Autonomous Shuttle Brakes For Squirrels, Skateboarders, and Texting Students

Tekla Perry writes: An autonomous shuttle from Auro Robotics is picking up and dropping off students, faculty, and visitors at the Santa Clara University Campus seven days a week. It doesn't go fast, but it has to watch out for pedestrians, skateboarders, bicyclists, and bold squirrels (engineers added a special squirrel lidar on the bumper). An Auro engineer rides along at this point to keep the university happy, but soon will be replaced by a big red emergency stop button (think Staples Easy button). If you want a test drive, just look for a "shuttle stop" sign (there's one in front of the parking garage) and climb on, it doesn't ask for university ID.

Not the only one

[Anonymous Coward]

We have similar shuttles (but better looking ones) here at Tampere University of Technology. Check this out http://sohjoa.fi/

Re:Not the only one

[No Longer an AC]

Most vehicles break when they hit a moose.

Re:

[FatdogHaiku]

It's a small bus
In Finland, Moose Break Bus! (pretty much everywhere else too). It seems odd that these to animals would be in the same thread... Moose and Squirrel...

Re:

[Calydor]

Somehow I don't see 'bumping a motorized vehicle into humans' as a viable business strategy.

Re:

[Joce640k]

Why not?

I'd pay to see that.

Re:

[sexconker]

I'd pay triple for a car with that feature, so I could run over retards and then say "It wasn't me, my automatic car did it, sue them.".

Re:

[Lead Butthead]

I'd pay triple for a car with that feature, so I could run over retards and then say "It wasn't me, my automatic car did it, sue them.".

Considering that the vehicle will probably have wireless network to facilitate over the air firmware update, I bet real money some 1337 h4x0r script kiddie can't resist the idea of changing that 5 mph to 50 mph... somewhere there will be bookies taking bets on how far the the ... target flew following the impact.

Re:

[Mr D from 63]

...and then bump into the texting students on purpose, to teach them a lesson.

Pedestrians, skateboarders, cyclists, etc... should all be hit at 7 MPH to teach them to stop walking and to ride the shuttle... because that is the only way Auro Robotics will make a profit in the long run

What kind of fat lazy squirrel can't get out of the way of a 7 mph bus? Or are they just self-entitled squirrels who feel they should not have to move?

Re:

[Mr D from 63]

My apologies for being insensitive to any obese, unmotivated sciuridae. I truly regret it.

Re:

[BranMan]

Glad I was not drinking milk when I read this. You sir, win the internet!

Re:

[FatdogHaiku]

No no. You just collect them and then count them as a rider.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFuW_sfaPk0 [youtube.com]

Re: "doesn't ask for university ID"

[Blythe Bowman]

You are a moron, truly you are. Fuck your ignorance, fuck your hate for the homeless, and most importantly, fuck you. Please, just go kill yourself.

Re:

[Memnos]

At first I thought the title said we were going to outfit them with autonomous brakes.

Re: Can't hit squirrels

[Z00L00K]

And it will stop for speed bumps too.

Re:

[nospam007]

"We have like, an agreement with them. Don't we??"

No, George.

Re:

[93 Escort Wagon]

We have like, an agreement with them. Don't we??

No, our agreement is with the pigeons. They get out of our way, and we overlook the statue defecation.

Re:

[fluffernutter]

Don't worry about the pigeons. They will be around a lot longer than we will.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

My fellow shuttles! If the almighty engineer had not wanted us to chase squirrels, would the almighty engineer have given us a squirrel sensor? Amen.

...what?

[wonkey_monkey]

Autonomous Shuttle Brakes For Squirrels, Skateboarders, and Texting Students

I read "brakes" as a noun. I imagined rodents and students alike being fitted with little rocket packs to bring them to a stop when they're in danger.

Disappoint.

Re:

[zm]

Shuttle breaks are parachutes... When I read the title, I wondered how did they train the squirrels to pack the parachute into the little backpack after it opened?

Re:

[wonkey_monkey]

Their little paws are quite dextrous.

Shuttle breaks

Yes, unfortunately it did. Twice :(

Re:

[antdude]

And that's not a bad idea too. ;)

Re:

[wonkey_monkey]

If squirrels can't be fitted with jetpacks I don't want to live on this world any more.

Re:

[RockDoctor]

If squirrels can't be fitted with jetpacks

DREADCO [wikipedia.org] tried this years ago. Burned the tails off the squirrels. The ATS (Asbestos-Tailed Squrl) project never got off the ground because the tails were too heavy to move without the jetpack.

I don't want to live on this world any more.

Soylent [soylent.com] have an opening for you. Email them and ask about their "green" recruitment programme ; they'll get back to you with your collection point. No hand or hold baggage allowed.

Re:

[sir-gold]

The -1 score shows that nobody here understands sarcasm

Someone will Hack that

[BeemanIT]

I could see this thing driving down the road and the horn says "GET OUT OF THE WAY YOU HAG!", "I GOT THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND, MOVE!". Anyways some of those college students need someone yelling at them to walk faster.

