Mobileye CEO Shashua expects more autonomous vehicles on the road in 2 years as tech moves ahead

tech.hindustantimes.com:

 Six years ago, automakers and tech companies thought they were on the cusp of putting thousands of self-driving robotaxis on the street to carry passengers without a human driver.

Then an Uber autonomous test vehicle hit and killed a pedestrian in Arizona, multiple problems arose with Tesla's partially automated systems, and General Motors' Cruise robotaxis ran into trouble in San Francisco.

Yet the technology is moving ahead, says Amnon Shashua, co-founder and CEO of Mobileye, an Israeli public company majority owned by Intel that has pioneered partially automated driver-assist systems and fully autonomous technology.

Already, Mobileye systems are at work in vehicles that take on some driving functions such as steering and braking, but a human still has to be ready to take over. Systems that let drivers take their eyes off the road and fully autonomous systems are coming in about two years.

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Shashua talked with The Associated Press about the next steps toward autonomous vehicles. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

A: When you talk about autonomous vehicles, what immediately comes in mind is Waymo, Cruise, robotaxis. But the story is much more nuanced. It really opens up how the future of the car industry is going to look. It's not just robotaxis. I would frame it as three stories. The first one is about safety. Today you have a front-facing camera, sometimes the front-facing radar. There are functions that enable accident-avoidance. You can take safety to a much higher degree by having multiple cameras around the car and provide a much higher level of safety. An accident would be very rare.

The second story is to add more redundant sensors like a front-facing lidar (laser), like imaging radars and start enabling an eyes-off (the road) system so it's hands-free, eyes-off (the road). You are allowed legally not to pay attention and not to be responsible for driving on certain roads. It could start from highways