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Time Is of The Essence

We’ve all heard some version of the phrase “Time is of the essence”. Many of us have heard some version of the following phrases, “Time Is On Our Side”; “Make Good Use of the Time You Have”; “Time is Fleeting”; “Time Waits For No-one”; and of course one of my personal favorites, “Time Is What You Make of It”.

Stack up modern mechanisms created to keep track of time, like in the image above, and what do you have? You have a “whole-lot-of-time”, don’t you? Well, that’s more than enough time for a self-driving car, that’s for sure. Self-driving cars deal in denominations of milliseconds, and milliseconds are effectively the “currency” by which transactions occur for the expected results of a particular decision, reaction, activity, activation, or actuation of some-kind.

The Arbitrage of Time

“Time” is the arbitrage for self-driving cars, for autonomous mobility, and for “smart” devices and “connected” platforms. Time is the currency of the future, especially when it comes to data and information. The quicker you have access to a purchase, a stock trade, closing on a potential real-estate deal, the more money you could potentially make. And so it is with autonomous vehicles that make decisions in milliseconds of time.

“Time is of the essence” essentially means that something must be done immediately, or almost immediately, notwithstanding the legal definition. Let’s face it, if there is one thing (or two) anybody and everybody wants more of, its time and money. If you think about it in terms of sports, a split second gave Michael Jordan all the time he needed to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 5 of the 1989 Eastern Conference First Round Playoffs. Olympian Michael Phelps swam a 1:53.93 to break his own world record of 1:54.58 set in 2001.

Self-driving cars and autonomous vehicles will not only make decisions in milliseconds of time, but simultaneously scan, identify, predict, determine and execute in the milliseconds of time (any motorcyclist knows this very well). But take a it a step further, and you’ll realize just how critical time becomes in the typical modern day metropolises around the globe. The surroundings make for a data rich environment, and for a vast array of data points that are simultaneously all at play — and the self-driving car is constantly evaluating the environment and making decisions within milliseconds of time.

So then, what is time for self-driving cars? Time for self-driving cars is the currency with which the car’s brain (the central computing unit for self-driving) is used to execute literally trillions of operations per secondwithout so much as a even a noticeable difference to the passengers as well as the people located in the immediate and surrounding environment around the vehicle’s route (which could change at any point throughout the duration of the trip — meaning its dynamic in nature).

Time becomes the most essential piece of the entire system that works cohesively to transport the passenger(s) from point of origin to point of destination. We’re talking about the movement of electronic signals at literally the speed of thought, or very close to the speed of thought. Every signal is critical and every decision becomes a command that needs to be executed and completed without failure.

Time arbitrage becomes the ultimate currency as signals are proverbially “flying” around at speeds mimicking the blink of an eye at approximately somewhere in the vicinity of three or four tenths of a second (thats 300 to 400 milliseconds). With the advent of autonomous mobility, signal latency becomes immensely critical and is of utmost importance in the era of self-driving and autonomous vehicle development. With the advent of the driverless automobile, an increased emphasis will be placed on the way in which computing and signal speeds are used in conjunction with one another. Invariably, to enhance communications and data transfer to make the self-driving car execute and deliver the way in which it should, smoothly and safely, without compromise.

My name is Patrick Salem — I am an autonomous mobility professional, engineering and project manager for self-driving cars. I’ve worked in automotive autonomous mobility platform development and strategy, including platform design, systems architecture design, requirements development, commercial aircraft electronics systems development and scope of work documentation. See my other articles on Medium at AutoDriveAI and follow me on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Medium: AutoDriveAI

Twitter: AutoDriveAI

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patricksalem/

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Self-Driving Cars and Big Data In The Information Age

Ok, hold your horses. This is not going to be some political rant on an Orwellian / dystopian surveillance state where self-driving cars will know everything about you and use it to your disadvantage. On the contrary, this is about how self-driving cars will know everything about you and use it to your advantage, for comfort and convenience, and cater to your every “beck and call” so to speak. Or at an absolute minimum, to your idiosyncratic behaviors, habits, likes and dislikes.

