Local Motors 2.0 Incident

On January [XXX], 2023, RRAI received a support request through their Customer Support Portal from Beep, Inc., the owner of the vehicle, regarding their Olli 2.0 vehicle bumping into the curb in Peachtree Corners, GA. At 11:01 am, while running the normal route, the Olli contacted the adjacent curb on the front right side, causing tie rod and cosmetic damage. No one was injured and the only damage was to the vehicle itself. The customer contacted RRAI through the client support portal shortly after the incident. No injuries occurred, there were no passengers besides the safety operator, no other vehicles were involved, and no emergency systems were engaged. Olli 2.0 (S/N 2-18) is an 8-passenger shuttle that is no longer manufactured. The vehicle manufacturer, Local Motors, dissolved in 2022. Local Motors contracted RRAI to install autonomy kits for several Olli shuttles during the period of 2018 - 2020. RRAI provided some support for initial site deployment and ensured customer safety operators were trained on the autonomy system. Since the Local Motors dissolution in 2022, almost all Olli vehicles have been decommissioned. To date, we have concluded the following: 1. There were no updates or alterations made by RRAI in the months prior to Jan [XXX]. In previous operations, including the immediately preceding operations on January 20th, 2023, Olli 2-18 ran the route as normal with no anomalies. There were no software updates or other system changes before it was run again on January [XXX], 2023, the date of curb contact. 2. The root cause of the curb contact was a communication error with the HD Map registration module. HD Map registration utilizes real-time lidar and positioning data and compares that to a-priori HD maps stored within the autonomy system. A communication problem occurred between the computer running the map registration software and the computer running the navigation algorithms. The cause for the communication problem has been identified and a fix has been implemented to prevent the issue from happening again (see below). 3. Steering was out of calibration. It was noted through data collection that the steering was out of calibration at time of incident. The autonomy system was attempting to correct this issue, but the vehicular steering system could not achieve the required turn radius. This is a vehicular maintenance concern managed by the customer. It was determined that the HD map registration issue had not been observed during autonomous operations in the previous four years. The solution to prevent further occurrences includes: 1. Implementing a self-diagnostic routine upon system boot, which ensures the communication connection is established. If the connection is not established, this diagnostic will prevent the vehicle from driving autonomously. 2. Updating the error checks to ensure that during run time, the vehicle will come to a controlled stop in event of a communication problem. 3. Working with the customer to recalibrate the steering, and assisting in reviewing customer's vehicle maintenance checks for steering calibration if necessary. 4. Continuing to review data to determine other concerns or improvements.