Fixies cause problems for Google's self-driving cars

[marknotgeorge]

I saw this article on my Twitter feed and found it mildly amusing. Beardie, hipster geraniums, getting in the way of progress...

For riders of fixed-gear bikes, it can be a fun game to never have to put one’s foot down on the pavement, but instead balance at stop signs and red lights.

While a human driver can easily see a rider doing a track stand isn’t going anywhere, Google’s self-driving car seems to be still be figuring that out.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Yes, it seems that the self-driving car has more empathy than a lot of motorists I see (or at least exhibits behaviour that mimics it).

 

[classic33]

Its supposed to be able to tell if another vehicle or pedestrian is moving, and at what speed though.
Faulty car on the road.

 

[iandg]

Good to see that they use the term 'fixed' instead of 'fixie'

 

[marknotgeorge]

Its supposed to be able to tell if another vehicle or pedestrian is moving, and at what speed though.
Faulty car on the road.

Not so much faulty, as unfamiliar. Thing is, and soon as the boffins work out the right behaviour, every Google car will know what to do.

 

[classic33]

Not so much faulty, as unfamiliar. Thing is, and soon as the boffins work out the right behaviour, every Google car will know what to do.

If the three cars currently on the roads in the UK can't tell the difference between a stationary object and one that is moving we're in trouble.
One is supposed to be the streetview car.

 

[marknotgeorge]

If the three cars currently on the roads in the UK can't tell the difference between a stationary object and one that is moving we're in trouble.
One is supposed to be the streetview car.

But is someone track standing stationary or moving? Edge conditions like this are why they've got people inside as a backup, so the AI can learn. And as this example shows, the cars failsafe by stopping. Seems safe enough to me.

 

[classic33]

If they have the trackstand down to perfection, they'll not be moving.
Cars' own radar should back this up.

 

[summerdays]

I sometimes think that currently it can confuse drivers too, so that they assume you have to be about to pull out because you haven't got a foot down.

 

[marknotgeorge]

If they have the trackstand down to perfection, they'll not be moving.
Cars' own radar should back this up.

But the guy in the article clearly wasn't trackstanding perfectly enough:

It apparently detected my presence … and stayed stationary for several seconds. it finally began to proceed, but as it did, I rolled forward an inch while still standing. The car immediately stopped…

I continued to stand, it continued to stay stopped. Then as it began to move again, I had to rock the bike to maintain balance. It stopped abruptly.

So it detected the motion of no more than a few inches at a distance of several metres - car and bike had both approached a typical American 4-way intersection. Seems like they need to relax the algorithms a bit.

 

[classic33]

But the guy in the article clearly wasn't trackstanding perfectly enough:


So it detected the motion of no more than a few inches at a distance of several metres - car and bike had both approached a typical American 4-way intersection. Seems like they need to relax the algorithms a bit.

And nose to tail traffic might only move inches, or traffic near an accident.

 

[marknotgeorge]

And nose to tail traffic might only move inches, or traffic near an accident.

Both of which would look completely different to the car, as it does to you and I.

 

[classic33]

Both of which would look completely different to the car, as it does to you and I.

But the car can't process the information quick enough. Unlike you or me.

 

[swee'pea99]

Good to see that they use the term 'fixed' instead of 'fixie'

Why? Why this antipathy to the word 'fixie'? Really, it baffles me. They don't use the word 'fixed', because that word doesn't mean the same thing. They use the term 'fixed-gear bike', which does mean the same thing, but takes three words to say it. Why this is preferable is just a mystery to me.

 

[marknotgeorge]

But the car can't process the information quick enough. Unlike you or me.

From what I read of the article, while the car processed the information it had sub-optimally - it had priority, having got to the intersection first - it processed it perfectly safely. Neither of us were born with the ability to drive - it's a skill that has to be learned.