What’s more, the self-driving car will use the data and information it collects about the passengers to the advantage of the brands that want to sell you everything from the shoes you’re wearing, to the type of entertainment you prefer while you’re a passenger on board. The “connected” self-driving car gets its real power from its ability to not only gather and collect data about the surrounding driving environment (exterior to the cabin), but in parallel will also gather and collect end user data from the passenger(s) and amalgamate the data for sole purpose of selling, disseminating, and distributing the data to brands that want to sell you their products and services.

Self-driving cars will be the final stop for all data that will be highly connected via the smart city infrastructure. The connected infrastructure will be where all “smart” cars (i.e. self-driving cars) like the autonomous vehicles that you’ll be using for normal everyday transportation will be connected and communicating in perpetuity during normal operational cycles. This likely means that all devices that enter and exit the vehicle with the passenger will also be simultaneously connected during the duration of the ride (which is what they’re betting on) to capture all the passenger’s personal preferences to in order to make the trip more enjoyable from a consumer’s perspective.

We’re talking about a cocoon that totally envelops the passenger, while simultaneously providing seamless connectivity to all the platforms of social communication and beyond. Essentially, this means shielding the passenger(s) from road noise and distractions, everything from external wind noise to adverse traffic conditions; and going as far as avoiding traffic by providing mapping data to the vehicle in advance in order to provide the most customizable ride to ensure full encapsulation (as little distraction as possible to the passenger(s)).

Believe it or not, a captive audience inside a moving car where boredom is likely to set in, especially during longer commutes, lends itself well to entertainment providers (think along the lines of Netflix), shopping, reading, and a whole host of other possibilities all the while the vehicle is on route to the final destination. What I’ve just described is a utopia to online retailers itching to reach out to you and grab you by the proverbial smart phone application. Whether its Amazon or eBay, it doesn’t really matter. The point is, they have your undivided attention, and you’re literally a “sitting duck” to every desire during the entire ride.

The biggest data grab will come in the form of autonomous fleets that will be catering to your personal preferences so well and so seamlessly, that they will inevitably become your mobile service provider of choice in all likelihood — and that’s where the big money starts rolling in! Its only inevitable that self-driving car services or what is known as Mobility as a Service (MaaS) will be the most pervasive and most seamless method of selling, that chances are the passenger will no longer even be aware that everything is being customized to their preferences, but will come to expect it from every provider as a matter of comfort and convenience.

My name is Patrick Salem — I am a autonomous mobility professional, engineering and program manager for self-driving cars. I’ve worked in commerical aircraft electronics systems development, automotive autonomous mobility platform development and strategy, including platform design, systems architecture design, requirements development, and scope of work documentation. See my other articles on Medium at Auto Drive AI and follow me on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

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Autonomous Mobility in Dense Urban Environments

If you’ve ever driven a car for long periods of time you know how much easier it is to drive on a freeway versus city streets. The limitless and unforeseen chaos lurking on a city street, especially in highly populated, very dense cities like New York or Los Angeles gives you a glimpse into the level of detail required to ensure a self-driving car reacts properly in any given situation at any given moment. Freeways are exactly that, free of distractions that a driver would typically experience and need to pay close attention to on the streets of New York City.

Just think for a moment of all the movement simultaneously occurring on any typical main street in New York City. Pedestrians, skateboarders, j-walkers, people on skooters, people on bikes, people heading in the wrong direction, pedestrians getting out of cars, pedestrians getting into cars, trucks, taxis, the potential for a pedestrian to jettison out in front of a random car at at any given moment and so many other countless scenarios. The unpredicatability becomes vast and almost infinite. Preparedness is not only significant, but critical and essential. Reaction time is of paramount importance. Inevitably, this is the training ground for level 5 autonomous mobility.

The scenario as depicted by the photo above lends itself to machine learning, where the technology used to “train” the automobile to “drive” like a human through the use of highly sophisticated camera technology (coupled with other sensors for like radar and lidar) that captures the data in real-time and then allows the developers to then feed the data back into the vehicle enabling it with the capacity and capability to learn and grow each and every time becomes a great advantage, and I would argue a premier method by which advancements become exponentially easier while simultaneously delivering unprecedented learning growth.

Why Machine Learning/Deep Learning?

