It’s an obligation, not a promise

Everyone knows someone with a disability, especially a driving disability that makes it unsafe to get behind the wheel. It may be an elderly parent, a friend with special needs, or a family member that has experienced a serious injury.

For years, the automotive industry has promised that connected and autonomous vehicles, as well as new mobility services, can provide more efficient transportation to those without a disability. But in the wake of the increasing adoption of these technologies, the industry also an obligation: To make transport more accessible and realize more independence and chances for the disabled with better access to basic services like healthcare and better access to employment.

The disabled market also is substantial. In the United States, for example, around 53 million adults have a disability, which is around 22 percent of the adult population. About 13 percent of adults have mobility problems and 4.6 percent have vision impairments.

In Germany alone, 7.8 million people live with a severe disability - many of them unable to drive a car. At the same time, 7.5 billion Euros have been spent on patient transport services - more than ever. Safe and secure autonomous vehicles in the form of configurable pods are a chance to enable those 7.8 million people better access to mobility and at the same time reduce the costs for patient transport.

However, there still remains one problem: The new autonomous technology needs to be safeguarded by a secure back-up plan in case the technology fails. Normally, this security back-up would be the driver, who can intervene and take over controls. But people with disability might not be capable of maneuvering the vehicle themselves.

Self-Healing, In-Vehicle Software Management capabilities of connected and autonomous cars that enable the vehicle to self-correct when a system malfunctions are crucial for all passengers - both those with disabilities and those without. Only if the vehicle is able to automatically detect problems and "heal" them, can everyone benefit from the new world of mobility. This is still a few years off however it is our obligation to build systems that are inclusive, and only then will consumers gain the level of trust for this changing world of transportation to become a reality.

Aurora Labs aligned with the Automated Vehicle Safety Consortium

Earlier this month, SAE International announced that it is joining forces with Ford, General Motors, and Toyota to create the Automated Vehicle Safety Consortium (AVSC). This consortium will look to create industry-wide safety standards for autonomous cars - something the industry certainly needs as the technology within it expands exponentially. The AVSC will also work with other organizations around the globe to develop these industry standards.

This consortium is excellent news for the automotive industry. Assuming that the AVSC recognizes the importance of maintaining the quality of the AV software throughout its lifetime and mandates that OTA updating be part of any AV system, our In-Vehicle Software Management solution could help OEMs in meeting those requirements. The possibilities are endless in terms of how our software can play an important role in what the AVSC is trying to accomplish.

And when we got to thinking about it, we realized that there are two common goals between the AVSC and Aurora Labs that will be crucial in moving this industry forward: safety and trust.

Safety is at the heart of this consortium - just as it is at the heart of our technology. Similar to how AI is at the core of the AV technology, here at Aurora Labs we believe that it is only natural that AI will also be used to autonomously cure vehicles from malfunctioning software, whether malicious or incidental. Self-Healing Software can enable vehicle software to detect anomalies in the software behavior and health and either on command or autonomously recover to its last known secure, certified and functional version without any downtime. This ensures that the AV stays functional at all times, creates a seamless experience for the driver/passengers and ensures the car is safe from any software anomalies.

Not only that, but trust largely underlies the goal of this consortium. In order for the innovation of autonomous vehicles to move forward, our society needs to trust that they will always work as advertised, safely and securely. Having industry-wide safety standards will help build this trust in consumers. Similarly, a goal of our Self-Healing Software is to build up driver trust in self-driving cars. Drivers must have faith that the technology in cars is continuously operating safely and securely before these vehicles will become widely adopted and commonplace in our society.

These shared goals ultimately come down to one focus: the people on the roads, whether they are behind the self-driving wheel, passengers or pedestrians. The AVSC is hoping to set industry-wide standards to make sure drivers have the most optimal, convenient and safest experience possible with self-driving cars - and this naturally also translates to pedestrian safety.

We are in the midst of an extremely innovative and exciting time for self-driving cars. Here at Aurora Labs, we're looking forward to seeing what will come from this consortium and the positive impact it will have to make truly autonomous mobility a reality.

Creating self-healing cars with human-like intelligence

Editor's Note: Anyone born after 1970 should take the time to click on the links pretty funny stuff.

Oscar Wilde said life imitates art. In our industry, technology imitates the imaginations of TV producers from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Maxwell Smart of Get Smart was the first to use a mobile phone - so mobile it was embedded in his shoe. The Jetsons were the first to have a "smart house" and KITT from Knight Rider was the first intelligent car based on the "Knight Industries Two Thousand" (KITT - acronym and all) processor.

 

Here we are heading into 2019 and expectations are that the number of mobile phones around the globe will pass the 5 billion mark; robots are being used in homes and enterprises, and based on the automotive industry's transition from hardware to software-centric offerings - we are on the cusp of the intelligent car.

AI and Machine Learning will be cornerstone technologies used to develop an intelligent and independent car, allowing autonomous vehicles to conduct and continuously learn how to do human-like activities. The car will soon be driving itself allowing people to do other things during the time they are being transported. Even imagine a pedestrian walking down the street and the autonomous car knows enough to flash the headlights - or blink his/her eyes - to let the person know it is safe to walk across the street.

Also like the human body, imagine this car with software so sophisticated that the software itself detects anomalies, stops bad processes from causing the car to malfunction and seamlessly updates with new features and functionality - fixing itself like the human body heals itself.

Similar to the realization on Get Smart's mobile phone and the Jetson's smart home, Aurora Labs believes that advances in AI and Machine Learning weaved into our Self-Healing Software solution will help make the vision of the intelligent self-healing car a reality.