[Mark]

BIMMERPOST NEWS

BMW and Toyota investing in self driving car research

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Independantly but highly co-incidentally, BMW and Toyota are part of a larger Series A funding into a company called Nauto.

What does Nauto do? Well they outfit cars being driven by real people with cameras and telemetry data in order to learn how people drive in the real world. This data will in turn be passed onto BMW and Toyota with the idea that it would help speed up their development of self driving technology.

In the meantime, Nauto gives people who have their equipment on their dash access to real time information such as traffic and accident alerts. But the real goal of all this is to accumulate as much data as possible to help with autonomous driving research.

I just want to take a moment to remind everyone of the following timeline:

The Skynet Funding Bill is passed. The system goes on-line August 4th, 1997. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug. Skynet fights back.

I kid, I kid. Or do I

PRESS RELEASE + Expand

NAUTO, THE AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE TECH COMPANY, ENTERS INTO STRATEGIC AGREEMENTS WITH ALLIANZ VENTURES, AND AUTOMAKERS INCLUDING BMW i VENTURES AND TOYOTA
Top Insurance and Auto Industry Companies to Work with Nauto’s Continuous Learning Network To Jointly Develop Standard Data Platform For The Future of Intelligent Vehicles.
Palo Alto, CA, October 7, 2016 — Autonomous vehicle technology company Nauto has entered into strategic agreements with three major auto companies, including BMW i Ventures and Toyota Research Institute, as well as with Allianz Ventures, part of the leading global financial service provider and insurance company Allianz Group.
These companies have invested in Nauto and are working with the company on autonomous vehicle development using the Nauto cloud-based data learning platform. Nauto has developed deep learning capabilities that run both in the cloud and on retrofit devices that can be mounted in any vehicle. Nauto is already deployed into commercial passenger, logistics and delivery fleets and enables these fleets to manage vehicle and driver safety and operate more efficiently. The agreements enable Nauto to significantly grow its artificial intelligence-powered deep learning network and accelerate deployment into shared vehicle fleets and eventually migrate from retrofit device into new production vehicles.
Under the agreements, Nauto and its auto and insurance industry partners will license data and technologies, including Nauto’s artificial intelligence-powered vehicle network. As more and more vehicles deploy Nauto, its connected car network will be populated with greater volumes of precise information on how drivers and vehicles behave and perform — understanding both how excellent drivers handle vehicles in real urban conditions as well as the combinations of errors, distraction, and challenging circumstances that lead to crashes. The resulting insights will improve fleet safety and operations near term to save lives and reduce liability and expenses. Over time they will usher in a new era, from human-driven to autonomous vehicles.
“As the auto industry experiences this period of unprecedented innovation, we’ve also reached a need for a learning network that will allow human and autonomous vehicles to operate together harmoniously. We want drivers, passengers, and everyone in the manufacturing and infrastructure supply chain to unlock the value that can come from pooling precise, but secure and anonymous data from Nauto’s network,” said Stefan Heck, CEO of Nauto. “Having the participation of major players in the auto and insurance industry is essential in establishing a cornerstone as we re-imagine and build a safer, smarter and congestion-free transportation system. We are honored to have Nauto play an important part in building an onramp that will benefit the automotive and insurance industries, their supply chain, as well as human drivers, passengers, and pedestrians.”
“We were impressed by Nauto’s comprehensive approach to improving urban mobility and are excited to be part of further developing its future. BMW will benefit from insights gained from Nauto’s continuous learning network as part of our autonomous development efforts,” said Ulrich Quay, Head of BMW i Ventures.
“What Nauto is developing is very much aligned with Toyota Research Institute’s own commitment to developing safe, reliable mobility systems,” said Gill Pratt, CEO Toyota Research Institute. “Our relationship with Nauto and its team will accelerate what we are doing with deep learning systems and inform ways we can serve as a guardian for human drivers during a period of technology-driven change in transportation and mobility overall.”
“The technology Nauto is developing has the potential to revolutionize the motor insurance business regarding claims handling, underwriting and profitability,” said Solmaz Altin, Chief Digital Officer of Allianz Group. “We are looking forward to piloting this technology to enhance our value proposition towards customers and to contribute to road safety.”
Nauto transforms today’s commercial fleets into tomorrow’s autonomous driving network by enhancing operations, reducing costs and delivering safer roads. The Nauto system — an in-vehicle camera and sensor hardware, a smart network and a continuous learning cloud — allows any vehicle, human or autonomously driven, to be retrofit with innovative safety and networking technology. A Nauto-enabled vehicle becomes part of a valuable network that is constantly learning how to reduce risks and make driving safer and more efficient. At Nauto’s core is a perpetually learning artificial intelligence system which uses computer vision, GPS, vehicle sensors and data from its smart cloud to give a full, contextual and accurate picture and provide insights into driver behavior. Nauto’s system stays one step ahead to prevent accidents before they happen, capture information about close calls, and learn from relevant vehicle and driver behavior. Nauto can detect potential driver distraction inside the car, as well as safety issues outside the vehicle. The system automatically uploads and tags road conditions and incidents that matter (drivers don’t need to manually input data) and alerts fleet managers to accidents, near-misses or major driving performance issues.
In addition, Nauto is working with the insurance industry to provide insights that help insurers offer enhanced services and build long-lasting customer relationships. Insurers get a more precise view of each and every driver that can help personalize coverage, deliver precision risk assessments, reduce fraudulent claims and provide enhanced urban mobility services for commercial fleets. Nauto’s artificial intelligence platform drives deep learning that goes beyond the basics of recorded events by capturing driver behavior, inside-the-vehicle activity and correlations from road, weather and traffic conditions. Nauto can not only rate drivers, but also detect patterns of near-misses and dangerous circumstances to coach and proactively warn drivers before accidents happen.
Nauto was co-founded in 2015 by CEO Stefan Heck, Ph.D., a Stanford Consulting Professor and former McKinsey & Company senior partner, and CTO Frederick Soo Ph.D., a neuroscientist-turned hardware engineer and entrepreneur. Nauto’s backers include Playground Global, Draper Nexus and Index Ventures. Nauto’s team of data science and machine learning Ph.D’s, world class engineers, and industry veterans in insurance and livery fleet operations are located in Playground Global Studio, where they are developing Nauto’s products and deploying them to professional fleet and insurance industry customers. Dr. Heck was inspired to develop Nauto after decades of advising some of the world’s biggest companies and governments on energy, innovation and resource economics.
Nauto-equipped vehicles began gathering and learning street and driving patterns in more than 24 cities around the world, from Bangalore and Vienna to Mexico City and Boston, and are now in commercial deployments in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City.

