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MIT Teaches Autonomous Cars How To Deal With Selfish Drivers 117

Posted by BeauHD from the social-awareness dept.
Researchers at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have devised a system that can predict what different cars will do by determining how selfish or selfless a driver is. From a report: Specifically, they used something called social value orientation (SVO), which represents the degree to which someone is selfish ("egoistic") versus altruistic or cooperative ("prosocial"). The system then estimates drivers' SVOs to create real-time driving trajectories for self-driving cars. Testing their algorithm on the tasks of merging lanes and making unprotected left turns, the team showed that they could better predict the behavior of other cars by a factor of 25 percent. For example, in the left-turn simulations their car knew to wait when the approaching car had a more egoistic driver, and to then make the turn when the other car was more prosocial.

To try to expand the car's social awareness, the CSAIL team combined methods from social psychology with game theory, a theoretical framework for conceiving social situations among competing players. The team modeled road scenarios where each driver tried to maximize their own utility and analyzed their "best responses" given the decisions of all other agents. Based on that small snippet of motion from other cars, the team's algorithm could then predict the surrounding cars' behavior as cooperative, altruistic, or egoistic -- grouping the first two as "prosocial." People's scores for these qualities rest on a continuum with respect to how much a person demonstrates care for themselves versus care for others. Here are some potential use cases of such a system: "Say you're a human driving along and a car suddenly enters your blind spot -- the system could give you a warning in the rear-view mirror that the car has an aggressive driver, allowing you to adjust accordingly. It could also allow self-driving cars to actually learn to exhibit more human-like behavior that will be easier for human drivers to understand."

The team is planning to apply their system to pedestrians, bicycles, and other agents in driving environments. "In addition, they will be investigating other robotic systems acting among humans, such as household robots, and integrating SVO into their prediction and decision-making algorithms," the report says.
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MIT Teaches Autonomous Cars How To Deal With Selfish Drivers More

MIT Teaches Autonomous Cars How To Deal With Selfish Drivers

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  • Cut in front of

    Slow down to just below speed limit

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The most selfish drivers are left lane laggards who don't understand the simple concept of a passing lane. How does AI propose to deal with them?
      • I propose learning from the BTCC
      • Easy. Leave earlier for your appointment, stop driving like a maniac.

        • Easy. Leave earlier for your appointment, stop driving like a maniac.

          Leave earlier?

          Most asshole drivers don't even realize the difference between driving safely and driving like an asshole/maniac, amounts to a whopping five minutes off your commute.

          Sad to think how many have been harmed or killed by selfish drivers trying to "save time".

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Cederic ( 9623 )

            The difference between driving like my father and how I drive is over 3 hours a week difference in time spent commuting (and a couple of gallons of diesel).

            I could also drive selfishly to save another five minutes, but saving time is both viable and has a material benefit.

    • reinventing the wheel actually https://www.mobileye.com/uk/fleets/products/ [mobileye.com] This has been out for at least a year already.

  • When they say they're "investigating" other uses for this, let's not be fooled as to what this will turn into.

    The easiest (read: cheapest) way systems will determine your SVO score is to feed it everything from your social media.

    Which is exactly why I see SVO being akin to a certain Communist Social Credit System.

    And we're measuring selfishness here? Social media turning Attention Whore into a career goal has created an entire planet full of selfish humans who already know who the most important person o

  • So... have they made an automatic "stupid-driver-near" that sets up the claxon and a megaphone with the recording of "you stupid idiot, drive properly or I'll call the police!", replacing "stupid" with a more agressive adjective based on the stupidity of the driver.

  • In the UK (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Chrisq ( 894406 ) on Tuesday November 19, 2019 @06:51AM (#59429614)
    In the UK you can do the same just by scanning for a BMW logo on the car.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by AnonCowardSince1997 ( 6258904 )
      Same in Australia. The BMW logo is also a warning that you need to watch for un-signalled lane changes or turning. Or an explanation as to why they are driving along with their indicator on and not changing lanes...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by N1AK ( 864906 )
        In my, and other owners defence, the two-stage indicator stalk (with a gentle push meaning 3 indications) doesn't give clear feedback when you slightly exceed the gentle push boundary; so it isn't always an intentional disregard for other road users.

        The BMW stereotypes have some fair basis on reality in my experience, but they are a little lazy. People who "like" driving tend towards cars aimed at that segment like BMWs, sportier Audis, GTi/SR/ST etc spec cars from other manufacturers, and these are ofte

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Same in Australia. The BMW logo is also a warning that you need to watch for un-signalled lane changes or turning. Or an explanation as to why they are driving along with their indicator on and not changing lanes...

