AI Self-Driving Cars Dealing With Jaywalkers

Hi, I'm Dr. Lance Elliott, and welcome to my podcast series about self-driving cars.

In this episode, I'll be discussing the topic of jaywalking and self-driving cars.

If you've become interested in more about self-driving cars, please see my website, www.ai-self-driving-cars.guru,

for further information.

Okay, let's get started.

I remember one of the first times that I visited New York City and made the mistake of renting

a car to get around that famous metropolis.

I'd figured that driving a car around the avenues and streets would give me a solid

sense of how the city that never sleeps was laid out and where the most notable restaurants,

bars, and shops could be found.

Turns out that I mainly discovered how much New Yorkers seemed to delight in jaywalking.

It was as though there weren't any rules against jaywalking at all.

You might also think that you would dart rather than kind of meander across the street, but

these fearless jaywalkers tended to take their time.

In some cities, the jaywalker does not make eye contact with the car driver, seemingly

acting as though car drivers don't even exist.

My experience in New York was that the jaywalkers loved to give the car drivers a stare down.

I admit that after I turned in the rental car and became more of a traditional pedestrian

on my visits in New York City, I adopted the jaywalking habit there.

One colleague even assisted to me that it was actually more dangerous to cross at a

marked crosswalk, at least in New York City, than it was to jaywalk.

I doubt that he had any actual statistics to back up the claim, but I went with it.

During my numerous stays in New York City I noticed, for example, that the time of

day seemed to make a difference in terms of the volume and nature of the jaywalking.

Mornings when pedestrians were trying to get to work often stoked a lot of jaywalking,

perhaps a try and get to work promptly, and minimize the time required to get to

your office.

There was also the amount of traffic that played a role in the jaywalking.

If a street had intermittent traffic, and if the cars that use a street considered a

kind of a race track to quickly make some progress through the slew of blocks of

New York City, the jaywalker had to be a bit more nimble and aware.

The weather also played a part in the jaywalking ritual.

Rainy days meant that the jaywalkers had an even greater incentive to jaywalk.

Some of the jaywalkers acted as though they had a special invisible shield that

would protect them from the cars.

They would walk across the street whenever they darned wish to do so.

In my estimation, there seemed to be a sizable chunk of drivers that were not

attuned to the presence of these jaywalkers.

This kind of makes sense since the drivers were having to contend with bigger

game, such as larger trucks trying to make deliveries, and rapidly

exiting and entering unexpectedly into the street and avenues.

Furthermore, many of the car drivers seemed to consider that a jaywalker

did jaywalking at their own risk.

In essence, the car driver did not have to pay particular attention to

the jaywalkers because, well, the jaywalkers were required to always make

sure to avoid getting hit by a car.

At least that's what they assumed.

Another factor involved sizing up the jaywalker.

How was the jaywalker dressed and what kind of look did they have?

If a driver saw a jaywalker that seemed like a seasoned yorker, it suggested

that the jaywalker could take care of themselves and no further driver

attention was probably needed.

When it got somewhat late at night, I observed there would be a segment

of jaywalkers that were a bit intoxicated having visit their preferred

pub for some after-work libation.

This seemed to dampen the wits of these jaywalkers.

In most cases I observed individuals acting as jaywalkers.

This though was not always the case, and there were frequently

situations of multiple jaywalkers proceeding all at once.

There was at times a herd mentality.

If one of the jaywalkers went for it, the others were sure to follow.

The jaywalking instance has got my heart pumping where situations in

which two people were holding hands and opted to rush across the

street together.

As you can imagine, trying to get two people across on a precisely

timed jaywalk is a bit more complex.

If one of the two falters that can defeat the open window in which

you have the opportunity to do the jaywalk, it was surprising at

times to see how much connectedness was retained by the two.

It was as though separating of their hands meant more to them

than the chance of getting hit by a car.

Was it true love that came together in that life-risk move?

Was it concerned that the other one might feel abandoned?

Maybe it was out of deep caring and belief that by sticking

together they could survive anything.

