SmartDrivingCar.com/6.31-TakeLonger-072318
31th edition of the 6th year of SmartDrivingCars
F. Fishkin,
July 22, "What
to make of Waymo
as it passes 8
million miles of
automated
driving on
public roads?
Princeton
University's
Alain Kornhauser
joins Fred
Fishkin for
Episode 48 of
the Smart
Driving Cars
Podcast. This
week... Waymo,
Zoox, Embark,
Nvidia and new
reports from
Brookings."
Hmmmm.... Now
you can just
say "Alexa,
play the Smart
Driving Cars
podcast!"
. Ditto with
Siri,
and GooglePlay.
Alain
B Grush & J.
Niles, June 2018,
"The End of
Driving:
Transportation
Systems and Public
Policy Planning
for Autonomous
Vehicles explores
both the potential
of vehicle
automation
technology and the
barriers it faces
when considering
coherent urban
deployment. The
book evaluates the
case for
deliberate
development of
automated public
transportation and
mobility-as-a-service as paths towards sustainable mobility, describing
critical
approaches to the
planning and
management of
vehicle automation
technology. It
serves as a
reference for
understanding the
full life cycle of
the multi-year
transportation
systems planning
processes,
including novel
regulation,
planning, and
acquisition tools
for regional
transportation...."
Read more Hmmmm....
This is a
substantive
textbook on
the role,
opportunities
and
implications
of Driverless
vehicles for
cities. It is
a serious
publication
aimed at
researchers,
planners,
policy makers
and
practitioners.
Most highly
recommended.
It is the
antithesis of
the articles
in the
Half-Baked
section
below.
Enjoy! Alain
A. Davies, July
17, "FOR A SPECIES
that would like to
see self-driving
cars stick to the
letter of the law,
we humans don’t
make things easy.
We let lane lines
fade and stop
signs fall down.
We fail to mark
speed limits and
flag pop-up
construction
sites. For the
most part, humans
can handle this
lack of clarity.
For robots, it can
be baffling.
So consider the AV
Road Rules
Platform a helping
hand. The new
effort, launched
today by
transportation
analytics firm
Inrix, is a tool
that lets cities
pull together all
the rules they
expect human
drivers to follow,
and translate them
into a
computer-friendly
format that any
self-driving
developer can fold
into its
software. ..."
Read more Hmmmm....
Very
interesting,
but maybe
fundamentally
naive... The
challenge will
still be in
the practical
interpretation
of the rules.
Grey areas are
substantial.
At times,
rules are
meant to be
broken!!!
Alain
Read more Hmmmm....
Take a look,
there may be
something here
for you. I
put little
credibility
behind any of
the consumer
surveys
because, to
me, they all
seem so
flawed. The
disengagement
data from
California is
very
important, but
primarily to
the
development of
Driverless.
(AutoPilot,
SuperCruise,
Dystronic
Plus, ..., the
Self-driving
Systems, are
not part of
the California
tests.) As far
as Driverless
goes, the data
clearly shows
that Google is
way out in
front,
GM/Cruise a
distant 2nd
and the rest
aren't even in
the same
universe. The
Market model
fails to
recognize the
difference
from Safe-
(Automated
Collision
Avoidance),
Self-
(AutoPilot,...)
and Driverless
(Waymo,
Cruise, Zoox,
...) Alain
R. Citron, July
19, "Mobility as a
service (MaaS)
providers are
increasingly
integrating their
business with
other transport
options through
acquisitions,
partnerships, and
internal
technology
development....The
next stage of
transformation is
likely to involve
widespread and
comprehensive
levels of MaaS
platform
integration with
public transit
services. MaaS
needs to be
coordinated with
mass transit
services to ensure
that optimal use
is made of
available road
infrastructure
while meeting the
needs of the local
community. Without
this type of
coordination, the
potential
improvements to
congestion,
safety, and cost
could be
squandered. Read
more Hmmmm....
Hopefully so,
but not just
yet. I really
doubt that the
next time I
request Lyft
to take me to
Newark airport
Lyft is going
to recommend
that the
driver just
drop me off at
Princeton
Junction and
have me take
NJ Transit the
rest of the
way, even
though that
might actually
be a faster,
environmentally
better and
cheaper way to
go. Alain
Interested in
working in
Toronto?
Have a good
background and
interest in
working on safety
and security for
autonomous driving
vehicles and
fleets? Contact Dr.
Fengmin Gong,
DiDi Labs
[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="">
..." Read more Hmmmm....
Must be an old
graph. What is
encompassed in
"Automated
Driving
Vehicles"?
What are the
equations for
the graph
coordinates???
"Execution =
???";
"Strategy =
???" The only
way that GM is
ahead of Waymo
in "Execution"
is if
"Automated
Driving"
includes more
than
Driverless (It
also includes
Self-driving
and/or
Safe-driving.
Things that
Waymo is not
doing.)
Again,
"Automated
Vehicles"
encompasses
three very
different
markets:
Safe-, Self-
and
Driverless.
Navigant, or
someone
else,would be
helpful if
they put out
leaderboards
for each
element of
this
"triathlon".
Some
participants
are focused on
one or two of
the events
(Waymo, Uber,
Zoox (absent),
and Navya on
Driverless;
Tesla on
Self,; Volvo
(absent)
focused on
Safe &
Self and maybe
only GM
focused on all
three.
