http://SmartDrivingCar.com/6.53-Nader-121318
53rd edition of the 6th year of SmartDrivingCars
J. Levine,
Dec 10, "In
order to
assuage public
skepticism of
AV technology,
it is critical
for NHTSA to
ensure that
automated
vehicles, and
automated
vehicle
technology,
are safe
before
allowing their
introduction
onto public
roads. The
best way to
accomplish
this goal is a
measured
approach that
guarantees
safety prior
to deployment,
using the
tools and
authorities
provided by
the DOT to
NHTSA.
Unfortunately,
the DOT’s
continued
myopic
commitment to
voluntary
guidance over
effective
regulation
prevents the
development of
safeguards
that would
provide the
public with
basic and
reliable
information on
the safety of
AVs, and
places users
of American
roads at the
mercy of
unproven
technology as
unwitting
participants
in potentially
life-threatening experiments.... " Read more Hmmmm.... Listen to PodCast
71 Alain
Staff, Dec 11, "SAE International announces a new visual chart for use with its J3016TM “Levels of Driving Automation” standard that defines the six levels of driving automation, from no automation to full automation...." Read more Hmmmm.... I thought I won.. but no such luck. SAE insists on continuing to make things complicated instead of easy... Level 0 is totally unnecessary. ... Level 5 is unachievable... I can't drive "everywhere under all conditions" There will never be a thing that will drive "everywhere under all conditions" even though the companies that employ SAE members continue to try to have us all fantasize that we can.(totally irresponsible!!)... so Level 5 is equally USELESS. Then Level 1,2 are essentially the same and can be merged by simply using "and/or"; even small children readily understand the subtleties between "eating cake and/or ice cream". That ends up leaving 3... Safe, Self & Driverless which are each VERY VERY different and should in NO WAY ever be shown using the same color or with merged columns!!!! Please go back to the drawing board SAE, you're still confusing everyone. Alain
R.
Randazzo, Dec
11, "A Waymo
self-driving
van cruised
through a
Chandler
neighborhood
Aug. 1 when
test driver
Michael Palos
saw something
startling as
he sat behind
the wheel — a
bearded man in
shorts aiming
a handgun at
him as he
passed the
man's
driveway.
The incident
is one of at
least 21
interactions
documented by
Chandler
police during
the past two
years where
people have
harassed the
autonomous
vehicles and
their human
test drivers.
People have
thrown rocks
at Waymos. The
tire on one
was slashed
while it was
stopped in
traffic. The
vehicles have
been yelled
at, chased and
one Jeep was
responsible
for forcing
the vans off
roads six
times...."
Read more
Hmmmm.... This is very troubling and very serious.
It emphasizes
that it is
necessary to
first create a
"welcoming
environment"
for these
entities;
else,
Driverless
doesn't stand
a chance.
Alain
M. Bansal,
Dec 10, "The
results on
this page
depict the
ChauffeurNet
agent driving
in a
closed-loop
control
environment.
The teal path
depicts the
input route,
yellow boxes
with the faded
trail are the
positions of
the dynamic
objects in the
scene over the
past 1
second, green
box is the
agent, blue
dots are the
agent’s past
positions and
green dots are
the predicted
future
positions
which are used
by the
controller to
drive the
agent
forward...."
Read more
Hmmmm.... Details are in the original paper which is
a must read.
"...Recent work by Chen
et al. (2015)
demonstrated a
convolutional
net to
estimate
affordances
such as
distance to
the
preceding car
that could be
used to
program a
controller to
control the
car on the
highway...." Alain
J.
Valentino, Dec
10, "The
millions of
dots on the
map trace
highways, side
streets and
bike trails —
each one
following the
path of an
anonymous
cellphone
user.
One path
tracks someone
from a home
outside Newark
to a nearby
Planned
Parenthood,
remaining
there for more
than an hour.
Another
represents a
person who
travels with
the mayor of
New York
during the day
and returns to
Long Island at
night. Yet
another leaves
a house in
upstate New
York at 7 a.m.
and travels to
a middle
school 14
miles away,
staying until
late afternoon
each school
day. Only one
person makes
that trip:
Lisa Magrin, a
46-year-old
math teacher.
