machine learning, wireless communication, and software applications and algorithms—just to name a
few. How do we get them all to “play well together”?
How we answer that question will deeply influence
our approach to autonomy in the future. Should there
be an open platform that companies can plug into
and create their own apps for specific purposes? This
would be analogous to the way many apps have been
developed based on Apple’s iOS operating system.
In my view, a common operating system for auton-
omous vehicles that would facilitate “plug and play”
applications will be critical. Such an overlaying archi-
tecture would prevent vehicles—whether drones,
trucks, delivery bots, or anything else—from operat-
ing in conflict with each other. Common standards
would provide the ability to gather information from
any kind of sensor, make sense of that data, and
respond in a way that is predictable and conforms
to established norms. For safety’s sake it will also be
important to build in algorithms that govern how a
vehicle will react or behave in specific situations or
environments.
At the same time, companies will also need to keep
on top of the new complementary market opportunities that are forming around autonomous vehicle
technologies. This “ecosystem” of business opportunities will be discussed in more detail in an upcoming
article, but briefly, they include:
b Manufacturing—designing and manufacturing
autonomous vehicles at scale
b Traffic management—developing the technology
and monitoring the safe operation of vehicles
b Parking and toll infrastructure—providing parking
locations for autonomous vehicles and developing
toll-collection systems
b Inventory, maintenance, and fueling—managing
electronics and parts inventory for autonomous vehicles; training and providing skilled labor for repair and
upkeep of autonomous vehicles; and developing and
operating fueling stations for the vehicles
b Asset financing—providing appropriate financing
for autonomous vehicles
[THE COMING AGE OF AUTONOMY: HOW ROBOTICS WILL RESHAPE THE FUTURE OF LOGISTICS]
[FIGURE 3] FRAMEWORK FOR SELECTING USE CASES
This framework can be used for selecting use cases for air and ground autonomous vehicles, progressing from low to high complexity. It shows seven different categories for assessing complexity: operations type; topology type; control type (whether the flights
operate within visual line of sight or beyond line of sight); payload; functional use (or the number of functions and technologies that
are integrated into the vehicle); movement type; and how many assets are in motion.
© SHEKAR NATARAJAN
PAYLOAD
TOPOLOGY
TYPE
OPERATION
TYPE
CONTROL
TYPE
ASSETS
IN MOTION
MOVEMENT
TYPE
FUNCTIONAL
USE CASE
CONSUMER
FACING
OWNER
CONTROLLED
URBAN
RURAL
VLOS
BVLOS
PAYLOAD
NO
PAYLOAD
MULTIPLE
INTEGRATED
TECH
SIMPLE
POINT
TO POINT
INTRACITY
ONE
MANY
CO
MP
LE
XI
T
Y