Anyway, what
is graphed is
at best good
for a "Sunday
Supplement"
and not a
serious
publication.
Alain
Read more Hmmmm.... The last point is probably the best takeaway. Also, mixing the powertrain technology with the all automated vehicle technologies (Safe, Self & Driverless) is not helpful because they are each very different markets, deserving different investment approaches and different business models to capture the return. In the end, this report is not really helpful. Alain
3rd
Annual
Princeton SmartDrivingCar
Summit
evening May 14
through May 16,
2019
Save the Date; Reserve your Sponsorship
Catalog
of Videos of
Presentations
@ 2nd Annual
Princeton
SmartDrivingCar
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Photos
from 2nd
Annual
Princeton
SmartDrivingCar
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Program
& Links to
slides from
2nd Annual
Princeton
SmartDrivingCar
Summit
F. Fishkin, July 14, "Self driving taxis from Mercedes? Princeton University's Alain Kornhauser says, "No thank you". Why? Tune in as the faculty chair of autonomous vehicle engineering joins Fred Fishkin for that and much more in episode 47 of the Smart Driving Cars podcast."
F. Fishkin, June 30, "Self driving technology speeds along in China. Uber looks to resume testing this summer. Public transit, the Koch brothers and Nuro's partnership with Kroger. Join Princeton University's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for Episode 46 of the Smart Driving Cars Podcast!"
F. Fishkin, June 12, "What is the big mistake California is making in driverless vehicle testing? Princeton University's Alain Kornhauser says the key is to promote ride sharing. Join the professor and co-host Fred Fishkin for Episode 44 of the Smart Driving Cars Podcast for more on that, Waymo, Tesla and more.
F. Fishkin, May 31, "Artificial Intelligence may be able to drive better than humans most of the time....but is that good enough? Join Princeton University's Alain Kornhauser and Co-host Fred Fishkin for Episode 41 of the Smart Driving Cars Podcast. More on the latest from Uber, Tesla and Nuro. Listen and subscribe."
F. Fishkin, May 17, "How close is California to giving the green light to driverless testing on public roads? Deputy DMV Director Bernard Soriano joins Alain Kornhauser, Fred Fishkin and guest Michael Sena on Episode 39 of the Smart Driving Cars Podcast. And we review some highlights of the just concluded 2nd annual Princeton Smart Driving Car Summit. Listen and subscribe!"
F. Fishkin, May 10, "The continuing Uber crash investigation, Waymo and Ohio rolls out the welcome mat for the testing of self driving cars. All that and more in Episode 38 of the Smart Driving Cars podcast. This week Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin are joined by Bryant Walker Smith of the University of South Carolina and Stanford. Tune in and subscribe!"
F. Fishkin,
Apr 4, "
Waymo is making
it real! In
Episode 33 of
the Smart
Driving Cars
Podcast, hosts
Fred Fishkin and
Princeton's
Alain Kornhauser
are joined by
Michael Sena,
publisher of The
Dispatcher
newsletter. Take
a deep dive into
Waymo's
deals with
Jaguar and talks
with Honda..
Tesla, Volvo,
Uber and Ambarella.
And the
Princeton Smart
Driving Car
Summit is coming
up! "
Waymo team,
June 13, "Ariel
rides after
school. Neha
hops to the
grocery store.
Barbara and Jim
zip around town
while kicking
back.
They’re all part
of the Waymo
early rider
program we
launched last
April. Today,
over 400 riders
with diverse
backgrounds use
Waymo every day,
at any time, to
ride all around
the Phoenix
area. Their
feedback helps
us understand
how fully self
driving cars fit
into their daily
lives.
One year in, our
early rider
program and our
extensive
on-road testing
is helping us
build the
world’s most
experienced
driver. In fact,
our fleet of
cars across the
U.S. is now
driving more
than 24,000
miles daily;
that’s the
equivalent of an
around the world
road trip!
Here’s a quick
report on how
our riders use
Waymo, what
we’ve learned,
and what’s
next....As some
of the first
people in the
world to use
self-driving
vehicles for
their everyday
transportation
needs, our early
riders are
helping shape
this technology.
Thanks to their
feedback, we’re
refining the
rider experience
to make sure
that: ...
nobody wants to
carry grocery
bags a block
down the
street... " Read
more Hmmmm....
Yipes!! The
personal car
isn't bad
enough in its
focus on
private
single-occupant
parkingSpot2parkingSpot mobility? Are we now going to have Waymo
providing it
Door2Door with
zero
opportunity to
share rides
and while
delivering
negative
public
benefits of
increased
energy,
pollution and
congestion
with all of
its empty
vehicle
repositioning.
No wonder the
CPUC voted to
forbid
ride-sharing.
Did Waymo made
them do it
since Waymo
hasn't done
ride-sharing
in Phoenix?
Having 2 or
more people in
the car isn't
ride sharing
if they would
have all gone
together in
their own car
had Waymo not
been there. So
Bad!!! Without
ride-sharing,
this is just
expensive,
energy
inefficient
and
environmentally
challenged
private
chauffeuring
for the
entitled
privileged
class:
See
video Just
like watching
Oszzie & Harriet
or Leave
it to Beaver.
For Waymo to
"Win it",
they'll need
to embrace
ride-sharing
because no
"Blue-state"
PUC is going
to be as
impressionable
as as
California's.
