
Cruise Raises $12.5M for Self-Driving Cars, Poaches Tesla’s Lead on Autopilot - replicatorblog
http://techcrunch.com/2015/09/18/cruise-2/
======
Animats
All "Cruise" seems to be talking about is lane keeping plus radar cruise
control. BMW, Buick, Cadillac, and Volvo had that years ago. Mercedes is
shipping it now. The big problem is keeping drivers from relying too much on a
dumb system that almost works[1].

Everyone with a clue in the industry realizes the problem. Semi-automatic
driving, with the expectation that the driver is alert and ready to take over,
is an accident waiting to happen. Mercedes has a device to check if hands are
on the wheel. (See video below for someone defeating that.) Cadillac has a
seat vibrator. Most of those semi-auto systems are unable to detect junk such
as a mattress on the highway, deer, pedestrians, and work crews. They assume a
benign freeway environment. Most won't engage in a non-freeway environment.

What bothers me about "Cruise" is that they promote this assist technology as
a full self-driving system, like what Google and CMU/Cadillac have in test.
See the Cruise ad.[2]

The NTSB defines four levels of self-driving:

    
    
        0 - manual
        1 - Function-specific Automation 
            (example: anti-collision radar braking.)
        2 - Combined Function Automation 
            (adaptive cruise control plus lane centering.)
            (current Mercedes, etc. level)
        3 - Limited Self-Driving Automation
            (still needs a driver available to take over.)
            (current Google level)
        4 - Full self-driving automation
            (driver does nothing, may not even be present)
            (Google is trying to get there for 25MPH cars.)
    

Cruise is at level 2, but advertises as if at level 3.

Driving a level 2 car and thinking it's a level 3 car is deadly.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv9JYqhFV-M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv9JYqhFV-M)
[2] [http://www.getcruise.com/](http://www.getcruise.com/)

~~~
zaroth
Just like we learn how to use cruise control in certain driving situations, I
would expect drivers can learn how to rely on "Supercruise" in appropriate
situations.

Specifically I think the most beneficial use-case would be the mind numbing
highway stop-and-go crawl which millions contend with daily. If my car could
follow the car in front of me with lane-keeping, it seems like that would be
extremely useful. IMO, it's not a system that needs to be able to accelerate
past even 25 mph before reverting to a more typical / unassisted speed
adaptive cruise control. But IMO it must have an extremely snappy almost
aggressively close follow distance, since the computer should have better
reflexes. In traffic, if it's leaving even a car length, it would drive me
crazy.

I would assume these systems are challenged by a lack of intuition around
traffic flow, and the [in]ability to steal glances down the line of cars (I
guess depending on how high-mounted the top camera is). If the only real input
is "mm to next bumper @ 60Hz" can you do better than a human driver?

I think another key trick is in really nailing the "My Car" transition cue. I
guess it could be some sort of touch sensor on the wheel, or a flick of a
paddle shift, but I think the best input might be a tap on the gas pedal.

~~~
nikhizzle
Volvo has this on their 2016 vehicles. It is called pilot assist and works
under 30 mph.

~~~
zaroth
Finally found a video of it in action [1]. During this 1:11 video the car
dings an alert for "apply steering" no less than 3 times? The follow seems a
bit sluggish but not as bad as I was expecting.

Found another example which shows the lame follow distance and sluggishness.
[2] Hilariously, there's an accident at the end of the video in the next lane
over due to the stop-and-go traffic. But in this form, I think these things
are basically traffic creation devices.

[1] -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9RAn0DwAAU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9RAn0DwAAU)
[2] - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmdWBH-
IvDg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmdWBH-IvDg)

------
greenyoda
A total funding of $16.8 million sounds like a tiny amount of money to be able
to develop this kind of complex technology, especially anything related to
cars, which are heavily regulated. Their competitors - Tesla, Google and the
huge car manufacturers - all have billions of dollars to throw around.

 _" The product to date has been a system that converts existing cars into
self-driving cars down highways. ... There are sensor units that go on top of
the car near the windshield and then there are actuators that control the
steering and driving. There’s also a computer that goes in the trunk... The
plan had been to sell Cruise systems for $10,000 each."_

This doesn't sound like it would get significant acceptance from the public.
Are people going to be comfortable getting third-party modifications done on
their cars, which would be of unknown quality and safety and surely invalidate
their cars' warranties?

~~~
4927a15fe7b0c35
I agree, it doesn't sound like much money. Their poaching of Tesla's head of
Autopilot R&D is very interesting though, and is definitely a sign of
confidence.

I think you're making quite a few assumptions though: (a) Getting third party
modifications to make your current car self-driving may look crazy today, but
when self-driving cars become more of a thing, it'll certainly be a more
attractive option when compared to buying a new car altogether. (b) Right now
the quality and safety are unknown, but assuredly they won't be in the future.
I'm sure these devices will be tested thoroughly and have to meet specific
regulations. (c) I'm not sure they would void the warranty, it would depend on
a lot of factors.

Regardless, the article hints at an upcoming pivot from Cruise, so the
described product may not even hit the market.

~~~
x5n1
That sort of company usually gets picked up by existing manufacturers. Like
perhaps Chinese or Indian manufacturers who will be late to the game. It's a
good idea to go this route.

------
ciumonk
"I may be wrong, but I have a feeling that there is already a very large
market of people who like to tinker with cars. Imagine a self-driving
Delorean"

Or my own version, a level 3-ish self-driving 1977 VW Rabbit :)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCE35zbkciU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCE35zbkciU)

~~~
hippich
Tell us more, please!! =)

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cmansley
"Vogt couldn’t change lanes because of California state law around autonomous
vehicles"

This statement is complete bullshit. The California DMV doesn't have any clear
details defining operations of vehicles at this point in time. They only have
rules about what is required to test on public roads. This includes 5 million
dollar bond, applying for permit, etc...[1]

This statement alone (if correct from the reporter) makes me nervous about the
amount of spin going on.

[1] :
[http://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/wcm/connect/d48f347b-8815-458e-...](http://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/wcm/connect/d48f347b-8815-458e-9df2-5ded9f208e9e/adopted_txt.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&amp;CONVERT_TO=url&amp;CACHEID=d48f347b-8815-458e-9df2-5ded9f208e9e)

~~~
kvogt
To clarify, the California DMV carefully defines an "Autonomous vehicle" but
has carve outs for collision avoidance systems [1]. While adaptive cruise
control and lane keep assist are mentioned explicitly as collision avoidance
systems, automatic lane changing is not. So we weren't comfortable adding that
feature until the DMV published their regulations for the operation of
Autonomous Vehicles (which still hasn't happened) and we met those
requirements.

[1] :
[https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/vr/autonomous/bkgd](https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/vr/autonomous/bkgd)

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plonh
Can someone explain how Google's long running car program fits in? Does Googe
license patents (or map data, or...) to companies? Is Google car a PR thing
that isn't competitive with the auto industry? Is Google hoping to leapfrog
over all the "assisted driving" tech to be the first fully autonomous car?

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mmmBacon
Exactly how have they taken the lead here? They bought a bunch of bolt-on
stuff and slapped together some software that works in a very limited way. Am
I missing something?

~~~
btian
They're basically developing an after market adaptive cruise control + lane
centering system.

Not revolutionary, but can be very useful nevertheless.

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natewevans
Congrats to the team! Best of luck!