Why machine learning/deep learning? Machine learning/deep learningessentially automates “prediction” through perceiving the environment through human eyes via camera sensors, similar to how a human driver has to make smaller, yet safety critical predictions while driving at all times. It’s the ability to predict the behavior of the objects in the immediate surroundings while driving in the surrounding, something humans do without giving second thought to the action.

What’s more, the technique or methodology of machine learning/deep learning enables the computer/controller to learn how a human would learn, through sensation and feedback which creates a continuous loop of data inputs and outputs, consistently improving with enhancements at every stage (if things are progressing correctly) and every scenario based on the last set of inputs or the last data points from the previous driving environment meaning it allows for enhancements by “…automatically applying accurate and responsive correction to a control function.” The entire process requires a multifaceted toolkit to enable the type of continuous progression to made on a consistent basis. The proper CPU power, the proper data center for data storage and integration, along with artificial intelligence.

Infrastructure Is of Paramount Significance

Infrastructure becomes a necessity and is the “glue” the binds everything together. Without the proper infrastructure in place that is capable of handling the eventual communication between automobiles, traffic lights, signals, and a host of other devices in what will be known as “smart cities”, then the “autonomous” in autonomous mobility will likely cease to exist. Invariably, then, most cities will begin to revamp entire transportation infrastructures in order to usher in a new mode of transportation that will include not only self driving cars, but autonomous trucks and the like. The future is paved in technology overhauls that will require everything from new traffic lights, to street sensors and detection systems that simultaneously and seamlessly communicate and share data with one another.

The process of progressing from level 3 advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) to full autonomous mobility (level 5), one that requires the removal of input from a “driver” (meaning no brake pedal, no accelerator pedal, and no steering wheel) mandates an unprecedented amount of planning and overhaul of city infrastructures at a national scale. Inevitably, all of the requirements may seem daunting, but let’s not forget all of it is a minimum of thirty (30) years in the making from this point forward.

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Autonomous Cars Will Collect Approximately 4 TB of Data Every Hour of Driving

The information age is about to change, drastically and significantly, but it will be seamless and you won’t be the wiser, or will you? At present, cars have three major sensors on the vehicle:

radar

ultrasonic sensors

cameras

but the self-driving cars of the future will have two major sensors (LiDAR and cameras) that will collect and gather the majority of the data, not only from the external environment of the vehicle, but also from the interior environment. We’re talking about four (4) terabytes of data per hour, and in self-driving vehicle fleets with an estimated operating cycle of twenty (20) hours per day, that’s approximately eighty (80) terabytes of data per day. You can see that this will easily accumulate to one (1) petabyte (1000 terabytes) in less than a week. Yes, you read that right — one (1 PB) petabyte in less than seven (7) days. The data being collected is primarily being used to make critical driving decisions in milliseconds of time.

Where does the data about the passenger’s preferences come into play and how is it collected? Great question. What’s going to happen is that while the car is driving its pre-planned route based on a series of factors, like traffic data, the sensors will simultaneously be collecting and transmitting data on all points-of-interest for each passenger based on their personal mobile device. The key to all this information is the uplink or synchronization between the car and the passenger’s mobile phone each and every time the passenger has used the vehicle. And all the while, once the data has been uploaded, the data from the vehicle’s information center (typcially the cloud network) will make suggestions for the passenger(s) during the duration of travel on the route.

What’s more, what will the autonomous vehicle do with all that data? Well, it’s going to learn about the passenger’s personal preferences each and every time the car is being used, so much so that the car will eventually know all the likes and dislikes as time goes on. The critical aspect to really understand is that the ultimate goal is to make the vehicle seamlessly integrate into your life — so that whatever you’re watching on “television” in your home follows you directly into your self-driving car. Your favorite podcast, your music and food preferences, literally every like and dislike will be automatically and seamlessly integrated into the cabin environment, so that there will be no interruptions whatsoever between where you are, what you are doing and where you are going.

The examples and scenarios are endless. Hence the amount of data will eventually grow so large that the mobility infrastructure will need to support and sustain the vast amounts of data collected and gathered and shared daily. The plot thickens as the companies catering to your beck and call, the vast amount of retailers who are salivating to get your digital composite (the digital you, purchases, consumables, fashion, technology, entertainment, etc) will bend over backwards to reach you as you relax in what you, perhaps naively think, is a completely closed-off, shielded environment that keeps you isolated from the road as you travel to your destination or point-of-interest. The company’s are already lining up with the very same technology companies working in unison with the IoT (Internet of Things) companies to ensure they capture your attention through and through.