Alain
F. Piekniewski, "Deep learning has been at the forefront of the so called AI revolution for quite a few years now, and many people had believed that it is the silver bullet that will take us to the world of wonders of technological singularity (general AI). ...We have now mid 2018 and things have changed. ..By far the biggest blow into deep learning fame is the domain of self driving vehicles ..
But by far the
biggest prick
punching through
the AI bubble was
the accident in
which Uber self
driving car killed
a pedestrian in
Arizona. From the
preliminary report
by the NTSB we can
read some
astonishing
statements:..." Read
more Hmmmm....
Very
interesting.
We still have
an awful lot
to do. See
also,G.
Marcus,
below. Alain
KMay 24, "About
9:58 p.m., on
Sunday, March 18,
2018, an Uber
Technologies, Inc.
test vehicle,
based on a
modified 2017
Volvo XC90 and
operating with a
self-driving
system in computer
control mode,
struck a
pedestrian on
northbound Mill
Avenue, in Tempe,
Maricopa County,
Arizona.
...The vehicle
was factory
equipped with
several advanced
driver assistance
functions by Volvo
Cars, the original
manufacturer. The
systems included a
collision
avoidance function
with automatic
emergency
braking, known as
City Safety, as
well as functions
for detecting
driver alertness
and road sign
information. All
these Volvo
functions are
disabled when the
test vehicle is
operated in
computer
control..."
Read more Hmmmm....
Uber must
believe that
its systems
are better at
avoiding
Collisions and
Automated
Emergency
Braking than
Volvo's.
At least this
gets Volvo
"off the
hook".
"...According to data obtained from the
self-driving
system, the
system first
registered
radar and
LIDAR
observations
of the
pedestrian
about 6
seconds before
impact, when
the vehicle
was traveling
at 43 mph..."
(=
63
feet/second)
So the system
started
"seeing an
obstacle when
it was 63 x 6
= 378 feet
away... more
than a
football
field,
including end
zones!
"...As the vehicle and pedestrian paths
converged, the
self-driving
system
software
classified the
pedestrian as
an unknown
object, as a
vehicle, and
then as a
bicycle with
varying
expectations
of future
travel
path..." (NTSB:
Please tell us
precisely when
it classified
this "object'
as a vehicle
and be
explicit about
the expected "future
travel
paths." Forget the path, please just tell us the precise
velocity
vector that
Uber's system
attached to
the "object",
then the
"vehicle".
Why didn't the
the Uber
system
instruct the
Volvo to begin
to slow down
(or speed up)
to avoid a
collision? If
these paths
(or velocity
vectors) were
not accurate,
then why
weren't they
accurate? Why
was the object
classified as
a
"Vehicle" ?? When did it finally classify the object as a "bicycle"?
Why did it
change
classifications?
How often was
the
classification
of this object
done. Please
divulge the
time and the
outcome of
each
classification
of this
object. In the tests that
Uber has done,
how often has
the system
mis-classified
an object as a
"pedestrian"when the object was
actually an
overpass, or
an overhead
sign or
overhead
branches/leaves
that the car
could safely
pass under, or
was nothing at
all??
(Basically,
what are the
false alarm
characteristics
of Uber's
Self-driving
sensor/software
system as a
function of
vehicle speed
and
time-of-day?)
"...At 1.3 seconds before impact, (impact speed was 39mph = 57.2 ft/sec) the self-driving system determined that an emergency braking maneuver was needed to mitigate a collision" (1.3 x 57.2 = 74.4 ft. which is about equal to the braking distance. So it still could have stopped short.
"...According to Uber,
emergency
braking
maneuvers are
not enabled
while the
vehicle is
under computer
control, to
reduce (eradicate??) the potential
for erratic
vehicle
behavior.
..." NTSB: Please describe/define potential and erratic vehicle
behavior Also
please uncover
and divulge
the design
& decision
process that
Uber went
through to
decide that
this risk
(disabling the
AEB) was worth
the reward of
eradicating "
"erratic vehicle behavior". This
is
fundamentally
BAD design.
If the Uber
system's false
alarm rate is
so large that
the best way
to deal with
false alarms
is to turn off
the AEB, then
the system
should never
have been
permitted on
public
roadways.
"...The vehicle operator
is relied on
to intervene
and take
action. " Wow! If Uber's
system
fundamentally
relies on a
human to
intervene,
then Uber is
nowhere near
creating a
Driverless
vehicle.
Without its
own Driverless
vehicle Uber
is past "Peak
valuation".
K. Pyle, May 9, "Safety and, as importantly, the perception of safety could be the pin that pricks the expectations surrounding the autonomous vehicle future. Recognizing the importance of safety to the success of this still nascent industry, autonomous taxi start-up, Voyage, recently placed their testing and reporting procedures in an open source framework. ...Oliver Cameron, Voyage Co-Founder and CEO, is excited to see participation and says, “We can’t wait to have all of these contributions from companies from around the world; contribute to build the actual standard in autonomous safety.” Read more, Hmmmm.... See the video that was played at the Princeton SDC Summit which generated substantial positive discussion at the Summit. See also full length video. Alain
A. Efrati, May 7,
"Uber has
determined that
the likely cause
of a fatal
collision
involving one of
its prototype
self-driving cars
in Arizona in
March was a
problem with the
software that
decides how the
car should react
to objects it
detects, according
to two people
briefed about the
matter." Read
more Hmmmm....Uber
is "leaking"
this??? Is
this Spin?
