Mobileye autonomous car runs red light, blames TV cameras
Autonomous cars are the future and promise safer roads and fewer accidents, but they are far from perfect right now. Uber's autonomous car killed a pedestrian recently and now an autonomous ride from Mobileye, a company owned by Intel, has run a red light and the driver failed to stop the car. The incident happened while testing in Jerusalem in a Mobileye car that lacks radars and lasers used by other companies.
The vehicle in question had cameras inside from the Israel Channel 10 news station and while most of the ride had been uneventful, the car had a significant and potentially deadly failure only a quarter of a mile from the garage. The tweet embedded here clearly shows the car blow through a red light that was red well before the car entered the intersection.
1/ This is a #Mobileye autonomous car, in a test drive yesterday, failing to stop at red light – and going straight ahead.
The company, bought last year by Intel for 15bn dollars, invited @news10 tech correspondent, @TalShorrer, to show him the car's abilities. (cont.) pic.twitter.com/R1FivtKQpr— חדשות 13 (@newsisrael13) May 17, 2018
There were no injuries in the incident, but it highlights the need for autonomous automakers to continue to perfect their systems and for safety drivers who are supposed to be paying attention to actually do their jobs. The safety driver behind the wheel, in this case, made no attempt to stop the vehicle from going through the stop light.
As for why the car ran the light, Mobileye CEO Amnon Shashua says that the wireless transmitters used by the TV crew cameras created electromagnetic interference that disrupted the transponder on the traffic light. The car's camera identified the red light but ignored that information and drove through the light.
Mobileye says that the mistake has been corrected. That correction involves using special hardware to shield the electronics from electromagnetic interference.
SOURCE: Bloomberg