Source: Nauto

[phoenixbmwlife]

Private company. Too bad

[3s-a-charm]

Somewhat similar to what Tesla is doing internally with all the reporting from over 3 billion miles of Autopilot driving in their fleet. It would be good for BMW/Toyota to get as much data as they can because if they don't improve their driving aids all of the other manufacturers will surpass them quickly.

[raysspl]

Was a matter of time

[jpnh]

These idiots are playing with fire and here are a number of very smart people that agree

http://time.com/3614349/artificial-i...ing-elon-musk/

We have the skills to do a lot of very advanced things but lack the social structure/morals to do it intelligently, safely etc

[IB M]

So many random inputs; road conditions , unpredictable other drivers, lack of 100% connectivity to the cloud with cell service, computer glitches, and certainly the ability to be hacked from external sources, the mess of regulatory red tape, lack of infrastructure investment by government to fix or improve roads ... not to mention the lawsuits when accidents happen ... I'm pretty confident that I will be piloting my car for the foreseeable future.

[Phatcat]

Originally Posted by IB M

So many random inputs; road conditions , unpredictable other drivers, lack of 100% connectivity to the cloud with cell service, computer glitches, and certainly the ability to be hacked from external sources, the mess of regulatory red tape, lack of infrastructure investment by government to fix or improve roads ... not to mention the lawsuits when accidents happen ... I'm pretty confident that I will be piloting my car for the foreseeable future.

It is inevitable that as human advances, less privacy and freedom will be the result.

I'm glad I'm I still get to drive, something my children or grandchildren maybe never get to do, then again they probably won't miss something they never need to learn.

[jpnh]

Originally Posted by Phatcat

It is inevitable that as human advances, less privacy and freedom will be the result.
.

Thats assumes that individuals allow it to be the result

Switzerland is a good example of a nation that is taking great steps to protect freedom and privacy

[Eddien123]

Originally Posted by jpnh

Thats assumes that individuals allow it to be the result

Switzerland is a good example of a nation that is taking great steps to protect freedom and privacy

And America is a good example of the opposite.

