Some of the new products on show
DAY 2: Pony.ai provides analysis of AV and ADAS shortcomings and potential solutions
Pony.ai
Day 2 of the conference began with discussions on safety considerations and best practices for advancing ADAS and AV technologies.
Cameron Gieda, director of business development at Pony.ai, gave a fascinating talk on the shortcomings of autonomous vehicle technologies and ADAS technologies on the market today. “It seems that on a weekly basis we see another accident or incident involving the apparent failure of an AV or ADAS," he said. "Regardless of the frequency of these incidents, they are used as fodder by the media to frighten the public, earning more clicks and added revenue. We've seen AVs jamming up streets, hitting cyclists, dragging pedestrians and a recent tragedy where a Ford Mustang Mach-E (supposedly with BlueCruise engaged) struck a stopped vehicle on a highway, resulting in a fatality."
Gieda went on to discuss his opinions as to why such incidents happen and proposed technical solutions to reduce or eliminate these issues in the future.
"Solutions can take the form of better or increased sensors on vehicles or more robust localization and communication systems," he said. "There are also many investments that can be made around infrastructure, which could greatly improve the safety and efficiency of ADAS and AV systems."
He shared a few of these technical approaches (including V2V and V2X) as well as who he believes should be paying for them.
Speaking to AAVI after his presentation, Gieda explained that he particularly wanted to show “where the industry could improve things, as far as safety and expense and basically usability are concerned, so we have more customers using these things, which should hopefully result in a much safer road".
He added, “I’ve been attending the event for many years and it’s really the key show of the summer in Silicon Valley for everybody in the automotive industry.”