The Volvo Test Facility

An article from Wired a week or so ago about The Volvo automated driving test facility.  It simulates urban, rural, and highway environments.  It looks quite well thought out.  Sadly, Volvo doesn't have much online about what they are up to, but you can see what they are willing to share here, and even download a sharp looking brochure.

Ethics of Automated Driving

An interesting article on Wired about the importance of allowing the "driver" of an automated driving vehicle to make choices in situations where there is no right answer.

On a personal level, I appreciate the idea of being able to choose what will happen in a no win situation.  I would not want either the government or, god-forbid, corporations to make the choice for me.

It's Legal in California

The CBC is reporting that yesterday (Sept 25, 2012) California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that allows the testing and driving of automated cars on California roads.

Comedy Alert - Why Automated Driving is Bad

I found a post on the Wired.com Alt Text blog that I found vastly amusing.  It is a tongue in cheek look at why automated driving systems are sooo bad.  Enjoy reading it.

Hacking the Automated Car

I was pleased to come across a site recently from a group called the Center for Automotive Embedded Systems Security (CAESS).  The Center is a collaboration between the University of Washington, the University of California San Diego, and the US National Sciences Foundation.  It deals with, as the name suggests, making computers in automated driving systems secure.

The computer security of automated cars and automated driving systems is something I have given thought to over the past 15 to 20 years, more as the capabilities of our computers have increased.  There are certain things that can be done to reduce the opportunity to hack automated driving systems.. The one that springs to mind is to hardwire as many functions as possible so that they cannot be hacked.  Hardwire refers to making the physical design of the chip control the program that runs on it.  Such a chip, once made, cannot be reprogrammed, only replaced.  Obviously there are disadvantages to such an approach, but in a systems where safety needs to be paramount, we may need to live with those disadvantages.

Heavy security needs to be built in from the bottom up.  And frankly, what can already be done to hack the rudimentary systems in cars is scarey enough.  Stay tuned for more.

Google Cars Get Ready for Prime Time?

Last week a report on TechCrunch, and a post on the Google Blog indicates that Google now believes that their automated cars are safe enough for a single person to be in the car while the car drives the person to and from work and, it is implied, other tasks.

Politics in Florida

Not being an American my opinion doesn't count for much in their politics, however, some things really burn me.  There is a commercial against Jeff Brandes (R-St. Petersburg).  Unfortunately the commercial takes aim at him through his support of automated driving systems, using all the usual scare tactics.

The Democrats (presumably) should be ashamed of themselves.