Safety for Self-Driving Cars, a Hot Topic at the World AV Safety Summit

Held on October 18 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA, the World Safety Summit on Autonomous Technology provided a unique forum for discussion about the ways in which autonomous technology can be responsibly deployed to significantly increase safety on roadways.

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Jamie Hyneman, former host and Executive Producer of the television show “MythBusters,” kicked off and emceed the Summit. Hyneman contributed his perspective as a lifelong inventor and scientist, challenging industry leaders and officials to prioritize the autonomous revolution and realize its tremendous potential to save lives.

Christopher A. Hart, former Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Deputy Director and Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), delivered the Summit’s first keynote speech. Drawing on his extensive experience overseeing public safety in transportation systems, Hart addressed the challenges autonomous vehicles face as they are introduced on public roads. His message combined a prudent sense of caution with an enthusiasm for reducing the 40,000 roadway deaths that occur annually in the US. Recounting the aviation industry’s history of safety improvements, Hart advised that many of the same lessons could be applied to the development and implementation of vehicles that are increasingly automated.

Hart explained, “The aviation industry experienced early set-backs. Leaders from the various airline companies realized that they needed to come together to share information and data and make a major improvement in public safety. Collaboration was key for the airlines’ success. Collaboration of major players in rolling out autonomy is key now for its success.” Hart highlighted the need for future Safety Summits in which key figures in government, advocacy groups, and industry will continue this discussion on safe autonomous implementation.

“Autonomy needs to be ‘Human-Centric,’” Hart described, emphasizing the use of safety drivers, a robust monitoring system, and redundant parts on autonomous cars. He pointed out that airplanes still have two pilots at the same time they rely heavily on technology. Airplanes are designed with double and triple redundancies of parts and systems so if one fails, another keeps the plane safe. Pilots and the air traffic control monitoring system provide further backup safety. Similarly, autonomous cars should be equipped with numerous sensors to provide redundancy. The safest systems have multiple sensors for perception including high resolution 3D Lidar at the core, with cameras and radar providing redundancy. According to Hart, it is essential that safety systems be vigorously tested through simulation as well as on real roads.

Marta Hall, President of Velodyne Lidar Inc., called for the use of clear language when discussing autonomy. “Would you drive across a bridge that was ‘almost built’? Marketers are selling Driver Assist systems to the public described as, ‘Almost Autonomous.’” She called for greater transparency to clear up public confusion. Hall’s concern that misleading terminology is often employed in marketing campaigns inspired her to host the Safety Summit.

The CEO of Voyage, Oliver Cameron, described his philosophy as being open and focused on sharing information. Voyage’s autonomous shuttles currently provide mobility at senior citizen communities, with information about the technology available on the Internet. The President of SAE, Mircea Gradu, supported the call for transparency in communicating with the public. For example, companies could provide test results through a neutral third party. He proposed that a follow up to the Summit would be exploring ways to generate reports through SAE and consumer organizations to provide consumers fact-based information about automated vehicles.

In a second keynote, Vicki Knox, CEO of MADD, discussed the current tragic state-of-affairs in which roadway deaths have a devastating impact on families. Knox explained that MADD members consider the advanced safety provided by autonomous technology as the breakthrough they have been waiting for. She urged government regulators to encourage advancements in the technology and cooperate with industry innovators. “At MADD, we represent the reason WHY we need safer vehicles. The technology developers and autonomous car companies provide us the HOW.” MADD, in partnership with Velodyne Lidar, recently released a video that was on display at the Summit titled, “Jane, a Velodyne Story,” about a young woman arriving home safely after celebrating her 21^st birthday, which highlights the benefits safe autonomy can provide families.

The Summit included two panel discussions, addressing “Responsible Autonomous Deployment” and “Defining Full Autonomy and its Necessary Technologies.” Speakers included:

• Anne S. Ferro, President and CEO of the American Association of Motor Vehicles
• Alex Epstein, Director, Transportation Safety, National Safety Council
• Vicki Knox, CEO of Mothers Against Drunk Driving
• Mircea Gradu, President of the Society of Automotive Engineering
• Paul Konasewich, Director of Business Development, Paccar Trucking
• Oliver Cameron, CEO, Voyage Motors
• Dr. Myra Blanco, Director, Center for Public Policy at VA Tech Transportation Institute
• Bobby Hambrick, CEO, Autonomous Stuff
• Anand Gopalan, CTO, Velodyne Lidar
• Frank Mancheca, Chief Product Officer, SAE
• Yaoming Shen, Sr Optical Engineer, Baidu
• Steve Levine, Editor, Future and Axios
• Christoph Sapet, CEO, NAVYA
• Faye Francy, Executive Director, Automotive Information Sharing and Analysis Center
• Ceto Ortiz, Commander, San Jose California Highway Patrol
• David Strickland, Partner, Venable LLP and former NHTSA administrator
• Ray Mandli, Founder and President, Mandli Communications, Inc.

AV companies NAVYA and Autonomous Stuff brought fully autonomous vehicles and offered rides to attendees in the stadium parking lot. NAVYA and Voyage are currently operating autonomous public transportation in California, Florida, and Paris.

Also present at the Summit were university students participating in the AutoDrive Challenge sponsored by SAE, General Motors, and Velodyne Lidar. AutoDrive tasks teams from eight universities to develop a Level 4 autonomous vehicle in three years. The competition is entering its second year. Adam El-Masri and Robert Adragna, members of the University of Toronto AutoDrive team, presented to the Summit audience their passion for the project and their vision of the social implications of increasingly autonomous transportation.

About Velodyne LiDAR

Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Silicon Valley, Velodyne is a technology company known worldwide for its real-time 3D LiDAR sensors. The company evolved after founder/inventor David Hall developed the HDL-64 Solid-State Hybrid LiDAR sensor in 2005. Since then, Velodyne LiDAR Inc. emerged as the unmatched market leader of real-time 3D vision systems used in a variety of commercial applications including autonomous vehicles, vehicle safety systems, mobile mapping, aerial mapping, and security. Its products range from the high-performance, surround view Ultra-Puck™ VLP-32, classic HDL-32/64 and cost-effective VLP-16, to the upcoming Velarray™ and VLS-128. Velodyne's rich suite of perception software and algorithms are the key enablers of its perception systems. Velodyne supports customers from offices in San Jose, Detroit, Frankfurt, and Beijing. For more information, visit http://www.velodynelidar.com.

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