An American Automobile Association’s (AAA) study has revealed shifting attitudes with self-driving cars.
According to the study, 73 percent of American drivers are afraid of riding in an autonomous vehicle, signaling a 10 percent jump from a January study, with two-thirds reporting feeling less safe if they were to share the road with one. Millennials surveyed posted the most significant shift, with 64 percent reporting in the negative over a late 2017 figure of 49 percent.
“Despite their potential to make our roads safer, in the long run, consumers have high expectations for safety,” said Greg Brannon, director of Automotive Engineering and Industry Relations at AAA. “Our results show that any incident involving an autonomous vehicle is likely to shake consumer trust, which is a critical component to the widespread acceptance of autonomous vehicles.”
The shifts in attitudes could be attributed to the slate of well-publicized crashes involving autonomous vehicles, including an Uber self-driving program vehicle killing an Arizona pedestrian last March, a non-fatal Tesla Model S crash in Utah, and a Model X crash in California where its Autopilot system was scrutinized.
The AAA used randomly selected 1,014 adults to complete the survey, with a 4 percent plus or minus margin of error.
Ford Launching Self-Driving Vehicle Delivery Program in Miami
Ford has now launched a self-driving vehicle pilot delivery program in Miami (Florida) in partnership with Domino’s Pizza — to be followed by the launch there of a program with Postmates as well — the company’s Vice President of Autonomous Vehicles and Electrification, Sherif Marakby, has revealed.
The launches comprise part of the company’s plans to develop a revenue-sharing model for such services (fleet management) with its various partners — which include the aforementioned Domino’s Pizza and Postmates, as well as others.
You’ll note that Ford’s approach to the initial deployment of self-driving vehicles is quite a bit different from the ones being pursued by GM/Cruise and Waymo/Google (as well as the one by Tesla). It seems Ford is simply working to establish partnerships that will see it offer self-driving vehicle fleet management services, rather than self-operating its own robotaxis.
That’s not to say that Ford’s self-driving vehicle solutions may not end up being used by self-driving taxi services, simply that the company won’t be operating these services (seemingly, anyways).
“We will make money through utilizing the vehicle and the revenue that the vehicle generates for every mile it’s operating,” explained Sherif Marakby, in an interview with Reuters.
Here’s more from that coverage: “That model could include a revenue split with the partner, and additional revenue from streaming digital services such as infotainment, advertising, and e-commerce into the vehicle.
“Ford said the mixed-use model — transporting people and goods — offered a better chance of keeping its vehicles operating throughout the day, and thus maximizing potential revenue. … Marakby said Ford, working with its affiliate Argo AI, is deploying self-driving Fusion sedans in Miami and will add vans and SUVs as it rolls out its pilot program to other cities.”
As you’ll recall, Ford is currently working on a new self-driving vehicle solution — designed for the purpose from the ground up — that will begin production sometime around 2021 if Ford president Jim Farley is to be believed.
The idea behind this new offering is to design a vehicle with a flexible enough design that it can be used for a variety of different purposes — robotaxi service, delivery services, etc. — without the need being there for extensive alterations for different needs.
Very notably, and as you may also recall, Ford will reportedly be using hybrid technology in the new self-driving solutions. In other words, the offerings won’t be fully electric and may not even have a plug much of the time — which makes the company’s plans somewhat divergent from the industry as a whole, which seems to be focused on all-electric robotaxis.
To add to all of this, here are some select excerpts from a piece published recently by Ford’s Marakby on Medium: “So now, we’re headed to Florida to test and prove out our business model. With the help of Miami-Dade County, we’re taking our service directly to the streets of Miami and Miami Beach…To understand what Miami-Dade residents would experience with self-driving vehicle service, the first part of our presence will involve pilot programs throughout the year with our partners, starting with Domino’s Pizza and Postmates. What we learn from this customer experience research will be applied to the design of our purpose-built self-driving vehicle that we plan to launch in 2021 to support the expansion of our service.
“In parallel to creating the best customer experience possible, we will continue to develop the self-driving technology powering our vehicles by expanding testing in partnership with Argo AI. Running a self-driving business in any city requires a comprehensive understanding of local laws and the unique driving habits of residents, which is where Argo specializes. A new fleet of Argo vehicles is already on the streets, mapping the roads and accumulating miles that will help us improve the way they move through cities…That’s why we’re establishing our first autonomous vehicle operations terminal in Miami. Situated close to downtown, it will be the base from which we’ll develop our vehicle management processes and house our test fleet. The vehicles will be washed and have their sensors cleaned here; routine maintenance will be conducted, including troubleshooting problems that arise and more.”
Autonomous Ford Delivery Debuts in Miami
Overall, the approach being taken by Ford sounds pretty interesting, but it does appear that the company may be putting itself into a position to fall behind competitors such as Waymo/Google. Though, of course, that’s not something that is yet known.
Waymo, the self driving arm of Alphabet which in turn is the parent company of Google, is feeling confident the autonomous cars it has created in cooperation with Chrysler are now ready for their first real world use without a human driver on board. After months of testing in and around Phoenix, Arizona, the company says it will soon be ready to begin allowing those cars to provide ride hailing services to paying customers in Chandler, a suburb of Phoenix. It then plans to extend the service to the entire Phoenix area, which is larger in area than London (although much less densely populated.
Waymo CEO John Krafcik gave demonstration rides to members of the press, including Darrell Etheridge of TechCrunch, on November 7. He writes, “Waymo’s stated goal is to ensure safer roads for everyone, and after having spent some time in the fully driverless Pacifica that will be operating in Chandler, I’m more convinced than ever they’re on a path to make this happen. Bringing that truly driverless Level 4 experience to public roads and public riders is a huge step, and a sign we could be hailing an autonomous ride sooner than you might think.”
By using the Waymo app, customers in the Phoenix area will be able to summon a self driving Chrysler Pacifica to their door to go shopping, get to school, or drive to any destination within the defined area of operation. They also will be able to use the app to communicate directly with a member of Waymo’s customer service staff at any time. Early in the experiment, each Pacifica will have a Waymo employee on board who has access to an emergency stop button, but the company plans to move quickly beyond that phase to true Level 4 autonomy where the only humans in the vehicles are customers.
Waymo has ordered up another 400 autonomous Pacificas from Chrysler, bringing the total in their fleet to 500. Waymo now appears to have the early lead in the self driving ride hailing sweepstakes. Expect this service to expand beyond the Phoenix area rapidly if the experiment there proves successful. Check out the video below for a glimpse of what the world looks like inside a self driving Pacifica taxi.
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