
Ford disguised a man as a car seat to research self-driving - gopalakrishnans
https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/13/ford-disguised-a-man-as-a-car-seat-to-research-autonomous-driving/
======
michaelbuckbee
It sounds goofy, but this strikes me as really clever. Compared to almost
anything else with self driving cars adding a few indicators to outwardly show
what it's going to do next (for pedestrians and other drivers) is a huge win.

There is a fair amount of waving for someone else to go first at a turn,
seeing if a driver is distracted (on their phone) at a stop, making eye
contact while using a cross walk etc that gets lost with SDVs.

Also, I really feel like they stole this idea from Raid 2
[https://youtu.be/ErrRhXItBWc?t=118](https://youtu.be/ErrRhXItBWc?t=118)

~~~
agumonkey
__* SPOILER __*

That's how they made Knight Rider "driverless" scenes
([http://www.knightriderarchives.com/knight_rider/season_one/g...](http://www.knightriderarchives.com/knight_rider/season_one/give_me_liberty_or_give_me_death/nitpicks/images/04238.jpg)
<= can't find a clear shot, but if you find episodes online, it's pretty easy
to see the double depth seat and raised up armrests)

~~~
oaktowner
How did I go through life without knowing that?

~~~
ForFreedom
You are not alone & I am with you

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mykeliu
People in the comments are making references to prank videos and film
techniques, but this type of research study has also been conducted multiples
times in the last few years by institutions such as Stanford [1], UC San Diego
[2], Virginia Tech [3], and more.

[1] [http://wendyju.com/publications/RO-
MAN2016-Rothenbucher.pdf](http://wendyju.com/publications/RO-
MAN2016-Rothenbucher.pdf)

[2] [http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/science/sd-me-
ghost...](http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/science/sd-me-ghostdriver-
ucsd-20170403-story.html)

[3] [https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2017/08/heres-the-
rea...](https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2017/08/heres-the-real-science-
behind-that-fake-driverless-car/536268/)

~~~
tonmoy
I think the article is referring to the VirginiaTech study itself too

~~~
mykeliu
Curses! Shame on me for commenting before thoroughly reading the article.

------
shangxiao
A reporter apparently tried to talk to one of the drivers and they refused to
acknowledge his presence:
[https://twitter.com/AdamTuss/status/894627339891609602](https://twitter.com/AdamTuss/status/894627339891609602)

~~~
unkown-unknowns
What an annoying reporter

~~~
compuguy
He's actually a pretty decent reporter in the Washington DC area. He covers
transportation, including all the failures of WMATA (DC metro).

------
josefresco
"they just needed people to believe wholeheartedly they were using one."

Don't they mean "seeing one" instead of "using one"? Or am I missing
something?

"fill in gaps where we currently communicate via subtle gestures, eye contact
and other less obvious mechanisms."

This also struck me as odd - do pedestrians and other drivers really make "eye
contact" with drivers to gauge their intention? I guess it's possible, but in
many cases you can't see the driver's head, let alone eyes.

~~~
uxp100
> do pedestrians [...] really make "eye contact" with drivers to gauge their
> intention?

Yes. Consciously, at every vehicle at an intersection, to make sure they
aren't going to run me over. Same on a bike.

Other drivers? IDK, its harder through 2 windshields.

~~~
MrMember
I do it all the time whether I'm walking, in a car, or on my motorcycle. If I
look at them and see them looking at me it raises my confidence that they see
me.

~~~
kpil
I've been given a ride in the passenger seat of a RHD car in a RHT country, ie
the steering wheel is on the "wrong" side.

It's actually quite stressful before the driver (hopefully) stops at a zebra
crossing after you accidentally caught eye contact with a waiting pedestrian
staring at you.

The best strategy is to just look down, but that feels a bit stupid too when
the pedestrians are clearly looking at you.

------
ATsch
It's interesting, everybody is thinking about how this was used for pranks and
films, but I immediately thought of the much more sinister attempts to flee
east Germany. I was unable to find a photo, but I remember seeing a car that
was modified so a person could be sewn into the seat in a Berlin Museum.

~~~
london888
Yes - it happened, also on the Mexico/US border, this has a guy as a car seat
but leads with woman in a dashboard:
[http://www.snopes.com/photos/automobiles/dashboard.asp](http://www.snopes.com/photos/automobiles/dashboard.asp)

~~~
usaphp
I wonder how is it possible to find someone hidden in a dashboard? Were it
dogs that found her?

~~~
nobodyorother
I'm paraphrasing the news report because it's been a few years, but:

The border patrol agent became suspicious when the driver opened the glove box
to retrieve his registration and a hand reached out from within the box to
give it to him.

~~~
stcredzero
Sometimes, one can be _too_ helpful.

------
otakucode
This is really quite common. I read an article about a car in Pittsburgh where
a driver was similarly disguised in order to research specifically other
peoples reactions to driverless vehicles on the road. In the article I read, I
believe it occurred in Pittsburgh, PA and the researcher was affiliated with a
university (maybe Carnegie Melon?). The reporter was able to speak with the
costumed researcher just briefly, but got a more substantive statement from
the org doing the research.

~~~
josephpmay
That's literally the same project this article is about

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dpflan
Seems like they need to turn the cameras inward too (or has this been done
already?); they can start observing "good" drivers providing signs to other
drivers to then learn how to communicate a driving decision better.

