We’ve all seen the doomsday warning associated with artificial intelligence. Images of robot armies and a mastermind intelligence launching the world’s nuclear arsenal are commonplace in Hollywood and popular culture. While mankind is still decades away from constructing an artificial intelligence of that caliber, many organizations have started developing the early stages of a true intelligence. One such organization, Tesla, is pursuing AI research in order to fully realize their dreams of a self-driving car. This research has been in progress for quite some time, but setbacks have set the clock back on fully-achieved automatic driving. On May 7, a Tesla car did not recognize a large truck on the road and collided, resulting in the death of a Tesla driver.
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Trying to bounce back, Tesla announced the latest software update for its self-driving cars on Sunday, revealing that the vehicles will be relying more heavily on radar to make decisions, rather than the optical cameras already installed on the cars. While from a collision-avoidance stand point radar will be a vast improvement, there have been issues raised against how the artificial intelligence will react in potential pedestrian collisions. As referenced in the blog of David Ross where he questions the role of artificial intelligence as a friend or foe, there is a classic dilemma regarding whether a self-driving car should protect its driver or the pedestrian crossing the road in a situation where only one can be saved. This is just one of the many simulations that Tesla will need to run through in order to make the program a success on the consumer market. In addition, in a new blog post by the Tesla Development Team it was highlighted that the key issue in using a radar collision detection system is the prevalence of false alarms. Using the current system, small metallic objects such as a soda can appear to be larger and more obstructive than it actually is, resulting in unnecessary stopping. As well, “Something made of wood or painted plastic, though opaque to a person, is almost as transparent as glass to radar.”
While there are definitely issues and glitches that still plague the Tesla self-driving car, the progress they have made is something to be commended. If and when Tesla can achieve their vision of the completed and safe autonomous car, Tesla will spearhead the automobile industry into an entirely new market. As the pioneers of this new movement, the prosperity that Tesla will experience will be incredible. As it stands, Elon Musk is well on his way to leading one of the strongest car companies the world has ever seen.