The autonomous cars, or driverless cars, can almost resemble a future from a sci-fi film. You order the taxi ride on an app, tell where you are going and then you just have to wait for the driverless car to roll up to take you. Self-driving cars have become more common on San Francisco’s streets Photo: AFP They look a bit strange, these cars. One company uses the Jaguar E-Pace electric car, a car we also have in Norway. The other company uses the Chevrolet Bolt electric car, known in this country as the Opel Ampera-e. Both car types stand out in that they have a lot of equipment mounted on the roof and on the sides. There are radars, cameras and various “sensors” that read the traffic picture, so that the cars drive as normal according to the conditions. In San Francisco, there are two companies that operate what are called robotaxi. “Waymo” is owned by the Google company Alphabet and “Cruise” is controlled by General Motors. They have both run an aggressive campaign to gain entry into the city and to obtain a license to operate a taxi business without a driver. Everything is still not completely smooth sailing, many are skeptical and many believe the cars pose a danger to the citizens. Computer crash becomes traffic jam The driverless cars affect traffic in San Francisco Photo: AFP Just before midnight on 28 June last year, eight of the robot taxis gathered at a traffic light in San Francisco and came to a complete halt. The cars had to be driven away by a human, one by one, before traffic returned to normal a few hours later. All the cars belonged to “Cruise” and the company apologized for the incident, but gave no explanation. The same type of incident also happened in the city of Austin in Texas with Cruise cars. Project manager at the Technology Council, Joakim Valevatn says that these events taught us two things. – The Norwegian Technology Council’s expert group has previously called for a long-term plan for self-driving vehicles in Norway, says Joakim Valevatn. Photo: The Norwegian Technology Council – Firstly, a self-driving future is closer than we would think. There has been enormous interest in the technology in recent years. Mistakes and accidents naturally get a lot of attention, but the cars are carefully tested before use. – Secondly, the incident shows that a lot of testing is needed, but that errors will occur along the way. Nevertheless, it can quickly become an annoyance rather than an accident, causing people to lose confidence in technology, he says. Accidents and collisions A driverless car from “Waymo” has stopped and will not continue because a door is not closed well enough. Then there will quickly be a queue. Photo: AP Damage has occurred. For example, the cars do not detect small dogs and have run over them. The San Francisco Fire and Rescue Department complains about the driverless cars because they get in the way of emergency vehicles. San Francisco’s fire chief Jeanine Nicholson has grown tired of the driverless cars. So far this year, they have logged over 40 incidents where driverless cars have obstructed the emergency vehicles. Oliver Cameron is assistant department director in “Cruise” and he tells the BBC that the overall technology in the cars makes the cars safe in traffic. The technology is self-learning and the cars will sometimes make decisions that humans would not. The company “Cruise” expects to earn over NOK 10 billion from the self-driving cars in 2025. – If the technology works as it should, self-driving cars will both provide safer traffic and increased access to transport, says Joakim Valevatn in the Technology Council. – The cars “see” better and react faster than people, says Valevatn. – At the same time, some challenges remain. Driving in open traffic is considerably more difficult to automate than trains or planes, which operate in controlled and closed environments, he says. Safe Street Rebel – the activists who want the cars alive Safe Street Rebel activists stop a self-driving car by putting a cone on the bonnet. The car perceives that it has an obstacle in front of it and does not continue Photo: AFP The concern about the driverless cars has caused residents of San Francisco to organize. The dissolvable activist network “Safe Street Rebel” fights for a car-free society and believes that robo-taxis have no place in the city. Although they are emission-free, the group believes that they contribute to pollution and they take drastic measures to show their displeasure. They campaign mostly at night, because that’s the time of day the robot taxis run. They have found that they can put the cars out of action by placing traffic cones on the bonnet. The cars then think that there is an obstacle in the road in front of them and stop. Both “Cruise” and “Waymo” have reported the group for vandalism, but have gotten nowhere legally because no damage has actually been done to the cars. news has not been able to get a comment from the companies. Already in Norway Self-driving vehicles are already in traffic in this country. From the new year, they will drive regularly in traffic in Groruddalen in Oslo. Collective company Ruter is about to start a new pilot project with self-driving public transport. – The cars that go out into the traffic in Oslo must have a person in the car who will monitor that everything works, says Benjamin Øveraas in Ruter Photo: Ruter – We want to develop a type of ordered transport that comes and picks you up where you are, and which can pick up multiple travelers during the same trip. We believe that public transport that can take people door-to-door will be a good alternative to the private car for many. By coordinating people’s journeys, we can at the same time help to reduce the amount of vehicles on the roads, says communications advisor Benjamin Øveraas in Ruter. The NIO ES8 will hit the roads in Groruddalen. Photo: NIO The Chinese electric cars are on their way to Norway, with fitted equipment that enables them to drive on their own in traffic. Before Ruter can put them into use, however, they are dependent on obtaining approval for this from the Norwegian Road Administration. Thank you for reading all the way down. I write about technology and aviation and what it has to say in our everyday life. If there is something you think I should write about, I would love to hear from you.
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Driverless cars cause problems – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
