By Brian E. Clark
For WisBusiness.com
Humans are notoriously bad drivers, with more than 30,000 people dying annually in the United States as a result of motor vehicle crashes – many caused by poor judgement, fatigue or lack of attention. Globally, the number of auto-related fatalities is 1.2 million deaths a year. That comes out to an average of 287 deaths a day, with an estimated 20 to 50 million injured or disabled.
Among the main cause of those accidents are distracted drivers who are sending text messages, talking on their cell phones or eating food. The crash rates in this country are highest among drivers aged 16-24, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control.
Can computers do a better job of driving?
Andy LaBerge, general manager of Madison’s Zimbrick BMW, thinks so.
“Driverless vehicles are evolving rapidly,” said LaBerge. “The technology is really close and also far away. People have some of that technology already in their cars. Vehicles will be able to drive themselves for a short amount of time. But cars (coming on the market) that will be fully autonomous, well, that will be a challenge because of legislation, liability questions and getting the highway infrastructure in place – and having people trust that they will be safe.”
LaBerge spoke Tuesday at the neXXpo conference, sponsored by the Madison Chamber of Commerce and held at the Monona Terrace Convention Center.
An estimated 600 people were expected to attend the one-day event, which focused on futuristic technologies and programs that are coming down the pike, said Chamber spokeswoman Melanie Conklin. neXXpo, now in its second year, replaced the Chamber’s business expo of years past, she said, and was part of the multi-day Forward Fest gathering at Monona Terrace and other Madison venues.
LaBerge said some features of so-called autonomous vehicles are already being used, ranging from cruise control to maintaining a distance from other cars and even accident-avoidance technology that can slam on the brakes to prevent a collision. Other cars will notify drivers if they drift into another lane and some will bring the vehicle back into line. He said the BMW i3 electric car displayed at neXXpo can park itself.
LaBerge said a test vehicle using Delphi Electronics technology drove itself more than 3,400 miles across the country in April and didn’t encounter any problems – with a professional driver on board to monitor the process. According to Wired Magazine, the car drove itself 99 percent of the time. The driver only took over when it was time to leave the highway and enter city streets. Google also has been pushing the driverless-car envelope, logging more than 1 million miles by this June on its fleet of autonomous vehicles.
LaBerge said some companies are already designing cars where people ride in lounge chairs that don’t face the road. Instead, he said, they face a screen where commuters can work while they head to their jobs.
“The goal is for a fully autonomous vehicle that can make driving decisions for you with artificial intelligence that would have the car stop and avoid crashing so you can do other things while it is taking you places safely,” he said.
He predicted that the commercial applications of this kind of vehicle technology will probably come first, with delivery services using it in a specific urban area rather than the entire country. He said his dealership would welcome them.
LaBerge acknowledged that the prospect of a driverless car being involved in a fatal accident would probably set back the momentum for autonomous vehicles. But he said he is convinced carmakers will be able to show in a short amount of time that these cars are safer than often wildly unpredictable human drivers who frequently make poor decisions.
“Everyone knows that people are not paying attention when they are texting while driving,” he said. “I’ve heard from people that their car slammed on its brakes, prevented an accident and probably saved their lives. Cars are significantly safer than they were a few years back and these technologies – like crash mitigation – will continue to make them safer.”
