Reading 1

For this first reading assignment you are going to read a blog post by Rodney Brooks and discuss the future of autonomous vehicles.

R. Brooks, Edge Cases For Self Driving Cars, 2017.

After reading the blog think about the following questions and write a paragraph answer for each.

1. What are the pros and cons of conventional and unconventional autonomous vehicles?
2. Can you think of another "edge case" based on driving in your neighborhood (which might be quite different from Cambridge, MA) or thinking more about interactions with pedestrians? Like Brooks, discuss how Carempty/Careless conventional/unconventional cars might deal with your edge case differently.
3. We actually have precedence of "autonomous vehicles" in society: horse carriages! Which autonomy level do you think they fall into and why? What would an autonomous car inspired by horse carriages look like in terms of interactions with drivers, passengers, and pedestrians?

Submit your answers as text entry on Canvas. Note that there are no right or wrong answers to these questions but your answers should demonstrate that you have read the post and deeply thought about the questions. See Canvas for a grading rubric.