Toyota’s e-Palette hits a blind Paralympian: is ‘semi-automation’ to blame?
The Toyota e-Palette is the latest posterchild for AV haters
What exactly happened?
While Toyota claims the accident happened during manual control, the company has suspended the use of all e-Palette self-driving pods.
In aYouTube video, Toyota Chief Executive Akio Toyoda explained that the vehicle was under manual control at the time of the accident.
The driver used the control joystick to stop at a T junction and then — when attempting to turn — hit the athlete going at around 1 or 2 kilometers an hour.
Luckily, the athlete wasn’t badly hurt and was able to walk back to their residence after receiving medical attention.Toyota is cooperating with local police to determine the cause of the accident and will conduct its own investigation.
To date, it’s not clear whether the vehicle, the operator holding the joystick, or a combination of both, that caused the accident.
Passengers aren’t the only ‘client’
Is the problem automation… or semi-automation?
The ToyotaChief’s comment is understandable — and frankly correct — but it also skirts around one of the bigger issues: people.
When car-makers promised us the dream of self-driving vehicles, it was effectively cars that drive themselves while we take a nap or lead a meeting.
[Read:The Taliban love Toyota… but why?]
But what we’ve got so far is semi-autonomous vehicles like the e-Palette where a driver sits behind the wheel. The driver isideallyhyper-alert with their hands at the ready to take over control. But are drivers are capable of interacting safely with semi-automation?
In most cases, yes. However, semi-autonomous vehicles (with the help of humans) have beenkilling people since 2018. when a safety driver in a self-driving Uber failed to notice a pedestrian until it was too late.
Tesla is also currently under scrutinyafter 11 cases of their vehiclescolliding with emergency vehicles. There wasanother parked-car collisionjust this week.
While these vehicles are equipped with alarms, deceleration, and other whistles to ensure driver vigilance, they are hardly a posterchild for further automation.
Do I trust machines more than humans? Kinda
If Toyota’s e-Palette was fully autonomous, it wouldn’t have to rely on the driving skills or the focus of humans. In some respects, I trust a road full of completely autonomous vehicles more than a mix of semi-autonomous and zero automation cars.
Why? Because humans are unpredictable. They drive while drunk and stoned, and speed for fun. Autonomous vehicles do not.So if we can work out the details (ok, there’s quite a few) like their ability to distinguish between stop signs on the streets and on trucks — and to be able to identify and stop for humans as well as animals — things might just get interesting.
But there’s no way AVs will roll out without the gradual increase of autonomous functionality. A lot of drivers don’t seem able to cope with the current level of automation. This is the rub and I can’t see a way to reconcile this.
Meanwhile, we see more and more crashes and other incidents that fail to convince the average person of the future safety of autonomous vehicles. The road betweenL4 and L6 automationis long, and it’s proving painful.
Do EVs excite your electrons? Do ebikes get your wheels spinning? Do self-driving cars get you all charged up?
Story byCate Lawrence
Cate Lawrence is an Australian tech journo living in Berlin. She focuses on all things mobility: ebikes, autonomous vehicles, VTOL, smart ci(show all)Cate Lawrence is an Australian tech journo living in Berlin. She focuses on all things mobility: ebikes, autonomous vehicles, VTOL, smart cities, and the future of alternative energy sources like electric batteries, solar, and hydrogen.
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