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I briefly bought into the self-driving hype too, but I had a useful reference case to help me come down to earth: self-driving trains. Rio Tinto (the world's se

I briefly bought into the self-driving hype too, but I had a useful reference case to help me come down to earth: self-driving trains. Rio Tinto (the world's second-largest mining company) has sunk a lot of money into developing self-driving trains. Trains. That have right of way. Their own trains, that they own, on their own rail, that they own, liberally covered with communications towers and sensors (many of which my father put up during his time there). It's about as close to the simplest version of self-driving there is. And they weren't hurting for smarts: they raided quite a few universities for even vaguely relevant talent. They did it, though. Level 4 autonomous trains. It cost them a billion dollars and six years just for one crack at the software. Before that at least a decade of work for who knows how much money. But: trains. That's the functional state of the art worldwide. Trains.

foobiekr 7y ago
I would love some links to this case. That is a wonderful counter to the endless reams of self-driving car propaganda that shows up in my personal life on a frequent basis.
- jacques_chester 7y ago
  Recently saying that they had successfully tested it: https://www.railwaygazette.com/australasia/rio-tinto-completes-autohaul-autonomous-train-project/47822.article https://www.railwaygazette.com/australasia/rio-tinto-complet... Earlier announcement (2014) that they were planning to do so: https://www.railjournal.com/signalling/rio-tinto-gets-set-for-automated-heavy-haul-tests/ https://www.railjournal.com/signalling/rio-tinto-gets-set-fo... Note that the original contract with Ansaldo for development was approximately half what it wound up being. That they will admit to. And I suspect leaves out a lot of the work around the lines which can be used for autonomous and non-autonomous purposes. But then it goes back further, to this article from 2008: https://www.railwaygazette.com/news/rio-tinto-to-go-driverless/33047.article https://www.railwaygazette.com/news/rio-tinto-to-go-driverle... Predicting that autonomous trains would be done in 5 years. That is, they expected to be finished by 2013 ... when the next contract was signed. I won't be surprised if it's announced a few more times in the coming years. Mine automation is a big deal, Rio Tinto have spent heavily on it. Not just trains, they also have spent a lot on developing autonomous mine trucks. The pit is covered with a lot of beacons to help the trucks position themselves and they use regular scans of the site to update the map. I'm not sure how far they got with those. BHP-Billiton seems not to have gone as far, but they have spent a lot of money in remote operations: having the control centres for multiple mines consolidated into special-purpose offices in Perth etc. Cameras everywhere, das blinkenlights, the whole shebang.

foobiekr 7y ago

I would love some links to this case. That is a wonderful counter to the endless reams of self-driving car propaganda that shows up in my personal life on a frequent basis.

jacques_chester 7y ago
Recently saying that they had successfully tested it: https://www.railwaygazette.com/australasia/rio-tinto-completes-autohaul-autonomous-train-project/47822.article https://www.railwaygazette.com/australasia/rio-tinto-complet... Earlier announcement (2014) that they were planning to do so: https://www.railjournal.com/signalling/rio-tinto-gets-set-for-automated-heavy-haul-tests/ https://www.railjournal.com/signalling/rio-tinto-gets-set-fo... Note that the original contract with Ansaldo for development was approximately half what it wound up being. That they will admit to. And I suspect leaves out a lot of the work around the lines which can be used for autonomous and non-autonomous purposes. But then it goes back further, to this article from 2008: https://www.railwaygazette.com/news/rio-tinto-to-go-driverless/33047.article https://www.railwaygazette.com/news/rio-tinto-to-go-driverle... Predicting that autonomous trains would be done in 5 years. That is, they expected to be finished by 2013 ... when the next contract was signed. I won't be surprised if it's announced a few more times in the coming years. Mine automation is a big deal, Rio Tinto have spent heavily on it. Not just trains, they also have spent a lot on developing autonomous mine trucks. The pit is covered with a lot of beacons to help the trucks position themselves and they use regular scans of the site to update the map. I'm not sure how far they got with those. BHP-Billiton seems not to have gone as far, but they have spent a lot of money in remote operations: having the control centres for multiple mines consolidated into special-purpose offices in Perth etc. Cameras everywhere, das blinkenlights, the whole shebang.