All the aforementioned will contribute to, if not exceed, the one petabyte of data every five (5) days or so. The question is, how will the manufacturers of autonomous vehicles use your data and where will they store all of your personal data? Disucssions of this nature are already underway at The Internet of Things Consortium where everyone is working in collaboration to address issues around big data and how it will be handled within the new infrastructure.

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Autonomous Mobility/Shared Autonomous Mobility, What’s It Really All About?

Big Data and How To Create a Unique Experience For Every Passenger While Simultaneously Capitalizing (creating revenue streams) Around That Data

You’ve woken up in the morning and gotten ready for your day. You’re ready to head out the door and the first thing most people typically do is…get in the car and head straight for school to drop off the kids, right? WRONG…millions and millions of people NEVER head straight to school or work, and as a matter of fact MOST people make at least one stop (if they’re not running late) before dropping their children off at school. And WHERE are people stopping? You guessed it — it’s the morning routine that has become a ritual in America, their favorite breakfast shop to grab their favorite cup o’joe and some breakfast, perhaps, before heading to their planned destination — the school. And we ALL know there is data to prove it — just look at how well Starbucks and other “customarily” and traditionally “morning” retailers are faring in the market place — pretty damn well! Remember the mantra in this day and age and moving forward — most people are creatures of comfort AND convenience — that’s the key. Tony Robbins has always maintained that most people are always running away from pain and toward pleasure and their in lies the actual and real use for self-driving/autonomous mobility — lots and lots of data about the user of the car.

But that’s not just a morning routine, it’s become the daily routine — at ANY time of the day — meaning the driver will choose to stop anywhere at any particular time. But it get’s better! You see, that little, or not so little, device you bring with you everywhere you go these days has the ability to monitor, track, and relay information about your daily habits — everything from your workout routine, to how many steps you take in a day, to how many hours of sleep you’re getting each night.

So what you say…what does that have to do with the car of the future that is going to drive me around while I do everything else but drive?! It has everything to do with YOU and that’s the point. It’s ALL about YOU! Well, more specifically its ALL about YOUR data! Everywhere and anywhere you spend your time and money! That’s what the self-driving car is all about! BIG DATA — specifically your data! Every retailer that is in close proximity to or available to you via the Internet wants to know more about you — from your daily habits to your daily routine. Why? To cater to your likes, your wants, your needs, what you like to spend your money on and where you like to go (where you like to travel to in the self-driving car) to spend your time and money because there is BIG money in that data, in that information. That’s what it’s all about.

SO what does that mean for auto manufacturers and everyone the technology available in that space? It means are you building a platform, literally a platform, to not only capitalize on that data, but to also provide a unique experience by catering to each and every customer based on each individual’s specific data that will uplink from their personal mobile device (i.e. smart phone of choice) to their public mobile device (i.e. their autonomous mobility platform — shared self driving vehicle). The real purpose behind autonomous mobility or the self-driving car is the data about the passenger and what can be offered to the customer during the entire duration of travel from point of origin to final destination.

Offerings Based On Passenger Data (OBPD)

The real value of the autonomous vehicle is simultaneously its greatest strength and and appeal — information that caters and speaks to the passenger(s) of the vehicle and sends customer specific (highly customized and unique) information (ads) that cater to their wants, needs, spending habits, likes, and dislikes. It’s the ubiquitous data grab that will eventually become Mobility as a Service (MaaS) where mobility begins to interact with the passenger(s) and literally make suggestions (passive and active) about other products and service during the entire duration of travel (regardless of the distance of travel). The real revenue stream is not in offering the service of mobility, that becomes an ancillary benefit. The ability to allow retailers to cater to a passenger based on the path of travel is the real value that the service provider will make a fortune from in perpetuity.

What’s more, as the vehicle routes dynamically change based on traffic data, the information about what is available to the passenger based on customer specific information, will change dynamically as well. Anything from points-of-interest to shopping locations, to coffee shops and much, much more. The self-driving car will be an endless data point, whereby all data is gathered about the passenger from the smart phone and all third party applications on the phone, and then make offerings based on the customer specific idiosyncratic data is the ultimate in “customer service” if you will.

