Exploring the Limitations of Behavior Cloning for Autonomous Driving

Driving requires reacting to a wide variety of complex environment conditions and agent behaviors. Explicitly modeling each possible scenario is unrealistic. In contrast, imitation learning can, in theory, leverage data from large fleets of human-driven cars. Behavior cloning in particular has been successfully used to learn simple visuomotor policies end-to-end, but scaling to the full spectrum of driving behaviors remains an unsolved problem. In this paper, we propose a new benchmark to experimentally investigate the scalability and limitations of behavior cloning. We show that behavior cloning leads to state-of-the-art results, including in unseen environments, executing complex lateral and longitudinal maneuvers without these reactions being explicitly programmed. However, we confirm well-known limitations (due to dataset bias and overfitting), new generalization issues (due to dynamic objects and the lack of a causal model), and training instability requiring further research before behavior cloning can graduate to real-world driving. The code of the studied behavior cloning approaches can be found at https://github.com/felipecode/coiltraine

On Offline Evaluation of Vision-based Driving Models

Autonomous driving models should ideally be evaluated by deploying them on a fleet of physical vehicles in the real world. Unfortunately, this approach is not practical for the vast majority of researchers. An attractive alternative is to evaluate models offline, on a pre-collected validation dataset with ground truth annotation. In this paper, we investigate the relation between various online and offline metrics for evaluation of autonomous driving models. We find that offline prediction error is not necessarily correlated with driving quality, and two models with identical prediction error can differ dramatically in their driving performance. We show that the correlation of offline evaluation with driving quality can be significantly improved by selecting an appropriate validation dataset and suitable offline metrics. The supplementary video can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8K8Z-iF0cYComment: Published at the ECCV 2018 conferenc

End-to-end Driving via Conditional Imitation Learning

Deep networks trained on demonstrations of human driving have learned to follow roads and avoid obstacles. However, driving policies trained via imitation learning cannot be controlled at test time. A vehicle trained end-to-end to imitate an expert cannot be guided to take a specific turn at an upcoming intersection. This limits the utility of such systems. We propose to condition imitation learning on high-level command input. At test time, the learned driving policy functions as a chauffeur that handles sensorimotor coordination but continues to respond to navigational commands. We evaluate different architectures for conditional imitation learning in vision-based driving. We conduct experiments in realistic three-dimensional simulations of urban driving and on a 1/5 scale robotic truck that is trained to drive in a residential area. Both systems drive based on visual input yet remain responsive to high-level navigational commands. The supplementary video can be viewed at https://youtu.be/cFtnflNe5fMComment: Published at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 201

Sustainable fermentation processing of two revalorized agro-industrial discards: carrot and brewer's yeast

An integrated and sustainable fermentation process was developed which enabled both the revalorization of two regional agro-industrial discards as well as by-product reuse. Carrot and brewer's yeast, which are commonly used for animal feed, were processed to obtain 77.5 L of ethanol, 450 kg of solid waste called bagasse, 970 L of liquid effluent called vinasse, and 39.8 kg CO2 per each ton of discarded carrot. Results showed that the obtained bagasse was suitable for feeding 55 animals (calfs). The dilution of vinasse with fresh water (1:5) satisfied the requirements necessary to be used as beverage for the same number of animals, leaving a remnant which could be newly diluted (1:5) and used to irrigate a 0.025-ha carrot crop, the land dimension required to grow 1 ton of carrot.Fil: Aimaretti, Nora Rosa. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ingeniería Química; Argentina. Universidad del Centro Educativo Latinoamericano. Facultad de Química; ArgentinaFil: Clementz, Adriana Laura. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ingeniería Química; Argentina. Universidad del Centro Educativo Latinoamericano. Facultad de Química; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Codevilla, Agustin. Universidad del Centro Educativo Latinoamericano. Facultad de Química; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Rojas, Maria L.. Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia; EspañaFil: Yori, Juan Carlos. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ingeniería Química; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

La Chiesa Ortodossa Russa e le riforme dell’inizio del XX secolo

SOMMARIO: 1. La riforma di Pietro il Grande e la paralisi della Chiesa - 2. La diffusa aspirazione a ridefinire i rapporti tra Stato e Chiesa - 3. Verso il superamento dell’intolleranza religiosa - 4. Le prese di posizione di Antonij (Vadkovskij) e di Sergej Witte - 5. La reazione del Pobedonoscev – 6. Il Memorandum dei 32 - 7. Il riconoscimento della tolleranza religiosa - 8. I vescovi e la riforma ecclesiastica - 9. Il Manifesto del 17 ottobre e i ritardi nella convocazione del Concilio.The Russian Orthodox Church at the Beginning of the 20th CenturyABSTRACT: Peter the Great abolished the Patriarchate and entrusted the direction of the Church to a Holy Synod led by a laymen (Ober-prokuror). This reform had the consequence to paralyze the Church, as pointed out by F.M. Dostoevskij and by several outstanding Russian scholars. At the end of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century the necessity to overcome the relationship of subjection of the Church to the State was clearly perceived both by the intellectuals and inside the Church. The Tsar himself realized that there was a need of a change: the Fundamental laws were consequently modified and religious tolerance was acknowledged on April 17th 1905. Of paramount importance was the role played by the Prime-minister Sergej Witte and by the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg Antonij (Vadkovskij) to overcome the conservative ecclesiastical policy carried out by the Ober-prokuror Konstantin Pobedonoscev. The answers given by the bishops to a questionnaire issued by the Holy Synod on July 27th, 1905, confirmed that the problem was clearly felt also inside the Church. The Council of the Russian Church, which was supposed to be gathered at the beginning of the century, was summoned several years later, at the eve of the bolshevik coup d’état

Dallo scontro all’incontro. 1917-1997: ottanta anni di politica ecclesiastica russa

Il contributo, non sottoposto a valutazione, riproduce il testo, ampliato e corredato delle note, della relazione presentata al Convegno internazionale di studio in occasione del 25° anniversario della caduta del muro di Berlino "La fine del comunismo in Europa: regimi e dissidenza (1956-1989)", organizzato dalla Facoltà di Scienze Politiche dell’Università degli Studi di Teramo (3-4 dicembre 2014).SOMMARIO: 1. L’inizio della lotta contro la Chiesa. Il Tribunale rivoluzionario e la nascita della ČK - 2. La profanazione delle reliquie - 3. La requisizione dei preziosi - 4. Il movimento degli innovatori - 5. I processi per opposizione alla requisizione dei preziosi - 6. La Dichiarazione del metropolita Sergij - 7. La Nep religiosa staliniana. L’elezione di Sergij a patriarca - 8. Il Concilio della Chiesa Ortodossa Russa del 1945 - 9. L’attività internazionale della Chiesa Ortodossa Russa. La nuova sinfonia tra bolscevismo e Ortodossia - 10. La campagna contro la Chiesa cattolica. L’idea di convocare un Concilio in funzione anticattolica - 11. La svolta antiecclesiastica del 1947 - 12. La ripresa della campagna ateistica e la politica antireligiosa chruščëviana - 13. Il Concilio del 1961 - 14 Il Concilio del 1971 e la politica ecclesiastica postchruščeviana - 15. Il Rapporto Furov e l’asservimento della Chiesa - 16. Michail Gorbačëv - 17. Il ritorno al passato della nuova Russia