1. A Community with Autonomous Personal Vehicles Larry Jackel larry.jackel@att.net CyCab cybercar in La Rochelle (Robosoft, France))

2. DARPA Challenge Events Grand Challenge 2004: 150 miles mostly dirt road – No winners – best performance CMU~ 7 miles primarily required good GPS waypoint following Grand Challenge 2005 132 miles Stanford “Stanley” winner, CMU 2 nd Mostly waypoint following Urban Challenge 2007 60 miles in vacant military base CMU lead winner, Stanford 2 nd Traffic rules and slow moving traffic GPS navigation, some obstacle avoidance

3. Why now? There is a convergence of forces Traffic jams are too costly in fuel and time We are running out of space to build new highways – we need to make more efficient use of existing roadways Recent events shows the needed technology is within reach – DARPA Urban Challenge Urban Challenge National Qualifying Event(video Not so easy

4. Why can’t we just roll out APVs? The technology is still immature – A protected environment is required – Fixed infrastructure can greatly simplify the navigation and obstacle-avoidance tasks A community planned from the ground up for APVs can jump-start deployment. As the technology matures APVs can be released into the larger world.

5. How infrastructure can help In the Urban Challenge all vehicles were independent – All sensors were on-board – No vehicle-to-vehicle comms – No guarantees of accuracy of route data provided by DARPA Deliberate blockages In our community we can have centralized Vehicle Traffic Control (VTC) – No traffic jams, no ambiguity at intersections Fixed sensors can alert vehicles to obstacles and can augment on-board sensors – Easy for fixed sensors to detect changes and locate obstacles As a backup, a network of cameras can let a human controller decide if a detected obstacle is actually a false alarm

6. Benefits beyond just APVs New urban architecture – No more “half-plane parking lot” strip malls – Grandma is mobile at night – Mom’s Taxi doesn’t need Mom Automated delivery of goods – Completes the distribution chain for a robotic warehouse – Use vehicles that are “right sized” for the job, no life support for driver required. More opportunities for robotics at each end Replace with offsite “robo self valet parking”

7. Why can’t we just roll out self-driven vehicles? The technology is still immature – – Can’t drive in heavy traffic – Can’t drive with required safety margins – Can’t “see” people, dogs, holes in the road, etc But: – Comms and infrastructure can greatly simplify the navigation and obstacle-avoidance tasks DARPA knew the position off all vehicles during the event and could have performed traffic control and guidance

8. Marine Automated Information System

9. How infrastructure can help In the Urban Challenge all vehicles were independent – All sensors were on-board – No vehicle-to-vehicle comms – No guarantees of accuracy of route data provided by DARPA Deliberate blockages Fixed sensors can alert vehicles to obstacles and can augment on-board sensors – Easy for fixed sensors to detect changes and locate obstacles As a backup, a network of cameras can let a human controller decide if a detected obstacle is actually a false alarm

10. Next Steps for Research Detect moving obstacles in unstructured environments (animals, other vehicles) Detect people (moving and non-moving) in all poses Scalable Vehicle Traffic Control Model Vehicle-to-vehicle comms and vehicle-to-infrastructure comms – with service guarantees in heavy traffic Need Standards and APIs NOW so that the fleet will be ready when the technology arrives

11. EU CityMobil Project 2006 – 2011, 28 partners, 40M Euro budget 3 deployment sites – Personal Rapid Transit at Heathrow (dedicated guideways) – Automated shuttles (cybercars)from from parking lots to train station and Rome expo center – Dual mode buses in Spanish town of Castellon on 20km corridor Vehicles appear to have dedicated roadways, or will move at low speed while autonomous Far more ambitious than any program in US – Emphasis in US is on independent autonomy with gradual increase in inter- vehicle comms; minimal dependence on infrastructure