Perhaps this dog would prefer driving the car, just like three dogs that were trained to do so.

Weve all seen dogs traveling in cars, including how they like to peek out an open window and enjoy the fur-fluffing breeze and dwell in the cacophony of scents that blow along in the flavorful wind.

The life of a dog!

Dogs have also frequently been used as living props in commercials for cars, pretending in some cases to drive a car, such as the Subaru Barkleys advertising campaign that initially launched on TV in 2018 and continued in 2019, proclaiming that Subaru cars were officially dog tested and dog approved.

Cute, clever, and memorable.

What you might not know or might not remember is that there were three dogs that were trained on driving a car and had their moment of unveiling in December of 2012 when they were showcased by driving a car on an outdoor track (the YouTube posted video has amassed millions of views).

Yes, three dogs named Monty, Ginny, and Porter were destined to become the first true car drivers on behalf of the entire canine family.

Monty at the time was an 18-month-old giant schnauzer cross, while the slightly younger Ginny at one year of age was a beardie whippet cross, and Porter was a youthful 10-month-old beardie.

All three were the brave astronauts of their era and were chosen to not land on the moon but be the first to actively drive a car, doing so with their very own paws.

I suppose we ought to call them dog-o-nauts.

You might be wondering whether it was all faked.

I can guess that some might certainly think so, especially those that already believe that the 1969 moon landing was faked, and thus dogs driving a car would presumably be a piece of cake to fake in comparison.

The dog driving feat was not faked.

Well, lets put it this way, the effort was truthful in the sense that the dogs were indeed able to drive a car, albeit with some notable constraints involved.

Lets consider some of the caveats:

Specially Equipped Driving Controls

First, the car was equipped with specialized driving controls to allow the dogs to work the driving actions needed to steer the car, use the gas, shift gears, and apply the brakes of the vehicle.

The front paws of the dog driver were able to reach the steering wheel and gear-stick, while the back paws used extension levers to reach the accelerator and brake pedals. When a dog sat in the drivers seat, they did so on their haunches.

Of course, I dont think any of us would be hard-pressed to quibble about the use of specialized driving controls. I hope that establishing physical mechanisms to operate the driving controls would seem quite reasonable and not out of sorts per se.

We should willingly concede that having such accouterments is perfectly okay since its not the access to the controls that ascertains driving acumen but instead the ability to appropriately use the driving controls that are the core consideration.

By the way, the fact too that they operated the gear shift is something of a mind-blowing nature, particularly when you consider that most of todays teenage drivers have never worked a stick shift and always used only an automatic transmission.

Dogs surpass teenage drivers in the gear-stick realm, it seems.

Specialized Training On How To Drive

Secondly, as another caveat, the dogs were given about 8 weeks of training on how to drive a car.

I dont believe you can carp about the training time and need to realize that teenagers oftentimes receive weeks or even months of driving training, doing so prior to being able to drive a car on their own.

When you think about it, an 8-week or roughly two-month time frame to train a dog on nearly any complex task is remarkably short and illustrates how smart these dogs were.

One does wonder how many treats were given out during that training period, but I digress.

Focused On Distinct Driving Behaviors

Thirdly, the dogs learned ten distinct behaviors for purposes of driving.

For example, one behavior consisted of shifting the car into gear. Another behavior involved applying the brakes. And so on.

You might ponder this aspect for a moment.

How many distinct tasks are involved in the physical act of driving a car?

After some reflection, youll realize that in some ways the driving of a car is extremely simplistic.

You need to steer, turning the wheel either to the left, right, or keep it straight ahead. In addition, you need to be able to use the accelerator, either pressing lightly or strongly, and you need to use the brake, either pressing lightly or strongly. Plus, well toss into the mix the need to shift gears.

In short, driving a car does not involve an exhaustive and nor complicated myriad of actions.

It makes sense that weve inexorably devolved car driving into a small set of simple chores.

Early versions of cars had many convoluted tasks that had to be manually undertaken. Over time, the automakers aimed to make car driving so simple that anyone could do it.

This aided the widespread adoption of cars by the populous as a whole and led to the blossoming of the automotive industry by being able to sell a car to essentially anyone.

Driving On Command

Fourth, and the most crucial of the caveats, the dogs were commanded by a trainer during the driving act.

I hate to say it, but this caveat is the one that regrettably undermines the wonderment and imagery of the dogs driving a car.

Sorry.

A trainer stood outside the car and yelled commands to the dogs, telling them to shift gears or to steer to the right, etc.

Okay, lets all agree that the dogs were actively driving the car, and working the controls of the car, and serving as the captain of the ship in that they alone were responsible for the car as it proceeded along on the outdoor track. They were even wearing seat-belts, for gosh sake.

Thats quite amazing!

On the other hand, they were only responding to the commands being uttered toward them.

Thus, the dogs werent driving the car in the sense that the dogs were presumably not gauging the roadway scenery and nor mentally calculating what driving actions to undertake.

It would be somewhat akin to putting a human driver blindfolded into a drivers seat and asking them to drive, along with you sitting next to the driver and telling them what actions to take.

Yes, technically, the person would be the driver of the car, though I believe wed all agree they werent driving in the purest sense of the meaning of driving.

By and large, driving a car in its fullest definition consists of being able to assess the scene around the vehicle and render life-or-death judgments about what driving actions to take. Those mental judgments are then translated into our physical manipulation of the driving controls, such as opting to hit the gas or slam on the brakes.

One must presume that the dogs were not capable of doing the full driving act and were instead like the blindfolded human driver that merely is reacting to commands given to them.