Fake News??
I guess Uber
doesn't
believe in
transparency
here. Where
is the official
public
statement of
reassurance???
"The car’s sensors
detected the
pedestrian, who
was crossing the
street with a
bicycle,
Hmmmm....Pretty much what I wrote on March 24, the sensors "Saw
something" ...
but Uber’s
software decided
it didn’t need to
react right away.
..."right
away" is Fake
News. It never
reacted. Uber
has not
released any
data
indicating
that the
software ever
reacted. "That’s
a result of how
the software was
tuned." ...That
was a major
"tuning" faux
pas. What is
being divulged
here is that
Uber's
software never
became
confident
enough that
what it was
seeing was
something that
it should not
hit and, at
least, begin
to apply the
brakes (or
swerve, or
???). Even
the driver in
the video
recognized
that the
object should
not be hit a
split second
before the
crash. So the
Problem
is not
"tuning" it is
outright "fuhgeddaboudit"
Like other
autonomous vehicle
systems, Uber’s
software has the
ability to ignore
“false positives,”
or objects in its
path that wouldn’t
actually be a
problem for the
vehicle, such as a
plastic bag
floating over a
road.... Is
Uber
suggesting
that its
software can't
tell the
difference
between a
plastic bag
floating over
the road and a
pedestrian
with a
bicycle, even
after seeing
the object 30
to 60 or more
times over the
3 or more
seconds that
the object was
in view? If
this isn't
Fake News then
Uber is
hopelessly far
behind... In
this case, Uber
executives believe
the company’s
system was tuned
so that it reacted
less to such
objects." It
didn't react
at all!...
But the tuning
went too far, and
the car didn’t
react fast enough,
one of these
people said....
... It didn't
react at all!
If this wasn't
so important
I'd put it in
C'mon man.
"False
positives" are
the symptom,
not the
problem. The
problem is
Uber's system
design and
operational
policy. Uber
system
designers knew
that the
sensors under
certain
conditions
reported
"false
positives"
(were
"spooked").
One of those
conditions was
possibly the
combination of
"is the
closing speed
= car's
current speed"
AND "is the
car's current
speed greater
than 30mph."
In situations
in which both
are true, then
Uber's
"tuning" is outright
"fuhgeddaboudit".
This "tuning"
effectively
turns-off
Uber's sensors
to detecting
anything that
is stationary
or moving
across its
lane ahead. If
Uber has
understood
this, then
Uber
would/should
have ...
1. limited the operation of its cars to speeds under 30 mph,
2.
limited the
operation of
its cars at
speeds greater
than 30 mph only
to
roadways where
pedestrians
are extremely
unlikely to
cross, and
3.
focus on
substantially
improving its
ability to
interpret its
sensor data so
that the false
alarm rate
becomes so
small that
false alarms
are tolerated
throughout
Uber's
operational
domain.
..."Meanwhile,
the human driver
behind the wheel,
who is meant to
take over and
prevent an
accident, wasn't
paying attention
in the seconds
before the car
hit..." ...I
think that
this is a
cheap shot
against the
driver. I
suspect that
this car had a
screen that
displayed the
real-time
status of the
automated
driving
system. I
would not be
surprised if
that screen
was mounted
below the
radio and that
the driver was
actually
monitoring the
operation of
the automated
driving system
prior to the
crash. Why
this display
wasn't on the
dash so that
the driver's
peripheral
vision could
remain on the
road ahead
when the
driver was
monitoring the
performance of
the system is
a question
Uber should
answer,... if
it had any
interest in
being
transparent.
Another
question that
Uber could be
asked: Why
didn't the
monitoring
system warn
the driver
that it was
"seeing
something"
and ask the
driver to look
to see if it
should be
"saying/doing
something".
Since
it doesn't
look like Uber
is going to
really divulge
anything, it
is incumbent
on the NTSB to
dig deeply
into this
"false alarm"
issue.
Disregarding
"false
positives" in
order to
circumvent a
little
passenger/customer
discomfort
enables "false
negatives"
which kill
people. Not
pretty!
A. Madrigal, Mar 28, "On Tuesday, Waymo announced they’d purchase 20,000 sporty, electric self-driving vehicles from Jaguar for the company’s forthcoming ride-hailing service.... But the company embedded a much more significant milestone inside this supposed announcement about a fancy car. With orders now in for more than 20,000 of these vehicles and thousands of minivans that Chrysler announced earlier this year, Waymo will be capable of doing vast numbers of trips per day. They estimate that the Jaguar fleet alone will be capable of doing a million trips each day in 2020. ..." Read more Hmmmm...Yup!! This is HUGE! It will change the city and the key to making it so it doesn't make thing worse is Ride-sharing. If we ride-share we'll reduce energy, pollution & GHG by more than 50% and provide high-quality, affordable mobility indiscriminately for all. It becomes the new high-quality, low-cost mass transit. If it's kept/operated as another alternative for the 1%ers to be chauffeured alone, then the outcome is UGLY. Ride-sharing is KEY! Alain
R. Mitchell,
Mar 22, "Police
late Wednesday
released a video
that shows an
Uber robot car
running straight
into a woman who
was walking her
bicycle across a
highway in
Tempe, Ariz. The
woman was taken
to a hospital,
where she died
Sunday night.
