If (Driving == Distraction) Automate(Vehicle);
The terms self-driving, driverless cars, autonomous vehicles, and robot cars have become mainstream, but do you really know what these are, how they work, their limitations, how they will impact society, and when we will see them? According to NHTSA, Automated Driving Systems have the potential to greatly reduce (or eliminate) the more than 30,000 annual fatalities attributable to motor vehicle collisions. 94% of those fatalities are attributable to human error. 10% of these fatalities, and countless injuries, have been attributed to distracted driving. The reality is, the dynamic driving task itself has become the distraction – we want/need to do other things. Policy alone isn’t the solution. Enter, the Automated Driving System. We are in the midst of a modern arms-race; estimated by some to be $45B in the US alone by 2021, and projected to revolutionize how we hire mobility-as-a-service. The automotive industry is bracing for this major disruption. This has led to significant hype in the media and by investors, now birthing a frenzy around fears of liability, regulation, artificial intelligence without ethics, major job types vanishing, and yes…even the robot apocalypse. The reality is somewhere in the middle. Are you ready?
About Ryan
Mr. Lamm has over 20 years of experience in the areas of unmanned ground vehicles, automated driving systems, and non-linear controls. He is currently Director R&D at SwRI focusing on Automated Driving Systems, Perception Systems in Dynamic Environments, Connected Vehicle Technologies, Human Performance Metrology, Unmanned Aerial Systems, Flight Test Technologies, and Weapon Detection Technologies. He is responsible for domestic and international collaboration and business development for commercial and defense R&D efforts and is involved in various SwRI activities with U.S. and foreign militaries. Mr. Lamm is a U.S. Expert for the ISO TC204 Working Group 14 – Vehicle/Roadway Warning and Control Systems and author of the Forward Vehicle Collision Mitigation System (FVCMS) standard and Bicyclist Detection and Collision Mitigation System (BDCMS) standard. He is a Senior Member of IEEE, serves as the Chair of the San Antonio Chapter of the IEEE Technology Engineering Management Society (TEMS), and was named one of San Antonio’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2013 by the San Antonio Business Journal. Mr. Lamm is a 5th generation south Texan, and received his BSEE and MSMOT from UTSA.