Does this mean that those dogs werent driving the car?

I suppose it depends upon how strict you want to be about the definition of driving.

If you are a stickler, you would likely cry foul and assert that the dogs were not driving a car.

If you are someone with a bit more leniency, you probably would concede that the dogs were driving a car, and then under your breath and with a wee bit of a smile mutter that they were determinedly and doggedly driving that car.

Perhaps we shouldnt be overly dogmatic about it.

You might also be wondering whether a dog could really, in fact, drive a car, doing so in the fuller sense of driving, if the dog perchance was given sufficient training to do so.

In other words, would a dog have the mental capacity to grasp the roadway status and be able to convert that into suitable driving actions, upon which then the dog would work the driving controls?

At this juncture in the evolution of dogs, one would generally have to say no, namely that a dog would not be able to drive a car in a generalized way.

That being said, it would potentially be feasible to train a dog to drive a car in a constrained environment whereby the roadway scenery was restricted, and the dog did not need to broadly undertake a wholly unconstrained driving task.

Before I dig more deeply into this topic herein, please do not try placing your beloved dog into the drivers seat of your car and force them to drive.

Essentially, Im imploring you, dont try this at home.

I mention this warning because I dont want people to suddenly get excited about tossing their dog into the drivers seat to see what happens.

Bad idea.

Dont do it.

As mentioned, the three driving dogs were specially trained, and drove only on a closed-off outdoor track, doing so under the strict supervision of their human trainers and with all kinds of safety precautions being undertaken.

The whole matter was accomplished by the Royal New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), done as a publicity stunt that aimed to increase the adoption of neglected or forgotten dogs.

It was a heartwarming effort with a decent basis and please dont extrapolate the matter into any unbecoming and likely dangerous replicative efforts.

Speaking of shifting gears, one might wonder whether the dogs that drove a car might provide other insights to us humans.

Heres todays question: What lessons if any can be learned by dogs driving cars that could be useful for the advent of AI-based true self-driving cars?

Lets unpack the matter and see.

The Levels Of Self-Driving Cars

It is important to clarify what I mean when referring to true self-driving cars.

True self-driving cars are ones that the AI drives the car entirely on its own and there isnt any human assistance during the driving task.

These driverless vehicles are considered a Level 4 and Level 5, while a car that requires a human driver to co-share the driving effort is usually considered at a Level 2 or Level 3. The cars that co-share the driving task are described as being semi-autonomous, and typically contain a variety of automated add-ons that are referred to as ADAS (Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems).

There is not yet a true self-driving car at Level 5, which we dont yet even know if this will be possible to achieve, and nor how long it will take to get there.

Meanwhile, the Level 4 efforts are gradually trying to get some traction by undergoing very narrow and selective public roadway trials, though there is controversy over whether this testing should be allowed per se (we are all life-or-death guinea pigs in an experiment taking place on our highways and byways, some point out).

Since semi-autonomous cars require a human driver, the adoption of those types of cars wont be markedly different than driving conventional vehicles, so theres not much new per se to cover about them on this topic (though, as youll see in a moment, the points next made are generally applicable).

For semi-autonomous cars, it is important that the public be forewarned about a disturbing aspect thats been arising lately, namely that in spite of those human drivers that keep posting videos of themselves falling asleep at the wheel of a Level 2 or Level 3 car, we all need to avoid being misled into believing that the driver can take away their attention from the driving task while driving a semi-autonomous car.

You are the responsible party for the driving actions of the vehicle, regardless of how much automation might be tossed into a Level 2 or Level 3.

Self-Driving Cars And Spiritual-Moral Values

For Level 4 and Level 5 true self-driving vehicles, there wont be a human driver involved in the driving task.

All occupants will be passengers.

The AI is doing the driving.

If thats the case, it seems like theres no opportunity for dogs to drive cars.

Yes, thats true, namely that if humans arent driving cars then there seems little need or basis to ask dogs to drive cars.

But thats not what we can learn from the effort to teach dogs to drive a car.

Lets tackle some interesting facets that arose when dogs were tasked with driving a car:

Humans Giving Commands

First, recall that the dogs were responding to commands that were given to them while sitting at the steering wheel.

In a manner of speaking (pun intended), you could suggest that we humans will be giving commands to the AI driving systems that are at the wheel of true self-driving cars.

Using Natural Language Processing (NLP), akin to how you converse with Alexa or Siri, as a passenger in a self-driving car you will instruct the AI about various aspects of the driving.

In theory, you wont though be telling the AI to hit the gas or pound on the brakes. Presumably, the AI driving system will be adept enough to handle all of the everyday driving aspects involved and its not your place to offer commands about doing the driving chore.

Instead, youll tell the AI where you want to go.

You might divert the journey by suddenly telling the AI that you are hungry and want to swing through a local McDonalds or Taco Bell.

You might explain to the AI that it can drive leisurely and take you through the scenic part of town since you arent in a hurry and are a tourist in the town or city.

In some ways, you can impact the driving task, perhaps telling the AI that you are carsick and want it to slow down or not take curves so fast.

There are numerous open questions as yet resolved about the interaction between the human passengers and the AI driving systems (see my detailed discussion at this link here).

For example, if you tell the AI to follow that car, similar to what happens in movies or when you are trying to chase after someone, should the AI obediently do so, or should it question why you want to follow the other car?

We dont presumably want AI self-driving cars that are stalking others.

See the original post here:

Those Three Clever Dogs Trained To Drive A Car Provide Valuable Lessons For AI Self-Driving Cars - Forbes