Autonomous things

{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2017}}

Autonomous things, abbreviated AuT, or the Internet of autonomous things, abbreviated as IoAT, is an emerging term{{cite web | url=http://cognitiveworld.com/articles/the-internet-of-autonomous-things-162 | title=The Internet of Autonomous Things | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170419003202/http://cognitiveworld.com/articles/the-internet-of-autonomous-things-162 | archivedate=April 19, 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267326866|title=The Internet-of-Autonomous-Things (IoAT)|website=ResearchGate}}{{cite web|url=http://www.controleng.com/single-article/iot-to-ioat-internet-of-autonomous-things-devices-provides-solutions/3900105bf5bae830aabdbf1536777893.html|title=IoT to IoAT: Internet of Autonomous Things devices provides solutions  - Control Engineering|website=www.controleng.com|date=April 30, 2016 }}{{cite web|url=https://vision.cloudera.com/big-data-critical-in-iot-to-the-progression-from-connected-to-autonomous-things/|title=Big Data Critical in IoT to the Progression from Connected to Autonomous Things – Cloudera VISION|work=Cloudera VISION |date=October 20, 2016|publisher=}}{{cite web|url=https://www.conres.com/it-products-solutions/news-events/top-10-tech-trends-autonomous-agents-things/|title=Top 10 Tech Trends: Autonomous Agents and Things – IT Products & Solutions|access-date=April 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170419145358/https://www.conres.com/it-products-solutions/news-events/top-10-tech-trends-autonomous-agents-things/|archive-date=April 19, 2017|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}} for the technological developments that are expected to bring computers into the physical environment as autonomous entities without human direction, freely moving and interacting with humans and other objects.

Self-navigating drones are the first AuT technology in (limited) deployment.{{cite web|url=http://www.newsweek.com/watch-mit-researchers-demonstrate-self-navigating-drone-technology-418191|title=Watch: How a self-piloting drone works|website=Newsweek |date=January 21, 2016|publisher=}}{{cite web|url=http://www.csail.mit.edu/drone_flies_through_forest_at_30_mph|title=Self-flying drone dips, darts and dives through trees at 30 mph – MIT CSAIL|website=www.csail.mit.edu}} It is expected that the first mass-deployment of AuT technologies will be the autonomous car, generally expected to be available around 2020.{{cite web|url=http://www.driverless-future.com/?page_id=384|title=Forecasts – Driverless car market watch|website=www.driverless-future.com}} Other currently expected AuT technologies include home robotics (e.g., machines that provide care for the elderly,{{cite web|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/ibm-pepper-robot-elder-care-2016-12|title=IBM is working on a robot that takes care of elderly people who live alone|website=Business Insider |publisher=}}{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-39255244|title=Is robotics a solution to the growing needs of the elderly?|first=Gabriella|last=Mulligan|work=BBC News |date=March 17, 2017|publisher=}} infirm or young), and military robots{{cite news|url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/autonomous-weapons-could-be-developed-for-use-within-years|title=Autonomous Weapons "Could Be Developed for Use Within Years," Says Arms-Control Group|newspaper=IEEE Spectrum|date=April 14, 2016 }}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/26/us/pentagon-artificial-intelligence-terminator.html|title=The Pentagon's 'Terminator Conundrum': Robots That Could Kill on Their Own|first1=Matthew|last1=Rosenberg|first2=John|last2=Markoff|newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 25, 2016|publisher=}} (air, land or sea autonomous machines with information-collection or target-attack capabilities).

AuT technologies share many common traits, which justify the common notation. They are all based on recent breakthroughs in the domains of (deep) machine learning and artificial intelligence.{{cite web|url=http://fortune.com/ai-artificial-intelligence-deep-machine-learning/|title=Why Deep Learning Is Suddenly Changing Your Life|publisher=}}{{cite news|url=https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/234669-turing-learning-breakthrough-computers-can-now-learn-from-pure-observation|title=Turing Learning breakthrough: Computers can now learn from pure observation – ExtremeTech|newspaper=Extremetech |date=August 30, 2016|publisher=}}{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2014/10/future-of-artificial-intelligence/|title=The Three Breakthroughs That Have Finally Unleashed AI on the World|first=Kevin|last=Kelly|magazine=Wired |publisher=}} They all require extensive and prompt regulatory developments to specify the requirements from them and to license and manage their deployment{{cite web|url=https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/vr/autonomous/auto|title=Deployment of Autonomous Vehicles for Public Operation|first=California Department of Motor|last=Vehicles|website=www.dmv.ca.gov}} (see the further reading below). And they all require unprecedented levels of safety (e.g., automobile safety) and security,{{cite web|url=https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/01/worried-about-cybersecurity-and-the-connected-car-theres-a-bill-for-that/|title=Worried about cybersecurity and the connected car? There's a bill for that|date=January 26, 2017 |publisher=}}{{cite web|url=https://iapp.org/news/a/connected-cars-security-and-privacy-risks-on-wheels/|title=Connected cars: security and privacy risks on wheels|website=iapp.org}}{{cite web|url=https://securityintelligence.com/a-future-full-of-drones-and-the-advanced-threats-they-present/|title=A Future Full of Drones – and the Advanced Threats They Present|date=April 29, 2016|publisher=}} to overcome concerns about the potential negative impact of the new technology.

As an example, the autonomous car both addresses the main existing safety issues and creates new issues. It is expected to be much safer than existing vehicles, by eliminating the single most dangerous element{{snd}}the driver. The US's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates 94 percent of US accidents were the result of human error and poor decision-making, including speeding and impaired driving, and the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School claims that "Some ninety percent of motor vehicle crashes are caused at least in part by human error".{{cite web |url=http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blog/2013/12/human-error-cause-vehicle-crashes |title=Human error as a cause of vehicle crashes |author=Bryant Walker Smith |date=December 18, 2013 |accessdate=April 18, 2017}} So while safety standards like the ISO 26262 specify the required safety, there is still a burden on the industry to demonstrate acceptable safety.

While car accidents claim every year 35,000 lives in the US,{{cite web |url=https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812348 |title=Quick Facts 2015 |work=US DOT |accessdate=April 18, 2017}} and 1.25 million worldwide,{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/gho/road_safety/mortality/en/|title=Road traffic deaths|website=World Health Organization}} some{{Who|date=August 2017}} believe that even "a car that's 10 times as safe, which means 3,500 people die on the roads each year [in the US alone]" would not be accepted by the public.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2017/02/20/the-big-moral-dilemma-facing-self-driving-cars/ |title=The big moral dilemma facing self-driving cars |author=Steven Overly |newspaper=The Washington Post |quote="[..] Would we accept that?" asks John Hanson, a spokesman for the Toyota Research Institute, which is developing the automaker's self-driving technology. |date=February 20, 2017 |accessdate=April 18, 2017}} The acceptable level may be closer to the current figures on aviation accidents and incidents, with under a thousand worldwide deaths in most years"Death Rate per Year". Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives (ACRO). Retrieved April 18, 2017{{snd}}three orders of magnitude lower than cars. This underscores the unprecedented nature of the safety requirements that will need to be met for cars, with similar levels of safety expected for other Autonomous Things.