Her smartphone
goes with
her. An app
on the device
gathered her
location
information,
which was then
sold without
her knowledge.
It recorded
her
whereabouts as
often as every
two seconds,
according to a
database of
more than a
million phones
in the New
York area that
was reviewed
by The New
York Times.
While Ms.
Magrin’s
identity was
not disclosed
in those
records, The
Times was able
to easily
connect her to
that dot.
The app
tracked her as
she went to a
Weight
Watchers
meeting and to
her
dermatologist’s
office for a
minor
procedure. It
followed her
hiking with
her dog and
staying at her
ex-boyfriend’s
home,
information
she found
disturbing...."
Read more
Hmmmm.... Little that you didn't already know (or
should have
known), but
the way it is
presented is
really
powerful.
Hiding is as
easy/hard as
turning off
your phone and
going
back/forward
to a copper
land line.
Scared yet???
Also see How
to Stop Apps
From Tracking
Your Location
and Kids
Shouldn’t Have
to Sacrifice
Privacy for
Education
Alain
R.
Mitchell, Dec
10, "Elon Musk
stuck a finger
in the SEC’s
eye Sunday
night on “60
Minutes.”
“I want to be
clear: I do
not respect
the SEC. I do
not respect
them,” the
Tesla chief
executive told
Lesley Stahl
on the
nationally
broadcast CBS
news
program....Musk
also said no
one is
reviewing his
tweets, as
called for in
the
settlement.
“The only
tweets that
would have to
be, say,
reviewed would
be if a tweet
had a
probability of
causing a
movement in
the stock,”
Musk said.
“Otherwise,
it’s hello 1st
Amendment.
Freedom of
speech is
fundamental.”..."
Read
more Hmmmm.... Very entertaining . See 60
Minutes
episode and
one from 10
years ago.
Alain
J. Stewart,
Dec 10, "DO
YOU FEEL
safe?" Leslie
Stahl asked
Elon Musk on
Sunday’s
episode of 60
Minutes, as
the scene
showed her
riding on the
freeway with
Musk in a red
Tesla Model 3.
“Yeah,” the
CEO answered,
settling back
into the
driver’s seat,
his hands
clasped
together over
his stomach,
after turning
on the car's
semiautonomous
driving
system. “Now
you’re not
driving at
all,” Stahl
said,
incredulously,
looking over
at his
feet....Meanwhile,
Musk continues
to talk up
Tesla’s goal
of making its
cars drive
themselves in
situations far
beyond the
highway, with
no human
oversight or
involvement.
And so he
risks widening
the gap
between what
the car seems
to do and what
it actually
does...." Read more Hmmmm.... the "...
no human
oversight ...." part is what the SEC or NHTSA or ???
should really
come down hard
on Elon. That
part will
cause people
to die, not
just have to
cover their
shorts. Alain
T. Lee, Dec
11, "...Miller
quit his job
at Uber in
March 2018 and
went on to
lidar startup
Luminar.
Before he left
the company he
sent an email
to Eric
Meyhofer, the
leader of
Uber's
self-driving
car project,
about safety
problems at
the company.
The email,
which was
obtained by The
Information's
Amir Efrati,
is absolutely
scathing....
"A car was
damaged nearly
every other
day in
February,"
Miller said.