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Autonomous Mobility — Traditional Algorithms versus Artificial Intelligence and the Differences

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The Autonomous Mobility Platform - A True Commodity

The Autonomous Mobility Platform (aka one of the vehicle’s sub-systems) has already become a commodity. What this means is that the details are a commodity for the OEM, but the strategy is the critical part for the OEM — the “variable” if you will (Credit to Gary Vaynerchuk for the phrase “The details are a commodity, but the strategy is the variable”). What’s new in automotive about the specific approach? Nothing at all. The reality is that the car manufacturers leverage the expertise of every single supplier that provides one of over approximately twenty thousand parts/components of the automobile and adding the autonomous mobility sub-system to this list is no different. Most, if not all, automakers today have a plan (strategy) and then go to work to build relationships with suppliers who can deliver all the “components” specific to the strategy.

The OEM should focus on implementation and execution, rather than specific development. By employing the “right” people, the individuals who have enough knowledge of the system architecture and how to implement, and with whom to collaborate, and approximately “how much” it should cost for design and development, then you’re well on your way. There’s no need, in my humble opinion, to hire software engineer after software engineer to internally develop the secret sauce (aka software) that makes the car a “self-driving” car when you can easily collaborate and leverage the suppliers (experts within the industry) to assist you in execution of your overall vision. Sure, you may need a few key people, but again, that’s what I’ve stated all along. Software, in and of itself, is becoming and has become a commodity.

Let’s not forget, that when you hire a supplier, the code is proprietary, and if you attempt to alter it in any way, shape, or form, you, as the OEM, will effectively void the warranty and become fully responsible for the software and its operational liabilities (if they exist or occur).

Each OEM will have a different strategy, but the point is the focus and emphasis should be on your own specific strategy and architecture, not hiring the software engineers to design and develop everything internally. Ultimately, the best approach is to hire a few key individuals with enough experience and expertise to understand the system architecture. Once the plan and stategy is in place, once the architecture has been solidified, the manufacturer can collaborate with the supplier to ensure proper execution.

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Autonomous Mobility - What It Is and What It’s Not

It’s 2019 and everyone, I…mean…everyone, has jumped on the “bandwagon” of autonomous mobility, even those only offering ADAS and not knowing enough to know the difference (for the sake of marketing and PR). And I can hear the insults, the ‘slings and arrows’ coming my way right now after stating what I just stated. That’s right, ADAS is NOT, and NEVER will be, Autonomous Mobility. ADAS (advanced driver assistance system) is an “assistance” offered to the driver, nothing more and nothing less.

Sure, certain features (like automatic emergency braking aka AEB) can beautonomous in that they self-activate based on a given situation or scenario, but only after alerting the driver first. Of course, self-activation of a certain feature doesn’t mean the entire system is driving the car while the driver sips on a latte while perusing through their favorite book on their smart phone of choice.

So then, it begs the question “what is autonomous mobility” and “how is it different from “ADAS”? Well, here’s my attempt to answer that question for the reader. First and foremost, the reader should know, or come to know, that there is a lot going on behind the scenes — lots of technical “stuff” that I won’t get into here. Let me dive right in, then, and answer the question. Autonomous Mobility (Level 5)means there is no human intervention whatsoever. It’s really that simple. No steering, no acceleration, and no braking. The driver does not need to pay attention at all. It’s just that simple, if you will. And so, as you can imagine this really means that the entire system (automobile) functions completely without attention nor intervention from the driver/passenger.

Are we close to the type of automation required to achieve level 5? It depends on who you ask? But don’t be misled or bamboozled into thinking that we’ve already achieved level 5 autonomy by every definition. Sure, the technology is here (viable) and it’s very capable of operating at that level, but not in totality based on present day factors (too many to be mentioned herein). The fact remains, although the technology is readily available and quite capable, we have to take into account all the possbile conditions, regulations, and infrastructure prior to full deployment. Any manufactureres stating its operating at level 5 is playing the PR game (and that’s all about PR and presence — gaining attention and staying in the forefront as a technology leader more than anything else).