The video, shot
from the car, is
sure to raise
debate over
who's to blame
for the
accident. In
the video, the
victim, Elaine
Herzberg, 49,
appears to be
illegally
jaywalking from
a median strip
across two lanes
of traffic on a
dark road. But
she was more
than halfway
across the
street when the
car — traveling
about 40 mph,
according to
police — hit
her. The car did
not appear to
brake or take
any other
evasive
action....
Bryant Walker
Smith, a law
professor and
driverless
specialist at
the University
of South
Carolina, said:
"Although this
appalling video
isn't the full
picture, it
strongly
suggests a
failure by
Uber's automated
driving system
and a lack of
due care by
Uber's driver as
well as by the
victim."..." Read more
Hmmmm... "..."What we
now need is for
the release of
the radar and lidar
data,"
Princeton's
Kornhauser said
in an email.
(Lidar is a
sensing
technology that
uses light from
a laser.)
"Obviously, the
video of the
driver is
extremely bad
for Uber and
probably implies
that Uber should
suspend all of
its
'self-driving'
efforts for a
while if not for
a very long
while.
"The
'self-driving'
systems are
supposed to have
'professional'
overseers who
are really
supposed to be
paying attention
during these
'tests'.
Apparently Uber
didn't make it
clear in this
case."
Kornhauser
questioned the
police
description of a
situation that
would have been
difficult to
avoid. He said
Uber should
reveal what its
collision-avoidance software was doing during the couple of seconds
before impact.
"The
front-facing
video suggests
that this person
was crossing the
lane at a slow
speed and should
have been
noticed by the
system in time
to at least
apply the
brakes, if not
stop the vehicle
completely," he
said. "While a
human may not
have been able
to avoid this
crash, a
well-designed,
well-working
collision
avoidance system
should have at
least begun to
apply the
brakes."..."
"
...
Again, my
sincerest
condolences to
Elaine
Herzberg's
family and
friends.
The
simple
arithmetic
is: She
crossed more
than a lane
and a half
before being
struck or more
than 15 feet.
Average
walking speed
is about 4.6 ft/sec
which means
that she was
"visible" on
this stretch
of road for
more than 3
seconds.
Uber's speed
of 38 mph =
55.7 ft/sec
means: Uber
was 150 ft
away when she
began crossing
the left-hand
lane and could
have been
visible by an
alert driver.
The car's lidar
and radar
surely must
have "seen"
her beginning
at about that
time. Car
stopping
distance
including
"thinking time
used in The
Highway Code"
@ 38mph is 110
feet. The
driver should
have been able
to stop 40
feet short.
Any Automated
Emergency
Braking (AEB)
system should
have been able
to stop the
car in little
more than the
stopping
distance of 72
feet, half way
to Elaine.
This simple
arithmetic
suggests that
there may be a
very fundamental
fatal flaw in
Uber's AEB.
And
the driver was
not paying
attention. At
3 seconds
prior to
impact, Elaine
was within a
12 degree
field of view
when she began
to cross the
left lane.
While outside
the fovea,
this is well
within a
normal gaze
had the
operator been
looking out
the window.
The
released video
is from a
"dash cam" and
is unlikely to
be the video
captured by
Uber's
"Self-driving"
system (or
whatever Uber
calls it).
That video may
well be at a
much higher
resolution and
frame rate.
Uber MUST
release that
video (not
just the
dash-cam
video) as well
as the radar
and
lidar
data that was
being used by
their
"Self-driving"
system. Uber
was testing
its system at
the time of
the crash and
therefore MUST
have been
logging those
data in case
something went
wrong. Uber
needs those
recorded data
in order to
have a chance
to learn what
went wrong and
fix it.
Something did
go wrong, very
wrong. Uber
and everyone
else MUST also
have the
opportunity to
learn from
this tragedy.
So Uber MUST
release all of
the data.
Alain
R. Mitchell,
Mar 21, "As long
as robot cars
roam public
streets and
highways, they
will
occasionally
kill people.
That's an ugly
truth that no
one in the
driverless
vehicle industry
can deny.
Will those robot
cars kill people
at significantly
lower rates than
drunk, stoned,
tired or
distracted human
drivers do now?
Automakers,
technology
companies,
politicians and
regulators are
betting they
will, as
driverless
vehicles are
rolling out
faster than
almost anyone
expected as
recently as a
year ago. But
the Sunday night
incident in
Tempe, Ariz., in
which an Uber
robot car hit
and killed a
woman walking
her bicycle
across the
street, makes
clear the
industry is much
further behind
in making its
case to the
public.
"It's likely
there will be
far fewer deaths
with driverless
cars," said
Marlene Towns, a
professor at
Georgetown
University's
McDonough School
of Business.
"But getting to
the point where
people will be
convinced of
that will be
tough."
Speculation by
Tempe's police
chief that the
robot may not be
at fault in the
crash may temper
any public or
political
backlash.
Uber was testing
the robot car in
autonomous mode
with a human
engineer, who
was behind the
wheel but not
driving. Elaine
Herzberg, 49,
walking a
bicycle, stepped
in front of the
car from a
center median,
according to
video evidence,
police
said...." Read more
Hmmmm...
"...Carmakers
and technology
companies need
to be far more
transparent as
they push
forward,
experts said.
"It's
important that
we all learn
from this
accident and
we make these
technologies
even better,
said Alain
Kornhauser, a
professor at
Princeton
University and
a leading
authority on
driverless
cars. "To that
end Uber must
release all of
the data
leading up to
this crash.