"We shouldn’t
be hitting
things every
15,000
miles."..." Read
more Hmmmm.... Yipes!! Alain
R. Baldwin, Dec 11, "I'm talking and not paying attention to the Model 3's turn-by-turn navigation when the vehicle's blinker turns on. Tesla's "Navigate on Autopilot" turns the wheel to take the off-ramp to an interchange. My hands are on the wheel (as they should be with all driver assist features) and I double-check the traffic around me. No problems to be seen, and I let the car do its thing. It's smooth, it's impressive and it's available to all US Teslas with full self-driving hardware (All Teslas built on or after October 19, 2016, that is)....Tesla's latest update to driver assistance takes your destination and, just like ... CoPilotGPS... , figures out the quickest way to get there. " Read more Hmmmm.... Actually sounds pretty good; HOWEVER, you MUST remain alert so it really isn't focused on "Driverless" because there is nothing here that begins to suggest that you don't need to remain alert. The statement "... Driver-assist features like Autopilot are a helpful way to determine how far along an automaker is in its research towards truly autonomous driving..." is TOTALLY MISLEADING whatever your perception of the meaning of "Autonomous". NHTSA should sanction him for misleading potential customers, then Elon won't respect SEC nor NHTSA. Alain
V. Wicker,
Dec 10,
"Monday,
Columbus
became the
first city in
the country to
offer a
self-driving
shuttle
service to the
public.
Smart Columbus
and DriveOhio
unveiled
"Smart
Circuit,"
Ohio's first
self-driving
shuttle and
the country's
first of it's
kind to open
to the
public. "The
first thing
you’ll notice
when you go up
to the car is
that there are
sensors on it.
So, lights,
radars and
cameras -- and
those are the
eyes of the
car. So, we
can see in
every
direction all
the time,"
said Edwin
Olson, CEO May
Mobility...."
Read
more Hmmmm.... See the video. Another major step
forward.
Alain
K. Lowder,
Dec 11,
"Currently,
Tesla has a
market
capitalization
of $62.71
billion,
whereas GM is
only valued at
$48.58
billion.
However, keep
in mind that
in 2009, GM
fell to a
value of $1.06
billion. Many
economists are
starting to
predict
another
recession on
the horizon.
Moreover,
self-driving
taxis could
take annual
global demand
for cars from
88 million to
a notably
smaller
fraction of
that. Even if
that does not
occur, the
largest car
market, China,
is rapidly
switching to
electric. It
appears that
GM is
flatfooted and
not prepared
for either
scenario....
10 Top
Automakers by
Market
Cap..."
Read more
Hmmmm.... Largely tongue-in-cheek but ... when you
consider Adam
Jonas' $175B
cap value for
Waymo?!?
Alain
K. Weise,
Dec 12, "An
avocado at
Whole Foods
costs $1.25.
Columbia
University
handed out 724
graduate
degrees in
computer
science over
the past three
years. And 10
potential land
parcels in
Long Island
City are zoned
M1-4, for
light
manufacturing.
New York
provided all
of these data
points, and
thousands
more, to
Amazon as part
of its
successful bid
to woo the
tech giant to
town.
On Monday, New
York City
posted online
the 253-page
proposal it
submitted,
along with New
York State, to
Amazon in
March. ..." Read
more Hmmmm.... Where some of the personal data goes.
Alain
M. Issac,
Dec 7, "Uber
confidentially
filed
paperwork on
Thursday to go
public,
according to
two people
with knowledge
of the matter,
officially
moving toward
what is
expected to be
one of the
biggest and
most
anticipated
tech company
stock market
debuts ever.
The
ride-hailing
company filed
its paperwork
with the
Securities and
Exchange
Commission on
the same day
that its rival
Lyft also
filed for an
offering, said
the people,
who requested
anonymity
because they
were not
authorized to
speak
publicly. Each
company is
rushing to
beat the other
to the public
markets in the
first half of
next year amid
a fair climate
for technology
I.P.O.s and
worries of a
potential
economic
recession...."
