Autonomy at the Border Part 3: Can a family in their autonomous car sleep through a border crossing?
How might a family in their autonomous car sleep through an international border crossing? This is the question my colleagues Eric Huggard , Graeme Gaetz and I ask ourselves as follow up to our recent articles on the Impact of Autonomy at the Border and Autonomous Transport Trucks Crossing the border. We will continue to explore different use cases related to autonomous vehicles (passenger cars, commercial vehicles, and unmanned aerial vehicles) and automated ports over the summer months
This first use case is a family of four crossing an international border in their automated car overnight. Each family member has already submitted their passport information and confirmed their biometrics through a mobile application. When their vehicle makes it to the border the whole family is asleep. We will explore these questions further in the blog post:
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In this scenario, let’s focus on an ideal experience (not needing to be disturbed at all) for the passengers crossing the border. Three broad categories of technology that are likely key to enabling this citizen experience.
Autonomous Vehicle Sophistication
The most apparent consideration for a seamless border crossing in this scenario is the sophistication of the autonomous vehicle. According to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there are six levels of automation, beginning with Level 0, where humans do the driving unassisted, through driver assistance technologies up to fully autonomous cars (Level 5). For this scenario, level 5 (the automated driving system [ADS] does all driving tasks under all circumstances) or level 4 (an ADS can perform all driving tasks in a certain environment) seem realistically needed.
At L5, there’s (in theory) no restrictions on what driving tasks the ADS can accomplish nor in which location or environment it can accomplish them. For a border agency to accept an L5 vehicle crossing a border with no passenger intervention, they would need a vehicle’s ADS to understand border protocol, and any deviation from a routine crossing (i.e., if the vehicle is flagged for an additional inspection), as proficiently as a human driver would. This means the ADS can accept commands/prompts from external parties (i.e., border agents/technologies). Once passed the border, the sophistication of the ADS needs to be such that the vehicle that can safely operate in a new country that may have different driving laws than the country it came from.
In the more near-term, L4 automation level would allow ADS to accomplish driving tasks and monitor the driving environment under certain circumstances. With L4 automation, a border agency would need to create an environment within which a vehicle’s L4 automation can respond and react to cross a border while its passengers are all asleep. One option could be geofencing border crossings to constrain the actions/reactions of the autonomous vehicle when it enters the border perimeter. This could be a dedicated autonomous vehicle lane at border crossings, or even a new or retrofitted crossing dedicated to autonomous vehicles. Within this geofenced environment, the border agency might ‘take control’ of the vehicle, in that all their commands/prompts to the vehicle are accepted and acted on by the vehicle without having to defer to the driver (who is sleeping).
In addition, the vehicles will have to be enabled for in-car payment systems to allow the vehicles to pay for any tolls that may apply in the crossing journey. While the tolls may not be linked to the border agency itself, the infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and tunnels that interconnect two nations may require a toll. As a result, either pre-payment, pre-authorization or automated payment on site is necessary to keep the experience both seamless and undisturbed.
We recently had the opportunity to engage with Ed Dawson, Senior Manager of Automobility and Innovation at Invest WindsorEssex, who shared the following with us “The advancement of connected and autonomous vehicle technologies, as we move towards fully autonomous Level 5 vehicles, is something that we can all look forward to.? However, it is important that for all stakeholders to feel comfortable and accepting that the technologies will perform with precision and accuracy, there is a lot that must happen behind the scenes.? We like to refer to this as scenario-based testing, and truthfully, when you think of the intricacies of an international border crossing and the various levels of government involved in 2 countries that need to be satisfied with the flawless performance of these advanced modes of transportation, simulation testing becomes a necessity.? With the support of the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN) and FedDev Ontario, the team at Invest WindsorEssex has created a high-fidelity VR CAVE designed for C/AV technology testing and most recently added a Digital Twin of the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel, which is the first International Border Crossing that is accurate to 3mm of the real surfaces.? This precise model provides the opportunity for companies that are testing new technologies to do so in a virtual sandbox that is accurate, safe, and has no restrictions.? We want companies to use this and the other digital test tracks that we have created so that L5 technologies allow us to traverse an international border crossing safely and comfortably, sooner rather than later."?
