Question of the Day - 14 January 2018

The self-driving autonomous shuttle that plies Fremont Street, carrying passengers from place to place for free along a 3/5-mile three-block circuit, is alive and well.

The shuttle was 100% glitchless during thousands of hours of testing, but it was involved in a small fender bender on November 8, its first day of actual operation. The shuttle was stopped, but it sensed a delivery truck that was backing up and heading right for it. The vehicle shifted into reverse to take evasive action, but not quickly enough to avoid a collision. Responding police determined that the truck driver was at fault and ticketed him.

The shuttle is the first vehicle of its kind to be the center of a long-term pilot program on a public road in the U.S. It’s sponsored by AAA and Keolis North America (Keolis is a major French transportation company that runs trains, trams, buses, trollies, airport services, and funiculars). They, and the city, are looking to transport 250,000 in its first year of operation—and solicit their feedback on the driverless experience.

The minibus doesn’t have a steering wheel or a brake pedal; why would it, when it doesn’t have a driver? But it does have a state-of-the-art GPS system that can determine the shuttles position to within one inch; Lidar, which beams out laser pulses and measures their feedback to judge obstacles ahead; cameras that read road signs and traffic lights; computers that store maps, process input from the sensors, and control the vehicle; an electric motor that can run up to 12 hours on a single charge; and a sign in the window that says, “Look Ma, no driver.”

Las Vegas was chosen as the testing ground for the autonomous vehicle for several reasons. One, its dry climate makes the driving and two, Las Vegas welcomes new technologies and promotes itself as a “smart city.” Three, though to a lesser extent, the Consumer Electronics Show, which was held here last week, attracts hundreds of thousands of tech-industry attendees and this year, the show had the largest “self-driving marketplace”—featuring 12 exhibitors and numerous autonomous cars demonstrating such features as parking assist, collision avoidance, emergency braking, and more.