An unmanned delivery vehicle drove through a road barrier, and the staff was so angry that he threw reflective cones

Abstract:

Recently, construction work is underway on a road in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. Fences and traffic cones have been set up on site to close and control the road.

An unmanned courier vehicle did not recognize these facilities and drove straight to the construction enclosure area. The on-site staff signaled the vehicle to stop several times, but to no avail. Then, the staff got emotional and picked up a reflective cone and threw it at the vehicle.

In response, the staff of the unmanned express vehicle responded that the unmanned vehicle relies on cameras and lidar to sense the surrounding environment, and the vehicle system makes driving decisions.

If the surface of lidar and visual sensors is contaminated with rainwater and dirt, recognition failure may occur and road isolation facilities such as traffic cones cannot be identified.

Not only this case, but another similar accident also exposed the shortcomings of the algorithm logic of unmanned delivery vehicles.

An unmanned courier vehicle encountered a truck while driving on the road. Because the road was relatively narrow, the two vehicles could not pass, and the truck was large and difficult to reverse. Faced with this situation, the unmanned vehicle neither detoured nor retreated, but remained in a stalemate with the truck for nearly 20 minutes.

Later, there was nothing we could do. Someone brought a forklift to the scene and directly lifted the unmanned vehicle and moved it out of the driveway.