There's another kind of coupling sometimes that would occur

involving a jaywalker that was jaywalking with their dog.

The jaywalking human might be hand carrying the dog, having

lift the dog up and embrace him like you would carry a football.

This made sense that having the dog walk on a leash is going to

be more uncontrollable.

For those that didn't carry their dog, perhaps due to

weight and size of the dog, the leash approach was quite dicey.

This reminds me too of a common refrain that my New York

colleagues would use on me.

They would say that any jaywalkers making their own

decisions if they get hit, well, that's their own doing.

Now I don't buy into that claim per se.

It seems to leave the car drivers out of the equation.

If a car driver hits a jaywalker, it's going to be a great

difficulty for the car driver.

Though, yes, I agree, it's unlikely the car driver would

be killed.

But they could get injured.

Furthermore, suppose the car driver is so anxious to avoid

hitting it wayward jaywalker that the driver rams

into the car.

Now you've got another person enmeshed into this

jaywalking effort.

Here's another angle for you.

What about the children?

I've seen jaywalkers holding the hand of a child or a group

of children and trying to make a jaywalking attempt with them.

I realize some would argue that, of course, the adult needs to

hold the hands of the children, and would accuse me of somehow

suggesting the children should roam freely as jaywalkers.

Let's be serious.

I'm not implying that children should be unescorted by an

adult when jaywalking.

The thing is, the children should probably not be jaywalking

at all.

There are some that have said to me that it would

require walking several added blocks and take another 15

minutes to get to their desired location, such as school.

Well, one has to then consider the return on investment, or

ROI, of walking those extra blocks and using those added 15

minutes, doing so presumably in a safer manner, versus the

risk associated with doing the beeline jaywalking.

Is there an appropriate risk reward that says the added

risk to the child makes the jaywalking act worthwhile?

There's the special twist of the jaywalker that dropped

something while in the act of jaywalking.

I saw a jaywalker that was carrying his coat as he

darted across the street.

The street was slightly wet from leftover rain.

The person slipped while running across the street.

As he regained his balance, he dropped his coat.

At this point, his presumed prior calculated time to get

across the street had been used up.

A car was fast approaching.

Should he go to pick up his coat, which would take a

pressure second or two, and tempt fate with the

oncoming car?

Or should he abandon the coat for the moment and safely

make his way to the sidewalk?

Which is better, a coat that perhaps gets trampled by a

moving car, and which you can get it out of the street

once the car is passed, and maybe get the coat dry

cleaned or fixed up?

Or do you bend over while in the middle of the street and

watch that oncoming car like it's a bull charging it,

you and Pamplona?

I've been so far primarily describing the jaywalkers.

Let's shift our focus a bit more towards the car

drivers and the act of contending with jaywalkers.

In terms of the drivers, there are drivers that

seem to know the jaywalking game pretty well and

play it to the finest detail.

There are other drivers that are driving well distracted.

Maybe they're looking at their phone or doing

something else.

So inadvertently, it can be more menacing for a

jaywalker than those that are actually paying

attention and playing the game.

They're the drivers that are drunk drivers or

otherwise somewhat incapacitate, therefore impaired

while playing this jaywalking game.

There are even what I call the vendetta drivers.

I cannot say for sure that they have a vendetta, but

they certainly seem to drive like they're trying to get

those jaywalkers.

Here's something else that seems to go into the

jaywalking equation.

Does the jaywalker have any kind of encumbrance like

a heavy backpack or maybe carrying a briefcase or

carrying a box?

This tends to slow down the jaywalker, requires the

find a somewhat wider opening in terms of time and space.

Night time jaywalking was somewhat akin to daylight

jaywalking as long as the street was well lit and

everyone was actually sober.

On some New York City streets, though, the

lighting was not so good.

This increased the chances of sour encounters between

jaywalkers and drivers.

The jaywalker at times, though, seemed to think that

the darkness was actually in their favor, hiding their

jaywalking transgression.

You can combine together all these aforementioned

factors and make the jaywalking into a rather

complicated game of human versus human.