        Arf! In Canada we have it down to a science. During rush hour when you get off work and are hungry and in a hurry to get home just don't use signals it will give away your intentions. It is completely true that during that time of day if you turn on your signal the person behind you will not slow down but speed up if you are changing lanes. If you are turning in front of them and they are oncoming then the same thing applies. So just don't signal and they usually won't speed up to cut off your move. Can you

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Chrisq ( 894406 )

          During rush hour when you get off work and are hungry and in a hurry to get home just don't use signals it will give away your intentions. It is completely true that during that time of day if you turn on your signal the person behind you will not slow down but speed up if you are changing lanes. If you are turning in front of them and they are oncoming then the same thing applies. So just don't signal and they usually won't speed up to cut off your move. Can you imagine if turn signals were mandated on all race tracks, hell no one would ever get anywhere!

          It's been a few years since I've driven in France so it may have changed, but they used to use the opposite tactic to hide their intentions. They would drive along the Autoroute with their indicators permanently on!

    • It's the same in the US.

    • I would add to that, for the US: Lexus drivers. Also, Hyundai drivers, increasingly, oddly enough
      Lastly, minivan driving soccer moms - they're crazy.

    • They're approaching this *entirely* the wrong way by using software after identification. At best, this can only affect a minute or two.

      It's a hardware problem, and the solutions range from rockets to pulse lasers . . .

      hawk

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Shotgun ( 30919 )

      In the US, just look for cars with steering wheels. Saves you time.

    • Luxury car drivers can be bad, but in California Kia and Hyundai drivers are far worse.
    • Q. What's the difference between porcupines and BMW drivers?
      A. With porcupines, the pricks are on the outside.

  • I let people cut-in for selfish reasons (Score:5, Interesting)

    by misnohmer ( 1636461 ) on Tuesday November 19, 2019 @06:58AM (#59429618)

    I let people cut in front of me on the highway because I prefer to not bumper ride purely out of concern for my own safety, not theirs. People who cut in front of me in traffic usually get to the highway exit maybe few seconds earlier, so there is absolutely no rational benefit for me not let them cut in (but it does risk an accident). If only the MIT guys considered that self-interest can also lead to calm driving.

    • I let people cut in front of me on the highway because I prefer to not bumper ride

      If traffic's light enough that you can maintain a comfortable following distance, it also generally means you've got the opportunity to leisurely perform preemptive lane changes and avoid being cut off.

    • If only the MIT guys considered that self-interest can also lead to calm driving.

      I bet that a sizeable portion of people working on self driving don't even have a driver's license...

  • I don't care how they drive around selfish people, I just want to know how they respond to the Trolley Problem. [wikipedia.org]

    • You can't get into legal trouble by not doing anything, so that's how they'll solve it.

    • I don't care how they drive around selfish people, I just want to know how they respond to the Trolley Problem.

      They will solve it by following the law, which is to say that they won't dodge to another lane unless it's clear. Instead they will hit the brakes — probably sooner than a human driver would — and minimize impact force.

      This is obvious and has also been discussed to death. Where were you?

  • It's called rules of the road (Score:3)

    by h33t l4x0r ( 4107715 ) on Tuesday November 19, 2019 @07:32AM (#59429650)
    Autonomous vehicles should always have right of way. What kind of society would allow hairless apes to dictate to sophisticated machine intelligence?

  • This is the way to go (Score:3)

    by Sqreater ( 895148 ) on Tuesday November 19, 2019 @07:59AM (#59429674)
    Finally they seem to be getting it. They have to get as human as possible. People do this all the time unconsciously or consciously. I call the "egotistic" drivers "road warriors" and I pull back and allow them space knowing that they are either good at what they do or they are dead. I can also many times tell when a person is going to change lanes into my lane from very subtle clues. I pull back and give room. The goal is to get safely where you are going, not to engage in an ego conflict. But people who pace you in your blind spot are not aggressive or socially deficient in some way, they are just stupid. One should either pull ahead or fall behind. Almost everyone knows this. The problem with what they are doing is that they will accumulate data on your driving and they will compute and store a social score for your car and attach it to your license plate in their database. The information will eventually be sold or stolen and used to determine insurance and credit rating etc. It WILL happen. You know that.

  • Why do we need autonomous cars? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Viol8 ( 599362 ) on Tuesday November 19, 2019 @08:11AM (#59429688) Homepage

    No one has ever answered this question but I suspect the true answer is So Companies Can Make Money and Governments Have More Control.

    Because any other answer is just BS. Don't want to or can't drive yourself? Call a taxi or get public transport if you have it nearby.

