John Markoff writes for The New York Times that a new study co-authored by MIT Prof. Iyad Rahwan finds that drivers are conflicted when it comes to the ethics of autonomous vehicles. Prof. Rahwan and his colleagues found that “what people really want to ride in is an autonomous vehicle that puts its passengers first.”
A study by Prof. Iyad Rahwan of the Media Lab finds that while people want autonomous vehicles that minimize casualties, they ultimately want the car they’re driving in to prioritize passengers over pedestrians, writes Amy Dockser Marcus of The Wall Street Journal.
A new study co-authored by Prof. Iyad Rahwan grapples with the ethics of autonomous vehicles, writes Hal Hodson for New Scientist. When it comes to saving passengers versus pedestrians, researcher worry the findings will “[limit] the promise of this technology to dramatically cut road deaths.”
BetaBoston reporter Amanda Burke writes that a survey by MIT AgeLab researchers and the New England Motor Press Association found that consumers are skeptical about autonomous vehicles. “Just 15 percent of those over 55 said they were willing to try a driverless vehicle, even though researchers say the technology could help them remain mobile later in life,” Burke writes.
Boston.com reporter Sanjay Salomon writes about how “Duckietown,” a model city developed by MIT researchers, could help make self-driving cars a reality. “We realized if you scale down autonomous driving to something very small there’s lots of research to do on a smaller scale with none of the logistical challenges of real autonomous vehicle research,” explains postdoc Liam Paull.
WBUR’s Bruce Gellerman speaks with Prof. Carlo Ratti and research scientist Bryan Reimer about the potential impact of driverless cars on everything from traffic to the economy. Reimer says using autonomous vehicles will change, “how we move. It changes how packages are moved. It changes how we behave. It changes the future of old age. It changes everything.”
Popular Science reporter Mary Beth Griggs writes that in an MIT course students developed a fleet of duckie-adorned self-driving taxis for a village called “Duckietown.” “Each of the robot taxis is equipped with only a single camera, and makes its way around the roads without any preprogrammed maps."
Prof. Emilio Frazzoli speaks with Nicole Dungca of The Boston Globe about his new startup nuTonomy, which is developing a fleet of driverless taxis for Singapore. Frazzoli explains that he feels the biggest impact of autonomous vehicles is in “really changing the way we think of personal mobility, or mobility, in general.”
MIT startup nuTonomy is developing driverless taxis to serve as a form of public transit in Singapore, reports Nyshka Chandran for CNBC. “The driverless taxis will follow optimal paths for picking up and dropping off passengers to reduce traffic congestion,” Chandran explains.
Fortune reporter Robert Hackett writes that MIT spinoff nuTonomy is developing a fleet of driverless taxis for Singapore. Hackett writes that the company “could become the first to operate fully self-driving cars, known as ‘level four,’ in a city commercially.”
Wall Street Journal reporter Angus Loten writes that MIT researchers are investigating the viability of developing underground networks where autonomous vehicles could deliver goods in urban centers. According to Loten, Prof. Sertac Karaman explained that “subterranean drones have a number of advantages over unmanned aerial vehicles.”
In an article for The Washington Post about robots and humans, Wendell Wallach highlights Prof. David Mindell’s book “Our Robots, Ourselves.” “Mindell clearly demonstrates that the efforts of people and robots can be complementary and inextricably entangled, and can evolve together,” writes Wallach.
Emily Reynolds reports for Wired that NASA has awarded an R5 “Valkyrie” humanoid robot to a team led by Prof. Russ Tedrake. Reynolds explains that the team “will develop algorithms to make the robot more dexterous” so that they could potentially take the place of humans during extreme space missions.
A team led by Prof. Russ Tedrake has been awarded one of NASA’s R5 “Valkyrie” robots to develop software that could allow humanoid machines to assist astronauts in space, reports Rachel Feltman for The Washington Post. Feltman writes that Tedrake’s team was awarded the robot based on its strong performance in the DARPA Robotics Challenge.
NASA has awarded two humanoid robots to research groups at MIT and Northeastern, reports Brian Mastroianni for CBS News. The robots “are seen as potential tools to aid astronauts in future Mars expeditions,” writes Mastroianni. “They could potentially assist or even replace humans in extreme environments.”