~~~
dpflan
It's kind of funny imagining a robot / self-driving car program going through
driver's ed and taking the driver's license test with a human scoring it. Will
car models and algorithms be evaluated like this too? :)

------
VMG
Just as in Knight Rider!
[https://knightriderhistorians.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-
fate-...](https://knightriderhistorians.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-fate-of-
original-hero-car-revealed.html)

------
riphay
Really interesting study, would have liked to see some preliminary or even
anecdotal findings discussed in the article.

I've seen some Youtubers pranking drive-through windows in the same way and
they're pretty funny at the very least.

------
BjoernKW
The setup reminds me of a pretty weird story called "The Human Chair":
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Human_Chair](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Human_Chair)

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rurounijones
I have been in a situation when I was mid-crosswalk when an idiot came
screaming round a long shallow corner too fast (fast enough to have the white-
line between his wheels).

I had a 50/50 choice. Keep going or run back. In the 3 or so seconds I had we
made eye contact and I saw him return his eyes to my front (i.e. he was trying
to get back on to his side of the road) so I moved backwards.

Not sure what I would have done if it were a self-driving car and unable to do
the visual communication (Although the entire point might be moot since a
self-driver wouldn't be in that situation)

------
yanni79
This is what it looked like on the news:
[http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Why-a-Half-Car-
Seat-...](http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Why-a-Half-Car-Seat-Half-
Man-Was-on-the-Road_Washington-DC-439081263.html)

------
kornork
So what were the results? Are pedestrians jerks? Do other cars cut them off?

------
firefoxd
New Turing test:

Is the driver in the car in front of you a human driver or a computer.

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zaroth
Looks like they put a cylon indicator on it? Not terrifying at all...

As for devising new signals which other drivers are supposed to watch to
understand what the car plans to do, I'd say we need a lot more research to
understand if this actually helps or just distracts.

------
ForFreedom
Only successful if they can cross the Mexico border. :D

------
ourmandave
Prediction: this is the sell out costume for Halloween.

------
foota
This article confused me a lot more before I realized Ford meant the company,
not the individual.

~~~
manmal
Interestingly, it was the same for me. I was really confused for a few seconds
until "self-driving" sank in and it became clear that Henry Fore could not
have been alive for that.

~~~
userbinator
In Henry's time, "self-driving" would probably be more likely used to describe
a brick on the accelerator.

------
nomoral
MVP

------
ProAm
So they re-did a prank from 2013 but for science [1]

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVrJ8DxECbg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVrJ8DxECbg)

~~~
mrspeaker
The ol' car-seat-suit trick! That's how KITT from Knight Rider did it in 1982
as well!
[https://www.moviemistakes.com/entry91522](https://www.moviemistakes.com/entry91522)

~~~
supernumerary
Disguising yourself as a car seat also features in this episode of 'Sherlock',
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Six_Thatchers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Six_Thatchers)

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trhway
a programmer disguised as HM Aeron chair ... probably makes for more serene
looking open floor office, and also minimizes the chances of the others
bugging you with various stuff.

------
neves
In London, with their right positioned drivers, more than once I got a scare
of the phantom drivers. :-)

------
harveywi
Not quite the promotion to deputy chair that he had expected.

------
joshdance
Reminds me of the magician who goes through drive throughs in that costume.

I like the idea of an indicator showing what the car is 'doing'.

------
nobodyorother
I can't wait until somebody patents "signaling pedestrians" and we all have to
deal with brand-specific signaling mechanisms.

Thank Zod QWERTY was invented so long ago.

/cynicism

------
jedberg
Off topic, but man do I hate looping gifs in my articles. It's so incredibly
distracting.

Sure, play it once, maybe even twice. But an endless loop? That's just
unnecessary.

~~~
Sujan
It's not even very good communication. As there often is no clear start and
end, when I scroll to the gif I have to watch it at least 2 or 3 times until I
really know what is going on, where the loop starts and where it ends. Simple
video would be so much better.

------
ramasterson
Leslie Nielsen did this forever ago:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqJ3lx43lMg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqJ3lx43lMg)

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askvictor
The conspiracy theorist in me figures this kind of research will be used by
companies that are falling behind in the self driving car race (no pun
intended) to get governments to regulate against self driving cars.

------
MrBlue
Going off on a tangent here but is the HDR filter really necessary for those
images? What is gained by using it? /rant

------
bitwize
This isn't even the most elaborate market-research stunt I've seen.

Some of you older folk may remember an 80s sitcom called Small Wonder, which
was a typical American suburbia family sitcom, except the youngest daughter,
Vicki, was a robot. What I found unusual about the show was its copyright
message: "©1987 The Small Wonder Joint Venture". In later years I found out
that the show was produced in part for market research purposes, to solicit
feedback about how Americans might feel about robots in the home -- especially
robots that look and behave like humans. It was the 80s and we all thought
that was coming Real Soon Now.

~~~
martey
The unusual name ("The Small Wonder Joint Venture") is because the television
show was the first product of a "joint venture" between 5 television stations
[1], not because it was made by some secret home robotics manufacturer or
marketing firm.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Program_Group](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Program_Group)

~~~
Fricken
Also, Booger produced 'wonder joints' to liven things up during the party
scene in 1984's 'Revenge Of The Nerds'

[https://youtu.be/WEp0fte3B8o](https://youtu.be/WEp0fte3B8o)

