The Wisdom of the Swarm

According to Wikipedia, swarm intelligence is “the collective behavior of decentralized, self-organized systems, natural or artificial.”? The expression was originally coined in the context of “cellular robotic systems.”

The German automotive industry co-opted the term – as schwarmintelligenz – about 10 years ago though it quickly faded and was replaced by digitalizerung.? But swarm intelligence chimed with the early developments in automated driving.? The thinking was that cars sharing roadways would also share data and somehow orchestrate and self-organize in the interest of operating with greater speed, efficiency, and safety.

The idea likely faded as privacy concerns gained primacy and the prospect of vehicle-to-vehicle communications spiraled downward in the face of wireless spectrum disputes.? The concept held the promise of cars organizing like vast flocks of birds moving in unison or bees communicating silently with vibrating wings and abdomens.? The idea remains compelling and is perhaps best illustrated by video simulations of cars speeding through intersections without colliding – synchronized with the aid of sensors and wireless connectivity.

The philosophy remains appealing to automated vehicle enthusiasts because of their commitment to more-or-less self-contained autonomy.? While regulators and analysts tout the value of connectivity to manage self-driving cars, hard core AV enthusiasts insist that robotaxis and other driverless vehicles are truly autonomous, making path planning decisions on the fly based on on-board sensors and edge computing.

This thinking has evolved.? Regulators have increasingly called for AVs of all sorts to be equipped with remote control capabilities, particularly to provide an emergency fallback in the event of AV system failure.

Still, the predominant decision-making systems in autonomous vehicles remain largely self-contained with some incremental wireless support regarding roadworks, detours, or obstacles in the road ahead.? In the end, vehicle-based sensor observations still play the critical role.

As the automotive industry comes to grips with what is looking like a much longer process to achieve full autonomy, suppliers are paying closer attention to off-road driving automation opportunities from airports to parking garages, seaports, fleet operation centers, mining, and agriculture.? In all of these environments, the absence of an organizing principle – of a roadway - can be disorienting or outright fatal.

This was made most clear last week when video appeared on Instagram of Waymo self-driving robotaxis hopelessly entangled in a parking area, honking at each other, and annoying humans living nearby in the early morning hours.? The aimlessness of the Waymo vehicles pointedly illustrated the limitations of robotaxis once they are removed from carefully mapped roadways interacting with each other and with human-driven cars in a rules-based operational domain.

Off the grid, as it were, Waymo’s appear to be at a total loss.? The vehicles lack an organizing principle or purpose.? More importantly, they lack a means for establishing cooperation to achieve a larger or common goal.

This was already made clear in multiple videos posted by Youtuber J.J. Ricks catching Waymo robotaxis losing their way in parking lots.? Waymo’s also do not appear to be operating with clear rules when they come upon one another in traffic – scenarios also captured by J.J. Ricks videos.

This unique failure highlights an emerging need that is being met by a startup already working with large fleet operators – Steer Tech.? The challenges for fleet operators managing large numbers of vehicles away from roadways – whether human driven or autonomous or semi-autonomous – include:

??????????? Charging vehicles

??????????? Inspecting vehicles

??????????? Loading and cleaning vehicles

??????????? Marshalling and dispatching vehicles

??????????? And parking and unparking vehicles

If any or all of these functions can be coordinated with driverless technology millions of dollars can be saved – and sleepless nights for neighbors avoided.? Rather than focusing on autonomous operation on public roadways, Steer Tech has focused on commercial fleet operations where automation of a range of functions normally performed by humans can save time and money.

Steer’s technology – distilled into an inexpensive aftermarket kit with sensors and wireless connectivity or leveraging existing on-board hardware, software, and connectivity – is ideally suited to the management of large collections of vehicles in otherwise unmapped locations.? Applications might range from airports to seaports to rental car lots to delivery hubs or fleet service centers – the savings add up quickly.

The key to this successful equation is the combination of autonomy with cooperative connectivity.? First and foremost, driverless vehicles must be able to apprehend and operate in a given environment.? Second, these same vehicles must be able to cooperate with other autonomous or human driven vehicles as part of fulfilling their assignments.

It is telling that more than a decade into the effort to deploy robotaxis, Waymo finds itself struggling with off-grid vehicle orchestration.? It’s entirely possible that the now infamous honking-Waymo’s video was a one off, a kind of glitch.? It’s also reassuring to know that solutions, like that from Steer Tech, are available.