Falling Asleep While Driving: Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Software
10
October
2021
5/5 (3)
Elon Musk has recently been dropping hints about the Full Self-Driving Software in his Twitter messages. For a 199 dollar subscription per month, Tesla drivers will very soon be able to get the Full Self-Driving package. The beta testing is currently ongoing, the moment many Tesla fans have been waiting on for years. The company has made a promise back in 2016, ambitiously claiming that all the new vehicles will have the hardware capability for “full self-driving” and that it would soon offer complementary software to make the cars drive autonomously. Musk has personally said that he believes people will be able to fall asleep in Teslas while they are driving.
The videos from recent testers show that the software is able to recognize traffic signs and crossings, and also takes pedestrians and other vehicles on the road into account. But despite its name, the actual Full Self-Driving Software is not capable of allowing the car to drive completely autonomously. Another video of the testers showed that the software is still quite far from copying human driving and often makes mistakes such as driving right into objects. This could be very dangerous, this is proven as car crashes while using the AutoPilot mode have been more and more prevalent. Hence, the company emphasizes that the driver should stay alert at all times when using AutoPilot and Full Self-Driving.
There are not only safety concerns surrounding the software, there are also ethical concerns. There are moral considerations that the programmers have to keep in mind when developing the software. A common hypothetical involves a choice between taking an action that will kill either 5 people or only 2 people. What instructions will the autonomous driving computers have pre-loaded?
In conclusion, Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Software seems to be full of promises, but in reality, the safety and ethical concerns should be kept in mind for the software to be truly successful.
Moving Things with Your Mind
19
September
2021
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The human brain and the way it works have always been a mystery to us and neuroscientists have broken their heads over trying to understand this vital part of our body that differentiates us from other animals. Despite years of research, we have only managed to touch upon a surface level of what the human mind is actually capable of. This has left a lot of space for fictional speculations about the mind and its abilities, from mind-reading to telekinesis. With the emergence of neurotechnology, it seems like these speculations are getting closer and closer to reality…
What is neurotechnology?
Neurotechnology is derived from the integration of neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence (AI). It is combining our knowledge of the brain with technology to develop machines that could help us extend our knowledge of the brain, and possibly even cure brain illnesses and enhance our physical and psychological abilities (Halper, 2020).
Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs)
A specific branch of neurotechnology is brain-computer interfaces (BCI). This system captures brain activity, usually through electrical signals, and analyzes features from that activity in order to convert them into artificial output that can be used to replace, restore, enhance, supplement, or improve human functions (Schalk and Allison, 2018). In other – less complicated – terms, this means that BCI makes it possible to give out certain commands to external environments with our mind, for example controlling electronic devices solely with your thoughts.
One of the pioneers of a non-invasive BCI technology is biomedical engineering professor Bin He from the University of Minnesota. Together with his team of researchers, they managed to demonstrate the ability to control drones in a physical space using the mind of the controller. This process works as follows; first, the controller thinks of a certain action, without actually executing the action. This produces electronic waves, which are caught by a noninvasive EEG cap placed on the surface of the scalp. The signals are transferred to the computer and the computer transforms the signal into a command. Then the commands are beamed to the external device through WiFi (Karl LaFleur et al, 2013). A demonstration of a controller flying the drone and a visual explanation can be found in the following video.
Mind over Mechanics: Controlling robots with the human brain
This technology has opened up a range of opportunities and has enormous potential to revolutionize healthcare. It can be applied to assisting physically disabled people in their daily lives and making things possible that were deemed impossible to them before. An example would be Milo, the brain-controlled wheelchair, developed by neurological engineering students.
The risks of BCIs
The benefits of BCIs almost sound too good to be true, but in reality, it certainly is not a perfect technology. It has raised a lot of ethical questions; as it involves direct access to the mind, the potential for abuse is very significant. Like all technologies, BCIs are certainly no exception when it comes to exposure to risks and dangers of the technical world, such as hackers. Hackers could for instance send manipulated EEG data to the brain, making people do things they don’t want to do or intercept brain data and steal “passthoughts” such as user credentials (Gonfalonieri, 2020).
All in all, BCIs can be very powerful, in both a positive and negative sense. It has the potential to revolutionize healthcare. However, the risks must be taken into considerations and strict policies and regulations have to be put in place.
LaFleur, K., Cassady, K., Doud, A., Shades, K., Rogin, E., & He, B. (2013). Quadcopter control in three-dimensional space using a noninvasive motor imagery-based brain–computer interface. Journal of Neural Engineering, 10(4), 046003. https://doi.org/10.1088/1741-2560/10/4/046003
