Autonomous Killer Robots

"[Ukraine has] made the logic brutally clear of why autonomous weapons have advantages."

"There will be weapons of mass destruction that are cheap, scalable and easily available in arms markets all over the world."

"[When soldiers are hunted by autonomous killer drones they effectively have no exit route] There's nowhere for them to go, so they just wait around to die."

Stuart Russell, A.I. scientist, University of California, Berkeley

"We need maximum automation. These technologies are fundamental to our victory."

"We already have systems which can be mass-produced and now they're extensively tested on the front lines which means they're already actively used."

"We need to win first. To do that, we will do everything we can to introduce automation to its maximum to save the lives of our soldiers."

Mykhailo Federov, Ukraine Minister of Digital Transformation

Drones are Transforming the Battlefield in Ukraine But in an Evolutionary Fashion

Ukraine is fighting a conflict of survival of itself as a nation against a larger, well-equipped military whose leadership is engrossed in a scheme to destroy the country's sovereign status, the better to absorb it into Greater Russia, claiming that there is no Ukrainian identity, culture or history outside of its historical Russian connections. Ukraine, like other Eastern European countries that were drawn into the USSR's net of control and occupation, has no wish to return to that era, and its vigorous response to Moscow's claims has been exceptionally courageous.

Entrepreneurs in Ukraine, engineers and military units all are part of a near future of self-guided drones capable of coordinating attacks, along with machine guns equipped with computer vision that can automatically shoot down soldiers. In development is an unmanned copter with machine guns. To the present the weapons under development are not as developed as science fiction depicts, further from the advanced systems produced by the United States, China and Russia.

In their crude state, however, they are inexpensive to produce and Ukraine authorities place their trust in the technologies that could give Ukraine a military edge over Russia, an implacable enemy that is also developing autonomous killer weaponry. These initiatives in the development of AI-generated autonomous robots concern rights groups for their potential to begin another arms race. Even Ukrainian soldiers have raised concerns of the potential for malfunctioning autonomous drones hitting their own forces.

 

Factories and labs have appeared across Ukraine with the determined intention of building remote-controlled machines -- from long-range aircraft and attack boats to inexpensive kamikaze drones. Drones guided by a pilot wearing virtual-reality-like goggles capturing views from the drone; precursors to more sophisticated machines able to act on their own eventually.

 

Ukrainian drone maker Saker produces 1,000 circuit boards monthly loaded with software attachable to F.P.V. drones, enabling them to auto-lock onto a target. Plans are to expand to 9,000 boards monthly by summer's end. Some Ukraine military units have used Saker's technology to hit Russian front line targets. "Once we reach the point when we don't have enough people, the only solution is to substitute them with robots", explained a Saker founder. 

 

Russia's advancing weaponry program has had the effect of spurring Ukraine's innovations in the hopes of countering Russia's weaponry. International officials have debated rules on the use of autonomous weapons for over a decade, yet few expect an agreement by the international community to set new regulations in face of the fact that the United States, China, Israel, Russia and others are racing to develop more advanced weapons.

A soldier in northeastern Ukraine uses zip ties to attach explosives to a drone for a strike mission on a Russian target. (Finbarr O’Reilly/The New York Times)

"These weapons will be used, and they'll be used in the military arsenal of pretty much everybody."

"[Nobody expects countries to accept a ban of such weapons] but they should be regulated in a way that we don't end up with an absolutely nightmare scenario."

Alexander Kmentt, Austria's top negotiator on autonomous weapons at the U.N.

Safe Freedom to Drive for the Elderly

"A society in which the elderly can drive safely is crucial for their active social participation and healthier, fuller lives."

"Our ultimate goal is, of course, to have zero casualties from traffic accidents."

Toyota Motor Corp., Japan

"It would be impossible to eradicate all fatal accidents without utilizing artificial intelligence."

"It's [EyeSight technology] a technologically tough area [to place stereo cameras in mass produced vehicles]."

"Equipping the technology in cars that people ordinarily use is a huge task."
Eiji Shibata, Subaru Motors, Japan

"Anyone can cause an accident."

"I don't want to see divisions like the young and the elderly hating each other."

"We need to think about the people who are suffering: the elderly in rural areas."

Takuya Matsunaga, Tokyo

Bloomberg

 

 

In April of 2019 Takuya Matsunaga's wife and his toddler died, and several other people were injured when a Toyota Prius driven by a senior retired public servant plowed through a crossing. The former senior bureaucrat, 89, was on his way to a French restaurant with his wife in Ikebukuro district when the accident occurred. The driver appeared in court recently pleading not guilty. The accident aroused so much public backlash that a debate on the national stage arose with respect to the growing ranks of elderly drivers on Japan's highways.

Rear-view cameras 180o back views. Photo:Peter Lyon

Close to 30 percent of the Japanese population is age 65 and above. Increasingly, accidents involving older people driving vehicles has placed pressure on regulators to have advanced safety driving features in vehicles standardized and all new vehicles sold domestically will be required to have automatic braking systems beginning 2021. Carmakers such as Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. are emphasizing smart technology for their products to be more user-friendly for older people.

Following the accident for which Japanese prosecutors indicted Kozo Iizuka on a charge of negligence resulting in death and injury, elderly Japanese began in droves to stop driving and according to the National Police Agency, 350,428 people 75 and over returned their driver's licences in that year, the highest on record. "Young people tell us seniors to return our driver's licences, but they aren't around", 90-year-old Hideaki Fukushima complained.

He and his wife live in Takamori, a small town in the central mountainous areas a two-hour drive from Nagoya where their children live. Central Japan Railway Co. trains are scheduled once-hourly. "There's nothing you can do without a car", observed Mr. Fukushima. And so with these elderly people and the mass of others like them in mind, Toyota upgraded its Safety Sense features last year, technology designed to prevent or mitigate frontal collisions; which also keep drivers in their lane.

High resolution cameras on the windscreen, and bumper-mounted radar can detect oncoming cars or pedestrians in daylight hours -- even bicycles -- with audible and visual alerts. Should drivers fail to respond, automatic braking may come into play. Intersection functionality is part of the new software, assisting with the detection of oncoming obstacles when cars turn from a stationary position.

One of Honda's Kei cars on a Tokyo street

Correction of unintentional lane departures, automatic toggling between high and low beam at night depending on surrounding traffic, and the detection of slower-moving vehicles on a highway ahead, along with automatic maintenance of a pre-set distance, comprise other Toyota Safety Sense features. Stop and speed signs are detected by road-sign assistance technology as the vehicle passes, displaying a dashboard alert should drivers have missed the signs themselves. 

Subaru Corp. has stated its intention to help eliminae all fatal accidents by 2030 and it too is making use of stereo cameras with two or more lenses and a separate image sensor for each. This presents as a feature to capture three-dimensional images; EyeSight technology that looks ahead and alerts drivers to potential danger. According to Subaru, its EyeSight-equipped vehicles see 61 percent fewer rear-end crashes -- and pedestrian-related injuries are diminished by 35 percent.

Prototype Subaru Levorg vehicles equipped with the company's EyeSight driving support system are driven during a test in 2017. | BLOOMBERG