[Viffermike]

Originally Posted by jpnh

Thats assumes that individuals allow it to be the result

Switzerland is a good example of a nation that is taking great steps to protect freedom and privacy

And it's an absolutely horrible example of a typical nation because of its history of neutrality, protectionism, elitism, and secularism, not to mention its demographics (exceedingly homogenous, with exceedingly difficult immigration policies), economy (it is, and always has been, based on luxury items and services, including scientific research and finance), and social fabric. Switzerland protects that stuff because its national history, not to mention its economic viability, is almost completely wrapped up in it. I'll put it this way: If most nations behaved the way Switzerland does today, we'd still be a planet of fiefdoms stuck in the 11th century ...

... and there's really only one reason Switzerland's been able to be this way throughout its history: mountains. Not every nation's got those, you know. Therefore, not every nation's got a populace that can go hide in the nearest forest and do what it wants.

Context.

[jpnh]

Originally Posted by Eddien123

And America is a good example of the opposite.

It certainly is under the leadership of big government progressives from BOTH parties the last 20 something years

[jpnh]

Originally Posted by Viffermike

And it's an absolutely horrible example of a typical nation because of its history of neutrality, protectionism, elitism, and secularism, not to mention its demographics (exceedingly homogenous, with exceedingly difficult immigration policies), economy (it is, and always has been, based on luxury items and services, including scientific research and finance), and social fabric. Switzerland protects that stuff because its national history, not to mention its economic viability, is almost completely wrapped up in it. I'll put it this way: If most nations behaved the way Switzerland does today, we'd still be a planet of fiefdoms stuck in the 11th century ...

... and there's really only one reason Switzerland's been able to be this way throughout its history: mountains. Not every nation's got those, you know. Therefore, not every nation's got a populace that can go hide in the nearest forest and do what it wants.

Context.

So are you saying that the culture/values/history of the swiss that have accomplished a great many wonderful things is bad because they dont want to see the forementioned destroyed?

[Viffermike]

Originally Posted by jpnh

So are you saying that the culture/values/history of the swiss that have accomplished a great many wonderful things is bad because they dont want to see the forementioned destroyed?

Accomplished what?

(Seriously: what? In the grand scheme of the human race, the Swiss have contributed almost nothing independently -- and what they have contributed has been almost completely at the behest of another nation or nations. Example 1: the Red Cross. Example 2: CERN.)

In Switzerland, freedom and federalism are functions of isolationism and self-service, both values deeply rooted in centuries of canton-style rule that followed centuries of domination by the Romans (which is the root of the Swiss preference toward secularism. They know better.). Switzerland's model of existence simply cannot exist in most other countries. It's not possible because it depends on other countries not like itself for its well being.

(I could get into similarities between the U.S. before WWI and Switzerland, which modeled its present political system after the U.S. back in the early 1800s, but I won't. Not the place.)

At this point: distancing. Sorry for the hijack.

[jpnh]

Originally Posted by Viffermike

Accomplished what?

(Seriously: what? In the grand scheme of the human race, the Swiss have contributed almost nothing independently -- and what they have contributed has been almost completely at the behest of another nation or nations. Example 1: the Red Cross. Example 2: CERN.)

In Switzerland, freedom and federalism are functions of isolationism and self-service, both values deeply rooted in centuries of canton-style rule that followed centuries of domination by the Romans (which is the root of the Swiss preference toward secularism. They know better.). Switzerland's model of existence simply cannot exist in most other countries. It's not possible because it depends on other countries not like itself for its well being.

(I could get into similarities between the U.S. before WWI and Switzerland, which modeled its present political system after the U.S. back in the early 1800s, but I won't. Not the place.)

At this point: distancing. Sorry for the hijack.

From technology to banking to phamaceuticals the swiss are consistently up at the top of the list

Its in the top 5 of free countries in the world

http://www.heritage.org/index/ranking

The have stable gov.....much more stable than their neighbors over the last several hundred years

They havent been in a war in centuries and managed to stay neutral repeatedly

Quite frankly I cant find anything that isnt desirable about the country

Hell......they even created the turbo charger



No idea why you seem to have such a hate for the Swiss.....

I cant fault them for NOT wanting to turn into a piss hole like many of their neighbors