Read
more Hmmmm.... I buy high, sell low, so I guess that I'll be
all over this
one. ;-)
Alain
R. Milleron, Dec 2018, "The aim of this book is to generate a strong operational ethic in the work of engineers from all disciplines. It provides numerous examples of engineers who sought to meet the highest ethical standards, risking both professional and personal retaliations. In short, it presents the fields of engineering ethics in the context of actual conflict situations on the job, and points to an urgent need for a strong ethical framework for the profession. This book is about engineering students and practitioners truly understanding, valuing, and championing their wider critical role. Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate and champion of engineers, wrote the preface...." Read more Hmmmm.... Really important! Alain
Waymo team, Dec 5, "...How does Waymo One work? We’ll start by giving riders access to our app. They can use it to call our self-driving vehicles 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They can ride across several cities in the Metro Phoenix area, including Chandler, Tempe, Mesa, and Gilbert. Whether it’s for a fun night out or just to get a break from driving, our riders get the same clean vehicles every time and our Waymo driver with over 10 million miles of experience on public roads. Riders will see price estimates before they accept the trip based on factors like the time and distance to their destination..." Read more Hmmmm.... FYI Alain
M. Toll,
Dec 13, "I
think it’s
fair to say
that Vespa has
defined the
classic
scooter style
that has
lasted in one
form or
another for
over half a
century.
Interestingly
though, that
design hasn’t
only been
limited to
scooters. A
Barcelona-based
company has
borrowed those
classic looks
for a totally
new type of
vehicle: an
electric
monowheel.
And before you
laugh, check
out the specs.
You might be
more
interested in
this thing
than you’d
think… The
Monowheel
Z-One can
reach speeds
as high as 35
km/h (22 mph)
with its
1,000W central
motor. The
built-in 60V
lithium-ion
battery
provides a
range of
between 45-60
km (28-37
miles) on a
single charge.
The entire
device weighs
around 70 kg
(154 lbs) but
can be easily
rolled next to
you and
maneuvered due
to its
self-balancing
nature."
..." Read
more Hmmmm.... ?????? Alain
T. Davenport, Dec 12, "...One thing that the Honda lacks compared to my Tesla Model 3 is the “Autopilot” feature, for which I believe I paid an extra $5000. This was another bad decision on my part. Autopilot is an amusing feature to play around with, but thinking of it as a true autopilot would be a bad idea...I think Teslas are great cars, but I don’t think any auto manufacturer should charge big dollars for capabilities a car doesn’t really have." Read more Hmmmm.... Tesla charges for AutoPilot's capabilities... $5,000 for 15 seconds on some road sections under some conditions. That's today's marketplace price/performance. Confusion exists throughout this marketplace. Autonomy's fantasy is simply no where near equivalent to AutoPilot's reality. Equating them is equivalent to equating pâté de foie gras with chopped liver or 24 karat gold with gold plating. Very different. What is troubling is that Forbes and the auto companies perpetuate this confusion/conflation for obvious reasons... consumers pay more for fantasies than they do for realities. 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
Summit
Photos
from 2nd
Annual
Princeton
SmartDrivingCar
Summit
Program
& Links to
slides from
2nd Annual
Princeton
SmartDrivingCar
Summit
F. Fishkin, Sept 6, "The coming new world of driverless cars! In Episode 55 of the Smart Driving Cars podcast former GM VP and adviser to Waymo Larry Burns chats with Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and Fred Fishkin about his new book "Autonomy: The Quest to Build the Driverless Car and How it Will Reshape Our World"
F. Fishkin, Aug 26, "The impact of the Hitch service murders in China on ride sharing, Toyota's investment in Uber and the issue of who controls data...are the focus of Episode 54 of the Smart Driving Cars podcast. Co-hosts Alain Kornhauser of Princeton University and Fred Fishkin are joined by The Dispatcher publisher Michael Sena."
F. Fishkin, July 27, "When will we shift from buying cars to buying rides? In Episode 49 of the Smart Driving Cars Podcast, entrepreneur, speaker and co-author of "The End of Driving: Transportation Systems and Public Policy Planning for Autonomous Vehicles" ...Bern Grush joins co-hosts Alain Kornhauser of Princeton and Fred Fishkin. That along with the latest on Ford, Waymo, Uber and more."
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! "
Oct 16, Establishes
fully
autonomous
vehicle pilot
program A4573
Sponsors:
Zwicker (D16);
Benson (D14)
Oct 16, Establishes New
Jersey
Advanced
Autonomous
Vehicle Task
Force AJR164
Sponsors:
Benson (D14);
Zwicker (D16);
Lampitt (D6)
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
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. 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&qu ot;
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
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
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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