Human jaywalkers that have human frailties and can

misjudge when and how to jaywalk, when there are

conditions that can impact this game along with

daylight versus darkness.

Drivers that pay attention, other drivers do not.

Some have a vendetta, some that might be drunk.

Of course, not all countries are necessarily

opposed to jaywalking.

On an international basis, there are some places in

the world that jaywalking is strictly forbidden and

other places that allow it and give no special

heed about it.

Who has the proper right of way, you might ask.

In some countries, both the jaywalker and the

driver are considered equal in terms of right-of-way.

Here's what the California Department of Motor Vehicles

rulebook states about the act of jaywalking.

Every pedestrian, upon a roadway at any point,

other than within a marked crosswalk, or within an

unmarked crosswalk in an intersection, shall yield

the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway

so near as to constitute an immediate hazard.

The provisions of this shall not relieve the driver

of a vehicle from the duty to exercise due care for

the safety of any pedestrian upon a roadway.

You'll notice that the jaywalker is supposed to yield

right-of-way to the cars.

Notice further that in spite of that aspect, it does

mean that it does not mean that the driver could

just run over a jaywalker.

The driver must also exercise due care, even if

a jaywalker is doing something they aren't

supposed to be doing.

Now, what does this have to do with AI,

artificial intelligence, self-driving cars?

At the Cybernetic AI Self-Driving Car Institute,

we're developing AI software for self-driving cars.

One crucial aspect involves the AI being able

to contend with jaywalkers.

Allow me to elaborate.

I'd like to first clarify and introduce a notion

that there are varying levels of AI self-driving cars.

The top most level is considered level five.

The level five self-driving car is one that's being driven

by the AI and there's no human driver involved.

For self-driving cars less than level five,

there must be a human driver present in the car.

Returning to the topic of jaywalkers,

let's consider the capabilities that an AI

self-driving car should have to contend

with these wayward pedestrians.

I'll tackle right away a comment that I sometimes

get from AI developers.

There are some that say there's no need

for an AI self-driving car to do anything

at all about a jaywalker.

Jaywalkers are acting illegally.

They get what they deserve.

Well, it might seem astonishing to you

that someone would actually think this way.

I quickly point out to such a person

that the DMV code clearly states

that the car driver must exercise a duty of care

even if the jaywalker is doing something

utterly wrong or illegal.

Let's all assume that indeed the AI

of the self-driving car does need to contend

with jaywalkers and that it cannot ignore them.

This moves us then in the next kind of quirk

that some AI developers offer.

There are some AI developers that will concede

the notion of doing something about jaywalkers,

but then argue that a jaywalker is nothing special

and the normal driving aspects

of the AI self-driving car should suffice.

In this case, the AI developer is suggesting

that if the AI self-driving car is already prepared

to cope with objects that might appear in the roadway,

the job of having the AI be prepared

to jaywalkers is already completed.

This implies that a jaywalker is no different

than let's say a tumbleweed.

If the AI is able to detect a tumbleweed

in the roadway, it amounts the same thing

as detecting a human in the roadway.

At least that's the kind of thinking involved.

If I was driving my car and I saw a tumbleweed in the road,

I would likely meant to calculate whether to hit it or not.

I might be willing to hit the tumbleweed

due to the aspect that perhaps there are other cars near me

and if I hit my brake suddenly, I risk getting rear-ended

and maybe I cannot switch lanes

without endangering a car adjacent to me.

Here's an easy question for you, I think.

Namely, do you consider it viable to ram a jaywalker

using the same logic about ramming a tumbleweed?

I dare say you'd be willing to take much greater chances

to avoid hitting that jaywalker

than you would to hit a tumbleweed.

Thus, I claim that if AI system is only detecting objects

and not trying to also figure out

what kind of objects involve,

it's insufficient in terms of what we would all hope

a true AI self-driving car is going to be able to do.

That's why the interplay of the sensory detection

sensory fusion is so vital.

