate correctly and ensure that latches engage.
4) Assume control and bring vehicle to a safe halt.
In very slow moving traffic, on M6 if I remember correctly, German driver, tell by the plates, playing the trumpet while steering with his knees. My 1st thought was if car ahead suddenly stopped he would be rammed through the neck by his trumpet. At least he would go on a high note I guess.
Whilst you're quite right logically, in practice you're very wrong.
Even if we create a self-driving car that results in the number of deaths on the road falling to 10% of the current number, the press and certain politicians will be all over them, demanding justice and action. And the lawyers will make out like bandits.
GJC
I see they plan to use AI to alter traffic light timing to reduce congestion.
Hahahaha! Silly Chinese! The UK has the only valid plan for reducing congestion, namely an ever-increasing population, closing or narrowing of existing roads, convoluted one-way systems and reducing speed limits.
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