All of the
video, radar,
lidar
and logic
trails for the
three or so
seconds
leading up to
the crash. If
this releases
some of Uber's
intellectual
property, so
be it."..."
" ...
My sincerest
condolences to
Elaine
Herzberg's
family and
friends. I
hope that Uber
with its
"$60"B
valuation will
make a very
generous
contribution
to homeless
charities and
think even
more seriously
about "buying"
(by
partnering)
rather than
"making" this
technology.
Alain
G.
Kumparak,
Mar 13, "...."
Read more
Hmmmm...
This is REALLY
big news.This
marks the real
beginning of
on-demand
mobility
provided by
vehicles
without a
driver or an
attendant
on-board, only
the passengers
and the
vehicles used
normal public
roadways that
operated in
normal
everyday
manner and
used by
conventional
cars and
trucks. Ng
Waymo
to their o
police
escorts, no
warning signs,
just normal
everyday
operating
conditions.
Except for the
one trip given
to Steve Mahan
in November
2015 in Austin
Texas, this is
the First time
that it kind
of mobility
service has
been delivered
anywhere in
the world. Waymo
has achieved 5
million
vehicle miles
of
Self-driving
(automated
driving on
normally
operating
public
roadway;
however, with
a
driver/attendant
in the car
ready to take
over should
the automated
system begin
to fail. Many
others
including
Uber, Lyft/Aptiv,
GM/Cruise, nVIDIA,
Apple, Tesla,
Nissan and
many others
have also done
many miles of
Self-driving
on normal
roads but each
an everyone
had a
driver/attendant
in the vehicle
ready to "save
the day"
should
something go
bad. Nobody
else anywhere
in the world
is doing what
Waymo
is now doing
in Chandler
AZ. Now that
the first one
has been done,
any community
that is
similar to
Chandler AZ
can now think
seriously
about inviting
Waymo
to provide
affordable
on-demand
mobility to
everyone in
their city.
Be
sure to see
the video.
Congratulations
Waymo!!!!!
Alain
D. Etherington, Feb 27, "California’s Department of Motor Vehicles established new rules announced Monday that will allow tech companies and others working on driverless vehicle systems to begin trialling their cars without a safety driver at the wheel. The new rules go into effect starting April 2 ..." Read more Hmmmm... Even though we have been expecting this, it is a major hurdle for it to actually have occurred. How long after April 2 will Waymo take to begin this type of testing. Again this is only testing and deployment, but NOT commercial service, which may happen first in Arizona, but it is a major step in this r-evolution. Commercial services are regulated by other agencies in California, not CA DMV. It is those other agencies that will need to grant/award the licenses for the various commercial operations where these driverless vehicles would be used. This regulation allows properly licensed commercial operations using CA DMV certified driverless vehicles to have those vehicles use California public roadways in delivering the otherwise licensed commercial activity. Note: CA DMV does not license the commercial transport of people or goods. That is the purview of other CA regulatory agencies. Alain
Andrew Hawkins, Jan 30, “Waymo, the self-driving unit of Google parent Alphabet, has reached a deal with one of Detroit’s Big Three automakers to dramatically expand its fleet of autonomous vehicles. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles announced today that it would supply “thousands” of additional Chrysler Pacifica minivans to Waymo, with the first deliveries starting at the end of 2018.
Waymo currently
has 600 of FCA’s
minivans in its
fleet, some of
which are used
to shuttle real
people around
for its Early
Rider program in
Arizona. The
first 100 were
delivered when
the partnership
was announced in
May 2016, and an
additional 500
were delivered
in 2017. The
minivans are
plug-in hybrid
variants with Waymo’s
self-driving
hardware and
software built
in. The
companies
co-staff a
facility in
Michigan, near
FCA’s US
headquarters, to
engineer the
vehicles. The
company also
owns a fleet of
self-driving
Lexus RX SUVs
that is has been
phasing out in
favor of the new
minivans. (The
cute “Firefly”
prototypes were
also phased out
last year.)…” Read
more Hmmmm...
We’ve all been
wondering”
Who’s going to
make the
cars? How
will that evolve?Will
they magically
appear???
Well….Looks
like it is FCA
for now. We've
gone from a
handful 5
years ago, 2
years ago
added 100,
added 500 last
year,
“thousands”
this/next
year, …
Beginning to
look like
exponential
growth! (A Bit
Coin
Bubble??)
What is also
most
interesting:
no parallel
announcement
that Waymo
was hiring
“thousands of
attendants” to
ride around as
"drivers" in
these
“thousands of
minivans”.
Guess what
that means…
The Kornhauser
Scale is
going to start
really going
up!!! J
While
ultimately
they’ll need
about 35
million of
these to
provide
affordable
mobility to
all in the US,
this is a real
start at
making this
into a
business as
opposed to an
NSF-style
study that
collects dust
on a shelf or,
worse yet, a
digital
manuscript
that is never
downloaded by
anyone outside
a "group of
three". This
is a major
announcement!
From Stan Young: It will be interesting to watch. It probably has the OEMs, Uber and Lyft scared out of their wits. Based on any objective comparison of accomplishment with automated vehicles, there is not a close second to Waymo, despite all the claims to the contrary by trade rags – and the competition knows it. Still a huge unknown concerning the ‘social side’ of riding in an un-attended vehicle, but we will likely get over it like we did with elevators. ‘Thousands’ of vehicles if deployed in one city will put it on scale of Uber and Lyft – an interesting study when/if it comes to that.