    • Re:Why do we need autonomous cars? (Score:4, Informative)

      by Ambassador Kosh ( 18352 ) on Tuesday November 19, 2019 @08:19AM (#59429706)

      Because driving cars sucks. People driving cars is also bad for people walking or riding bikes. I have had people nearly hit me multiple times while walking or riding a bike as they just drive along without even paying attention. Some of the worst is when someone is too your left at a stop light and when the light changes they slam on the gas and try to turn right in front of you.

      I have even watched someone pull out their phone while driving and drift into the bike lane while paying attention to their phone.

      I trust self-driving cars FAR more than I trust people to pay attention.

      • "I trust autonomous death-bots FAR more than I trust people to EXTERMINATE!!"

        FTFY

      • I trust self-driving cars FAR more than I trust people to pay attention.

        Then it's a good thing the former isn't at all depend on the latter (thank god for the arcane magic sealed within those mysterious black boxes, eh?).

      • I quite enjoy driving. If you don't then as I said above, get a taxi. You don't need some half arsed computer driving the thing.

        "I trust self-driving cars FAR more than I trust people to pay attention."

        Well good luck going around L'Arc de Triumph in Paris in your self driving car. It'll be lucky if it makes it 20 metres without coming to a dead stop utterly confused. Ditto any city that doesn't have a nice wide US grid style road layout.

        • If you don't then as I said above, get a taxi

          Stop pretending that's a reasonable option.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Viol8 ( 599362 )

            Sorry, have you just stepped out of the 1970s? You ever heard of Uber?

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

              Sorry, have you just stepped out of the 1970s? You ever heard of Uber?

              That/s if it's available.

              Public transportation is a nightmare, especially in North America. Uber and Lyft help, somewhat, but the bill can be quite high, and depending on your lifestyle, expensive. Carshares work as well for some people, but again, your lifestyle must be compatible, and you're back to the "I have to drive" option.

              And the further you go, the less and less Uber, Lyft or a taxi are because the price just climbs to the point

    • Airplanes have been mostly autonomous for decades. The reason is that that they fuck up less and save on fuel vs human pilots. Just apply that same logic to cars, you damn dirty ape.
  • That is, when someone thinks they're being polite by stopping a line of traffic that has the right of way in order to let someone in who doesn't have right of way (polite to one, cruel to many)? These people often inflict great consternation on those behind them, whose right of way has been trampled upon and will now have to wait for another cycle of traffic lights, so autonomous vehicles should be repeatedly slammed into them until they learn that the kind and polite thing to do is obey right of way.

    • As a pedestrian or cyclist, I often don't even want cars to yield when they have the right of way. When I see the cars approaching, I'm already planning to go behind the car, which would be quick and painless. But instead, I have to wait to see what it's doing, to make sure it is really stopping for me, and then I still have to worry about the other traffic.

      • Agreed. I don't want to walk in front of a waiting vehicle if I can avoid it. They're just one foot slip away from crushing me.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Mal-2 ( 675116 )

          Oh come on, automatics don't just lurch forward when you get off the brake. Manuals, of course, will either roll (if they're on a slope) or do nothing if the driver releases the brake. Unless you're walking within a couple meters of the front bumper, both you and they should have more than enough reaction time to prevent a collision, even if they do start rolling forward. If they do hit you, it's not going to be very hard. I've had my car bumped from behind by people in non-moving traffic losing focus and r

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Chrisq ( 894406 )

      so autonomous vehicles should be repeatedly slammed into them until they learn that the kind and polite thing to do is obey right of way.

      I think you have unrealistic expectations of the learning ability of autonomous cars.

    • Works when that one is a motorcycle cop having a lot of fun stopping people from relieving traffic by entering the median strip to join the turn lane. I did that once. Spotted him in a parking lot accelerating to catch up with me, slammed on my brakes, and when he pulled out in front of me, he looked VERY confused.

    • They are a problem, yes. The problem is that they are doing something unexpected. Most people who have been driving for years are driving on "muscle memory" while their minds are elsewhere and if something out of the ordinary or unexpected happens they have to switch on their minds and that takes a second. And anyone who drives knows that seconds are critical in avoiding accidents.
  • Just saying, you don't have to have your hands on the steering wheel or be concerned about breaking. Can's of soup thrown out the window at the people that are being idiots in traffic would catch their attention.

    I know, it's a form of road rage which is illegal. But damn, just the thought makes me feel better.

    • Can's of soup thrown out the window at the people that are being idiots in traffic would catch their attention.
      I know, it's a form of road rage which is illegal. But damn, just the thought makes me feel better.

      It's not illegal because it's road rage, it's illegal because it's assault, and poses a hazard to everyone around you, and them. The solution to selfish drivers isn't to ante up on selfishness, especially not into violence.