When the AI system is trying to piece together

the sensory data from multiple sensors,

it has an enhanced chance of trying to ferret out

what kind of object is being dealt with.

This also interplays with the virtual world model.

The virtual world model would be tracking the object

over time, which was also then aid in trying

to certain what the object might be.

The AI action planning capability needs to be a student enough

to be able to detect patterns of shapes and movement

that pertain to humans and try to differentiate this

from other kinds of objects.

I purposely chose the tumbleweed example

because it's a tricky one to discern

from the movements of a human.

A jaywalker might make a direct beeline across the street.

Well, a tumbleweed could do the same.

A jaywalker might weave as they cross the street

and of course a tumbleweed might do the same

based on the wind.

You would need to combine together multiple factors

to figure this out.

What is the size and shape of the object?

Does it resemble the size and shape of a human?

Does it move in a seemingly directed fashion

but if so, can it be differentiated

from the possible random movements of an object

like a tumbleweed?

Guessing whether or not the object is a jaywalker

then opens up an entire plethora of other aspects

for the AI to consider.

My stories about jaywalkers provides ample indication

the kinds of acts that a jaywalker might do.

A car driver that's watching the road

would indeed adjust their driving behavior

based on the realization that a jaywalker

is in the road.

You might slow down, you might speed up,

you might honk your horn,

you might do all kinds of actions as a driver.

Likewise, the AI of a true self-driving car

should be do similar kinds of actions.

A true AI self-driving car has to be embodied

with the kinds of driving skills that humans use

and particularly so with regard to contending with jaywalkers.

It is insufficient to simply rely upon

some kind of overarching object detection

and assume that doing so will resolve

how to cope with jaywalkers.

That's not what human drivers seem to do.

The AI system needs to incorporate

the multitude of factors that I previously mentioned

about jaywalkers.

Now some are hoping that the use of machine learning

and deep learning will come to the aid

of trying to cope with jaywalkers.

In some sense, yes, it can be helpful

to use machine learning and deep learning.

I assure you though,

the today's kind of machine learning and deep learning

is not going to be the silver bullet or magic wand.

That provides the jaywalking kind of driving aptitude

needed for a true AI self-driving car.

The jaywalker aspects are far too complex.

It's not the same as merely analyzing an image

to ferret out whether there is a human

in the scene or not.

This has to do with behaviors and rather complex ones.

Most seasoned drivers tend to take jaywalkers in stride,

meaning that we human drivers can detect jaywalkers.

We can anticipate what they might do.

We can adjust our driving aspects accordingly.

And most of the time the dance leads to the jaywalker

getting safely across the street

and the car safely proceeding down the street.

This is nearly an effortless act

by a seasoned human driver.

AI self-driving cars are not yet nearly

as prepared for handling jaywalkers.

The sad incident of the jaywalker that got killed in Arizona

being run down by an Uber self-driving car

is but one example of how limited

today's AI self-driving cars are

in terms of coping with jaywalkers.

Why did the jaywalker cross the road?

The answer to safely get to the other side.

Whether you live in a country

or place that condones jaywalking or shuns it,

in the real world jaywalking exists

and will continue to exist.

Here in Los Angeles,

they've started a new effort to discourage jaywalking.

If a jaywalker is caught jaywalking

and is the first such caught offense,

Los Angeles will give them a bright colored vest

and an LED light for free.

And tell them if they continue to jaywalk,

which they're not supposed to do,

they should at least wear the vest

and hold the LED light up.

And they get no ticket for that jaywalking initially.

You might think this is a rather odd kind of solution

to the problem of jaywalking.

Some think it's a genius,

others think it's a bit ludicrous.

In any case, let's be safe out there.

And the AI for self-driving cars

needs to do its part of that safety mindset.

Well, thanks for listening.

Again, I'm Dr. Lancelot.

I hope that you found today's episode informative.

If you're interested in learning more

about self-driving cars,

please see my website,

www.ai-self-driving-cars.guru

for further information.

AI Self-Driving Cars Dealing With Jaywalkers

artificial intelligence

self-driving cars

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