...An issue is: where will Waymo choose to deploy (and for Waymo, the word "deploy" is the right word... they make the decision where to place these, in some sense take it or leave it... as opposed to waiting for people to show up at a dealership to buy or have it stay on the lot or have some governmental agency thinking that it actually has a role/power/where-with-all to “deploy”) where, when and how many. They could "flood/concentrate" on Chandler/Phoenix/Tuscon area with scale to be really relevant and substantively demonstrate the evolution of mobility, or they could sprinkle them out nationwide and remain irrelevant everywhere. I like the "flood/concentrate" approach in a state (Arizona) where they seem to be truly welcomed and whose climate, topography and road network are "easy". More importantly it would demonstrate the viability/challenges of the at-scale approach. From our simulations we uncovered that at-scale, one might need to be managing as many as 20,000 aTaxis in a 2.5x2.5 mile area (the extreme in Manhattan, which may be the last place that you want to try this) but it can be large. We’ll drill down in our data and take a look at Chandler/Phoenix and report back as to what we think it would take to provide mobility for all. Alain
Jan. 9, T. Papandreou & E. Casson. "... Waymo driverless service..." Read more Hmmmm... Tim and Ellie made presentation at the Transportation Research Board's Vehicle-Highway Automation (AHB30) Committee meeting on Tuesday in which they gave an update on Waymo's progress to launch "Waymo's driverless service" (slide 11), an app-based ride hailing service to the general public in a geo-fenced area of Arizona. To date Waymo has been testing such a service using volunteer riders in their driverless vehicles in various areas around the country (slide 7): however, to date, except for one ride given to Steve Mahan in Austin, TX, rides on normally operating public streets have always had trained Waymo-authorized personnel (an attendant) in the vehicle capable to intervene in the driving of the vehicle should the need arise. Since October, in Arizona, those personnel no longer sit behind the wheel, but are in the back seat so that Waymo can observe the response of the volunteer riders to riding in a vehicle on normal public streets under normal conditions without anyone in the front seats of the vehicle.
Tim said, without providing a specific date, that Waymo will soon launch "Waymo's driverless service" providing mobility to the general public on public roads in a geo-fenced area of Arizona. I asked Tim "Will that service be offered with vehicles that have an attendant in the vehicle?". Tim's answer was "No!". I asked a follow-up question: "Will these vehicle's have telemetry capabilities that enable these vehicles to be closely monitored from a "situation room" or "control center" that would enable remote operation of the vehicle, should the need arise?". Tim's answer was "No!". Another questioner asked if the geo-fenced area included special "connected vehicle" road infrastructure improvement that Waymo's system will be relying on?" Tim's answer was "No!".
While the definition of "soon" was not given, I've taken this as a really big pronouncement that Waymo is actually going to go to launch commercially-viable on-demand mobility to the general public on conventional public roads. This is really big news because this is finally going to enable us to begin to evolve on the "Kornhauser Scale" ( log of (world-wide VMT of Driverless (VMT-D) vehicles without a human attendant/driver on board accumulated while providing mobility to the general public on conventional roadways). So far we are beyond the "undefined value" associated with VMT-D = 0 and are at KS = 1 only by virtue of the one Steve Mahan ride in Austin). :-) Alain
AP, Nov. 7,
2017 "Waymo,
the self-driving
car company
created by Google,
is pulling the
human backup
driver from behind
the steering wheel
and will test
vehicles on public
roads with
only an
employee in
the back seat.
The company’s move
— which started
Oct. 19 with an
automated Chrysler
Pacifica minivan
in the Phoenix
suburb of
Chandler, Ariz. —
is a major
step toward
vehicles driving
themselves on
public roads
without human
backup drivers.
..." Read
more Hmmmm... Not to be
too critical,
but Waymo
is still just
'Self-driving'
. While they
moved the
'engineer'
with the
ability to
'take over and
drive the
vehicle' from
behind the
wheel to the
back seat,
this is just a
step along the
broad
'Self-driving'
continuum
which is a
vehicle that,
under certain
circumstance,
can drive
itself, but
does that only
if there is a
person ready
and able to
take over if
the unexpected
appears.
The
big-leap/major-step will come when Waymo
removes the
'engineer'
entirely from
the vehicle and
it is
human-less
when it
arrives to
pick up a
passenger and
drives
away
human-less
after the last
passenger(s)
disembark.
That enormous
leap-of-faith
in the
technology
will mark Waymo's
inception of
the Driverless
Era. (or
what Waymo
prefers to
call 'Fully
Self-driving'
era.)
Just
to be clear,
when that time
comes, I'm
sure that
Waymo
will have
telemetry
throughout
that
Driverless
vehicle and
there will be
a room full of
engineers in Waymo's
'Situation
Room'
ready to take
over the
driving should
the need
arise.
However,
until that
time, Waymo
is just like
all the other
wanabes,
they are just
'Self-driving'
without the
'Fully'.
The
reason why
'remote
emergency
driving' is
'Driverless'
is because it
scales. By
that I mean
that it takes
the provision
of horizontal
mobility on
our public
streets from
needing at
least one
human per
vehicle to
needing less
than one human
per vehicle.