Reach out to them to learn more about how you can utilize these state of the art resources from Invest WindsorEssex.”
Biometrics Tracking
Biometrics tracking already happens today, but its importance is heightened when imagining an ideal citizen experience where passengers of an autonomous vehicle can sleep through their border crossing.
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In Canada through Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), biometrics data- photos and fingerprints- are logged and used as part of screening process for temporary visitors. In addition, the Nexus program between Canada and the United States collects biometrics for the travelers. The person crossing a border needs to interact with a kiosk (to take a photo to match against your stored biometric data), an agent (who swipes your passport -which contains biometric data), or the combination of both, to be allowed to cross.
The challenge with our ideal scenario is that the biometric data stored, and the analysis that can then be performed on it, require a citizen’s involvement. To eliminate that involvement (thereby allowing a family to sleep through their border crossing) would require a border agency to have a level of confidence in technologies that are on par or better than verification today. Agencies would need to be able to get a positive identification match between any passenger in an autonomous vehicle (even if asleep – i.e., presumably not providing an easy match for facial recognition technology). Otherwise, our ideal scenario is broken, as passengers would need to be woken up to verify their identity in similar ways as current day protocol. Not ideal for the passengers, but likely a much-preferred outcome for a border agency for the safety of the passengers and the country.
Citizen/Crossing Application Management
Citizen/application management technology is another already existing technology (or set of technologies) that are used to track citizens crossing borders. In our scenario, this technology would simplify the border crossing if it allowed citizens to submit key information ahead of time for a scheduled crossing: car license plate, make and model, number of people in the car and associated biometric documentation (e.g., passport), time and location of crossing. By completing a border crossing application ahead of time, it eliminates the administrative burden at the border, saving the family from being disturbed for that purpose.
There are several technological capabilities that are required to enable a family to sleep through a border crossing. Some exist today while others are on generally accepted roadmaps for automatic vehicles within the next ten years. The key challenge will be verifying the identity of passengers onboard a vehicle. Without technology that can improve upon a human intervention at the border to verify an individual’s identity, borders will not likely accept a greater security risk to enhance the border crossing experience.
Summary
While autonomous vehicles will offer many interesting possibilities enhancing border crossing experience, there are presumably constraints on the use cases of these vehicles for safety reasons. For border agencies, whose mandates are usually in line with “facilitating the flow of legitimate travelers and trade while enforcing acts and regulations that keep citizens and country safe”, safety and security will likely remain as the top priority. If that is the case, the comfort/luxury of a family's crossing or the convenience of sending your vehicle across the border without a driver, will need to be optimized given the constraint of security (which you could think of as collective citizen experience). Let’s just say in the short term, if you are crossing the border in an autonomous vehicle, you should set your alarm for the border in case you fall asleep.
Our next post will explore what may occur when an unmanned personal autonomous car is found to be transporting a gun illegally.
For additional macroeconomic challenges in the automotive industry consider reading: https://www.accenture.com/us-en/industries/automotive-index
Thanks must also go to Adi Shanbhag and Daniel Melkin for your input.
Sources:
https://chat.openai.com/ (for suggested alternate phrasing)
https://labs.openai.com/ (for custom images)
Managing Director - Strategy & Consulting - Border Services Industry Global Lead, Accenture
1 年An interesting discussion to be had as the proliferation of automated vehicles and drones crossing the physical border is no long some future trend - it is only a few years away.
Senior Manager at Accenture | Strategy and Consulting | Public Safety
1 年Very interesting and thought provoking article Jesse and team! Made me think of the following quote... if nothing ever changed then there would be no butterflies... ?? ?? ?? ?? #bethechange