  • Most efficient way to spot a "selfish" driver

    • Most efficient way to spot a "selfish" driver

      No, the cocks have moved on to Audis. BMW is now a way to spot an "old" driver.

      That reminds me, I should work on my Audi :D

  • If the car has a Ron Paul bumper sticker, it is pretty well guaranteed to be a selfish driver. From the front, look for burnt out headlights and drivers who refuse to use seat belts.
  • ...have to rely on indicators like the car brand... BMW, Audi, Merc: entitled selfish prick driver. (this is UK, may vary according tpo territory of course)

  • Could this AI reward aggressive drivers? (Score:3)

    by Ranbot ( 2648297 ) on Tuesday November 19, 2019 @12:32PM (#59430660)

    If AI predicts aggressive drivers to give way to them, then wouldn't that also reward the aggressive/risky driving behavior? It would make sense that when someone drives aggressively and gets what they want without consequences, the aggressive driver's risky behavior is normalized and occurrences would increase. Especially if they know they are just being a jerk to dumb 'ol computer rather than a human driver. Not that I think every drive should be a game of chicken with other drivers to keep them in check, but if the sort of predictive tech in the article is adopted a future partial roll-out of AI cars I wonder if it could make some perverse rewards for the human drivers sharing the roads.

    • It doesn't matter what the autonomous car makers do, humans will game them from day one. It's what we do. It is why we are superior.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Ranbot ( 2648297 )

        It doesn't matter what the autonomous car makers do, humans will game them from day one. It's what we do. It is why we are superior.

        I agree, up to the word "superior"... Superior depends on the qualities something is judged against, which can vary.

        My prediction would be a minority of selfish drivers will game the system just as you say, but that selfish behavior will hasten others to implement laws, mandates, or incentives to reduce/remove/punish those undesired selfish, risky behaviors. To much outcry, of course.

        • We are superior because we are flexible and we constantly adjust to our environment. It is what has made us masters of the world. Machines, however cleverly we may program cannot do that. Even on the battlefield, AI run machines will be gamed. Count on it.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Ranbot ( 2648297 )

            We are superior because we are flexible and we constantly adjust to our environment.

            Of course, humans are superior by that metric, but what if the metric was something else? ... like safety? It's very easy to imagine a near future when AI driven vehicles are proven with real-world data to be empirically safer than human drivers. That's when society starts to debate whether it's worth allowing the selfish people to continue gaming the system or if the rules of the game should be changed [as has been done many times throughout history].

  • Easy (Score:2)

    by rlp ( 11898 )

    Just check if the car has Massachusetts plates.

  • They Are Teaching The Car To Drive Wrong (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Testing their algorithm on the tasks of merging lanes and making unprotected left turns, the team showed that they could better predict the behavior of other cars by a factor of 25 percent. For example, in the left-turn simulations their car knew to wait when the approaching car had a more egoistic driver, and to then make the turn when the other car was more prosocial.

    In other words, they are designing their cars to ignore right-of-way when it thinks that the other driver is going to "wave them on". This is the exact opposite of what they should be doing. They should teach their cars to sit and wait until the other driver realizes that they are the one fucking everything up by not taking the right-of way that they have.

  • If it has Apple stickers, they're gullible enough to let me thru.

  • How to deal? (Score:4, Informative)

    by nospam007 ( 722110 ) * on Tuesday November 19, 2019 @01:36PM (#59431016)

    You're an AI, kid, you have a series of tubes connected to your car, so you can film the bastards and snitch on them to the police.

  • Manufacturers will sell "jerk mode" as an option (Score:3)

    by mik ( 10986 ) on Tuesday November 19, 2019 @01:39PM (#59431036)
    In additional to adapting to aggressive human drivers, I have a difficult time imagining manufacturers not choosing to offer autonomous aggressive driving modes... Tesla's "Insane mode, now with more insanity!" Can autonomous emergency vehicles be all that far ahead? In all seriousness, it isn't enough to train for different human driver modes, but also other autonomous vehicle styles.
    • Interesting... I'd personally love to reacquaint myself with the exhilarating thrills of being driven around in a Lisbon taxi. The jump then to a Group B Rally driver isn't far away.

  • Why isn't there a "skill" for this yet?

  • Does assigning personalities to other drivers really get you anything beyond just correlations? I can say, "That driver was tailgating me, I so think they're an aggressive driver. Now they've pulled into the next lane to pass me, and since they're aggressive, they'll probably cut me off." I'm reasoning about their personality and motivations. But you could as easily say, "When a car first tailgates you then changes lanes to pass you, there's a high probability they'll cut you off." That's the sort of c

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