Initially the
remote driver
will monitor
one car.
Before you
know it that
person will be
monitoring
two, four,
eight, ...
vehicles and
truly
Driverless
with zero
remote human
oversee-ers
will be
approached
asymptotically.
But just like
the old saw
between the
engineer and
the
mathematician:
engineer and
mathematician
were sitting
on a bench
recalling
their youth...
Engineer said
"Long ago, I
was sitting on
this very
bench with my
girl. We
wanted to kiss
but we were
too far
apart. So we
agreed to move
towards each
other by
halving the
distance
between us on
each move.
The
mathematician
blared "
You're so
stupid! If
you did that,
you never came
together!"
The engineer
just smiled:
"we got close
enough!".
Alain
Rulemaking
Actions, Oct 1The following 3 PDFs
are important:
1.
Autonomous
Vehicles Notice
of Modification
(PDF) Act
2.
Autonomous
Vehicles
Statement of
Reasons (PDF)
Act
3.
Autonomous
Vehicles 15 Day
Express Terms
(PDF) Act
Hmmmm..This is all about Driverless!
Thank you
California,
and especially
Dr. Bernard
Soriano, for
leading this
noble effort
and for
continuing to
distinguish
this
technology
from Self-driving
and all of the
various other
names
seemingly
meant to
confuse.
Alain
The docket
material is
available at: https://go.usa.gov/xNvaE"
Read more Hmmmm... A few
comments...
1.
Since lateral
control
(swerving)
couldn't have
avoided this
crash (the
truck is
almost 70 ft
long (6 lanes
wide)
stretching
broadside
across the
highway) , it
doesn't matter
if Josh Brown
ever had his
hands on the
steering
wheel. That's
totally
irrelevant.
2.
Why didn't
autobrake kick
in when the
tractor part
of the
tractor-trailer
passed in
front of the
Tesla?
3.
How fast was
the truck
going when it
cut off the
Tesla. I
couldn't find
the answer in
500 pages.
4.
With sight
distances of
greater than
1,000 feet,
why didn't the
truck driver
see the
Tesla? Was it
the drugs?
5.
This
intersection
invites
"left-turn
run-throughs"
(no stop or
yield and a 53
foot median
and turn lane
need to be
crossed before
one slips
through a gap
in two traffic
lanes. So you
certainly roll
into it,
(plenty of
room to stop
if you see
something
coming) and if
you don't see
anything, you
hit it. If
you're in the
Tesla, you
think you've
been clearly
seem, you
expect the
truck to stop,
it doesn't,
you can't
believe it,
BAM! All in
probably a
second or so.
6.
The head
injury
description (Table 1
p2 of 3)
certainly
suggests that
Joshua Brown
was seated
upright facing
forward at
impact. The
bilateral
lacerations on
the lower arm
from the elbow
to the wrist
may indicate
that he saw it
coming in the
last second
and raised his
arms in an
attempt to
protect his
head. The
evidence
reported
doesn't seem
to suggest he
saw this early
enough to bend
toward the
passenger seat
and try to
pass
underneath.
7.
About 40 feet
of tractor and
trailer passed
directly in
front of the
Tesla prior to
impact.
Depending on
how fast the
truck was
traveling,
that takes
some time.
Has NTSB run
Virtual
Reality
simulations of
various truck
turn
trajectories
and analyzed
what the truck
driver and the
Tesla driver
could/should
have seen?
Seems like a
relatively
simple thing
to do. We
know what the
Tesla was
doing prior to
the crash
(going 74 mph
straight down
the road.) and
we know where
it hit the
truck. How
fast the truck
was traveling
doesn't seem
to be known.
8.
Why wasn't
there any
video captured
from the
Tesla. Didn't
that version
of the MobilEye
system store
the video; I
guess not,
:-(
Anyway,
lots to read
in the 500
pages, but
there is also
a lot
missing. I'm
not linking
the many
articles
reporting on
this because I
disagree with
many of their
interpretations of the facts reported by NTSB. Please reach your own
conclusions.
Alain
May 18,
Enormously
successful
inaugural Summit
starting with the
Adam
Jonas video
and finishing with
Fred Fishkin's
live interview
with Wm. C Ford
III. In
between, serious
engagement among
over 150 leaders
from Communities
at the bleeding
edge of
deployment,
Insurance
struggling with
how to properly
promote the
adoption of
technology that
may well force
them to re-invent
themselves and AI
(Artificial
Intelligence) and
the various
technologies that
are rapidly
advancing so that
we can actually
deliver the
safety,
environmental,
mobility and
quality of life
opportunities
envisioned by
these “Ultimate
Shared-Riding
Machines”.
Save the Date for
the 2nd Annual...
May 16 & 17,
2018, Princeton
NJ Read
Inaugural
Program with
links to Slides.
Fishkin
Interview of
Summit Summary
and
Interview of
Yann LeCun.
Read Inaugural
Program with
links to Slides.
Hmmmm...
Enormous thank
you to all who
participated.
Well done!
Alain
Video similar to part of Adam's Luncheon talk @ 2015 Florida Automated Vehicle Symposium on Dec 1. Hmmm ... Watch Video especially at the 13:12 mark. Compelling; especially after the 60 Minutes segment above! Also see his TipRanks. Alain
This list is
maintained by Alain Kornhauser and hosted by
the Princeton
University
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