When Machines Fail

Ensuring that autonomous vehicles are still safe when things go wrong.

- Christopher Tan

IN November last year, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan unveiled plans to roll out self-driving buses in Punggol, Tengah and the Jurong Innovation District by 2022. That the news came just a week after an MRT collision was not lost on those who read it.

As always, netizens were quick to poke fun at Singapore’s seemingly lofty plans to have autonomous vehicles on the road, when its trains – with drivers – were running into each other on dedicated and segregated tracks.

It is an understandable reaction. And beneath that veneer of mockery lies a real worry about the potential chaos that driverless vehicles can potentially give rise to. 

Is this kind of reaction justified? Yes and no. No because autonomous road vehicles are far more sophisticated than rail systems, which remain largely unchanged from over a century ago.

There are a lot more sensors on a driverless car, comprising cameras, radar, laser and GPS – all tied to powerful processors worthy of a deep space expedition. Understandably so, since an autonomous vehicle has to navigate an infinite combination of situations and circumstances.

These processors then control the vehicle’s throttle, steering and brakes. They can also be programmed to take on discretionary functions such as activating the horn, foglamps or hazard lights.