But why?

[smooth wombat]

Autonomous Shuttle Brakes for Skateboarders and Texting Students

Why are we thwarting nature? Why are trying to keep the stupid ones around in the herd? Let Evolution do its thing.

Re:

[afgam28]

Because the shuttle is being operated on a pedestrian path.

How long before people grief it

[DrXym]

A house brick, stick, bag of straw or something similar in its path would be sufficient to grief the thing. Maybe a wad of gum over a sensor or a plastic bag. All of which will be a foretaste of what will happen if autonomous vehicles ever become a thing.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

This is why we can't have nice things.

Re:

[DrXym]

That may be but unless you account for (changing) human behaviour in your design then you're going to get a nasty surprise. All this sort of thing is completely forseeable so there is no excuse. People will grief vehicles, robbers will cause cars to halt automatically. Even the behaviour of driver/passengers, other road users and pedestrians may adversely change in ways that counteract or negate some of the supposed safety of these cars.

Re:

[DrXym]

I'm sure it will be a felony but robbery is already a felony. If you can rob an autonomous car just by throwing a box in the road and causing it to halt so you can rob the occupants, then that's exactly what will happen. If kids on your street discover sticking gum, rubbing dog shit or whatever onto a sensor on your car incapacitates it then you can bet that'll happen too.

Re:

[0100010001010011]

Maybe a wad of gum over a sensor or a plastic bag

Put a wad of gum into or a plastic bag over human sensors and see how they do.

Re: How long before people grief it

[Blythe Bowman]

I prefer hotwiring it for manual control, driving it to a bad neighborhood, stripping it down, and leaving it turned over on it's roof and covered in gang graffiti myself.

How long

[fluffernutter]

I'd like to know what would happen if someone found a stuffed squirrel and put it on the road, would this contraption deduce that it should drive around the squirrel since it is not moving? We have a real long way to go with reasoning in order to reach full autonomy..

Re:

[rmdingler]

I'd like to know what would happen if someone found a stuffed squirrel and put it on the road, would this contraption deduce that it should drive around the squirrel since it is not moving? We have a real long way to go with reasoning in order to reach full autonomy..

Yes. There are many aspects to debug.

As these technologies are applied to heavier and faster vehicles,

it will also be necessary to differentiate when to squash the squirrel, rat, or kitten instead of putting the human passengers at risk with a sudden stop.

Re:

[fluffernutter]

Yes and then some real moral issues surface. At what point is a minor human injury more important than a house pet's life?

Re:

[fluffernutter]

So you would run over a house cat rather than chaff someone's seat belt shoulder? There has to be some moral regard for life here.

Re:

[rmdingler]

Given how many variables there are, including the split second difficulty of discerning between a skunk and a housecat, value judgements like these might be difficult to program into the sensors.

Re:

[fluffernutter]

Which is why they are really, really far away from real autonomy. That's all I'm saying.

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[bmo]

The split second decision is to "grit your teeth and keep driving" because swerving at speed to avoid an animal that will probably run the same direction you're swerving (toast usually lands on the floor with the butter side down law of the universe) will probably result in you flattening the animal anyway (Squirrel Squares by Road Ready Flat Snacks (TM)) and your car running into a tree, roadside obstacle, parked car, midget, donkey, midget donkey, parked midget, roadside carnival midget riding a donkey,

Re:

[0100010001010011]

As these technologies are applied to heavier and faster vehicles,

This looks like a brand new startup that is trying to do everything from scratch, by themselves, this year.

Look at what the Germans have been running around test tracks for 5+ years.

Additionally take into account what sensors they have available for what that cheap vehicle costs.

LIDAR

[fluffernutter]

I thought LIDAR was the creme de la creme of sensing technology. One sensor can't detect squirrels?? How many sensors would be required if they had to detect dogs and cats as well like in a real neighborhood? Autonomy has a long long way to go.

Re:

[sir-gold]

It was more likely that the main lidar camera was mounted too high to see anything that small, so they added a second one just for the small animals.

Re: LIDAR

[fluffernutter]

So in other words, the absolute right place is right in front of the windshield?

And the usual aftermarket accessory

[Provocateur]

Just your ordinary, average all-chrome or aluminum bear grille, for the bookish bear, or freshman initiate

or for your university-trash dumpster diving bears.

Re:

[sir-gold]

The problem with roadkill squirrels is that they attract other animals. Startling a group of carrion birds when you are 10 feet away and going 60mph tends to result in a smashed windshield covered in bird guts and feathers. Likewise, running over someone's dog or cat in the middle of his snack is not good either.

Re:

[Coren22]

At the 7 MPH this shuttle goes, frankly the squirrel can run out of the way faster.

Big Red Button

[MrLogic17]

> a big red emergency stop button (think Staples Easy button).

Has Slashdot's audience diverged from IT workers so far that a Big Red Button needs explanation? Has no one been in a data center or used industrial equipment lately?