A conventional human-driven car is a regular car meant for people to drive. The episode is comparing that to cars that are built or upgraded to drive themselves.
A self-driving (or driverless) car is a car that can drive itself. Instead of a person doing the steering and pedals, the car uses sensors and software to control the vehicle.
This means putting the self-driving system directly into the car. Instead of using an external robot, the car itself would have the sensors and computer needed to drive.
Here, a driving robot is a device that can control a regular car so it can drive itself. The idea is that the same robot could potentially be used with different cars.
Sometimes people act like there are only two choices, but that’s not really true. The point here is that self-driving cars and robot-driven cars could both be real options at the same time.
The steering wheel is what you turn to make the car go left or right. The host is saying the robot should be able to use the normal steering wheel like a person would.
The brake pedal is the part you press to slow down or stop the car. The episode says the robot should be able to use the regular brake pedal like a human driver would.
The accelerator pedal is what you press to make the car go faster. The host is saying the robot should use the normal gas pedal instead of needing a modified car.
A “blue screen of death” is what people see when a computer crashes badly and stops working. The point is that a robot driving a car can’t afford to crash like that.
It means the robot should be able to work with regular cars the way human drivers do. So you wouldn’t need to redesign every car from scratch for it to function.
In simple terms, it means new tech still works with older stuff. The host is saying self-driving tech should fit into today’s cars without breaking how they work.
These are cars that can drive themselves using computers and sensors. The host is describing a future where you might see a self-driving car next to you with no human driver in the seat.
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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 robots that drive.
If you've become interested in learning more about self-driving cars, see my website, www.ai-self-driving-cars.guru,
for further information.
Okay, let's get started.
One approach to achieving a self-driving or driverless car would be to make a robot that could drive a conventional human-driven car.
Thus, rather than building the driving capabilities directly into a car, the notion is that a robot would be able to get into an everyday car and simply drive the vehicle,
akin to having a human being be able to get into a car and do the driving.
This kind of exploratory activity is indeed taking place in research labs, though generally is a long way of field of being practical.
In the near term, the more viable route to a true self-driving car is going to involve infusing the self-driving tech into the vehicle itself.
But just because something's not immediately or near-term achievable doesn't mean that it should not be pursued.
Those having a longer-term horizon can readily envision a future that would have robots for driving cars, trucks, buses, and so on.
For those researchers pursuing the driving robot, please keep up the noble work and do not be deterred in your pursuits.
Now, you might be wondering why would it be advantageous to have a robot that could drive a car versus a self-driving car?
Here's some notable advantages.
Any conventional car could instantly become a so-called driverless or self-driving car, albeit being driven by a robot, and not requiring a human driver.
You could presumably easily switch the driving robot from one conventional car to another.
This means that at any car at any time can immediately become a self-driving car.
The driver of the car would also be readily seen, which is an important advantage over existing driverless or self-driving cars.
The cost of having a self-driving car would go towards the driving robot rather than the car itself.
A driving robot could be more readily shared and used on a widespread basis.
A self-driving car with built-in capabilities is merely one car.
A driving robot could drive any conventional car.
And a driving robot might provide additional uses.
A self-driving car has just one sole purpose.
Now, be aware there are various disadvantages to driving robots as well, but we'll leave it there for the moment with the list of advantages.
Another quick point is do not fall into the classic mental trap of thinking that there are two mutually exclusive approaches of either a self-driving car versus a robot-driven conventional car.
That's a false dichotomy.
We can have self-driving cars that have all the AI systems built directly into the vehicle, and we could also have driving robots that would be able to drive conventional cars.
Right, so now let's get set to some ground rules about these driving robots.
Here they are.
Number one, the driving robot must be mobile in its own right.
This ground rule is that the robots must be able to enter into and exit from the car doing so on its own without any human assistance.
If it required a human to get it into place, my qualm is this would severely limit the utility of the driving robot.
Number two, the driving robot must be able to fit within the normal driver space.
For this ground rule, the notion is the robot cannot be larger than the usual amount of space set aside in a car for a human driver to sit and drive a car.
If the robot is oversized, it would then not be able to drive most cars.
Number three, the driving robot must be able to drive the car entirely on its own.
In this ground rule, the point is the driving robot cannot kind of cheat and somehow require a human to be sitting next to it to aid it as it is driving the car.
I reject that idea.
Number four, the driving robot must use the existing human-based driving controls.
This ground rule is the driving robot must be able to use conventional steering wheel, brake pedal, accelerator pedal, and so on, just as a human would be able to do so.
No need to somehow alter or change up a conventional car to accommodate the driving robot.
Number five, the driving robot can plug into the car for power, but only conventionally so.
Number six, the driving robot must be able to interact with passengers doing so somewhat normally.
Now this is a trickier ground rule. For a driving robot, there has to be some viable means to have passengers communicate with it else the driving robot would be a rather stilted driver, and the driving act would be a lot less valuable.
Number seven, the driving robot must be reliable, safe, secure, trustworthy, and so on.
This ground rule is usually kind of table stakes for any robotic system that might be interacting with humans, and that in this case is performing a life or death type of task.
If the driving robot sometimes hiccups and is going to freeze up with a blue screen of death, well that's certainly not the kind of driving system that anyone would want.
And number eight, the driving robot can do other bonus aspects, but it must at least as a minimum drew the driving task.
This ground rule involves the notion that the driving robot might be able to do other kinds of activities beyond that of a human driver, but as a bare minimum, that's what it must do.
Now you might have realized that the key underlying theme about each of these rules is that a driving robot is essentially supposed to be backward compatible with the conventions of human drivers.
In the computer field we refer to backward compatibility as the previsio that any new hardware is fully compatible with prior hardware.
For a driving robot, the widest possible usability would be that the robot would be able to slide easily into the driver seat of any car that a normal human could drive, start the engine, and drive away just as a human could.
Not one iota or ounce of change is needed to make the car accommodate the driving robot.
As mentioned, you'll likely begin to see self-driving cars before you see robots driving cars.
Nonetheless, do not be surprised in the future if you're driving along in your car and next to you is a self-driving car with an empty driver seat.
And on the other side of your car is another car that has a smiling robot at the steering wheel.
Whatever you do, make sure to keep your eyes on the road and not on those drivers.
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.
About this episode
The discussion explores a long-term alternative to built-in autonomy: a robot that can physically enter a conventional car and drive it. That idea is framed as backward compatible with ordinary vehicles, but only if the robot can move on its own, fit the driver’s space, and use standard controls. The speaker also notes that the cost would shift from the car to the driving robot, while acknowledging that today’s research is still far from practical.
Dr. Eliot explains how AI self-driving cars could simply be based on using robots that can drive. See his Forbes column for further info: https://www.forbes.com/sites/lanceeliot/
